Loki Posted July 3, 2018 Posted July 3, 2018 Back in the 90s, an interest in Fortean stuff and conspiracies was a light-hearted thing, for people who liked the X Files and thought crop circles were cool. Now an interest in these things throws you in with the lunatic fringe, Trump worshipping, Jew hating, 9/11 was an inside job types. Websites devoted to these things are absolute cancer. Which is a pity because being open to extreme possibilities, as Mulder used to put it, is still I feel an intrinsically good thing. But outside of this thread I'd not wish to talk to anyone about such things as it generally leads to arguments about false flag operations and Ben Ghazi buttering Hillary's emails or whatever. Quote
Paid Members BomberPat Posted July 4, 2018 Paid Members Posted July 4, 2018 9 hours ago, Loki said: Back in the 90s, an interest in Fortean stuff and conspiracies was a light-hearted thing, for people who liked the X Files and thought crop circles were cool. Now an interest in these things throws you in with the lunatic fringe, Trump worshipping, Jew hating, 9/11 was an inside job types. Websites devoted to these things are absolute cancer. Which is a pity because being open to extreme possibilities, as Mulder used to put it, is still I feel an intrinsically good thing. But outside of this thread I'd not wish to talk to anyone about such things as it generally leads to arguments about false flag operations and Ben Ghazi buttering Hillary's emails or whatever. That's pretty much what put me off a lot of my interest in it; conspiracy theories used to be a bit of fun, or a thought experiment, and I'd read stuff like David Icke because I found it entertaining. A few years back, though, I just started to find it all really depressing - I blame it on how it's gone from the focus being on the past (JFK assassination, Roswell, moon landings) or something ultimately unknowable (Area 51, cover-ups of alien landings, etc.), to seeing "conspiracies" unfold in real time; the Boston Marathon was probably the first tipping point for me, seeing people on Twitter poring over grainy photos to say "LOOK, THERE'S SOMEONE ON THE ROOF" or making up any bullshit to support their narrative. And then not only is it getting in the way of legitimate investigation, and not only is it (usually) an excuse (intentional or otherwise) to spread hatred and disinformation, but it's wrapping up living, often grieving, people into whatever mad fiction people have invented to further their narrative, and that just depresses me. I made a point of deleting anyone on Facebook I saw using the phrase "false flag". Thing is, the ugly underbelly of all this stuff was always there. You could dig down into almost any conspiracy theory and, dig deep enough, it would be about The Jews. The people involved in propagating conspiracy theories and a lot of fringe beliefs were usually either involved with some seriously shady people and organisations, or else were (again, knowingly or unknowingly) citing racist and anti-semitic authors. A lot of "alternative history" and the Ancient Aliens stuff has its roots in deeply racist theories. A lot of conspiracy theories rely on a distrust of government and media that goes hand-in-hand with the same politics that embolden the likes of Trump. I'm not sure that the nexus of conspiracy theories has moved further right, so much as the internet has laid bare the inner workings - we're not seeing the tidied up, "hey, isn't this weird?" version of events filtered through Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World and Fortean Times, or fictionalised in the X-Files, we're seeing the mad, bigoted ranting at the source. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 6, 2018 Paid Members Posted July 6, 2018 i'll second that, great documentary. Quote
Paid Members Cod Eye Posted July 7, 2018 Paid Members Posted July 7, 2018 On 7/4/2018 at 2:20 PM, scratchdj said: In case anyone hasn't seen it (or wants to see it again), the Storyville episode about James Randi is back on iPlayer and will be shown again on BBC4: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04ndsb3 If you haven't seen it, give it a watch - it's really good stuff. Really, really enjoyed that! It really does show how dependant many of the human race is on spirituality and the like. The fact that Peter Popov can be exposed like he was and still go on to earn $1m a week(or was that hyperbole?) is incredible. What is that old saying? For sceptics, no evidence in enough. But for believers, no evidence is needed... Quote
Moderators Astro Hollywood Posted July 15, 2018 Author Moderators Posted July 15, 2018 We've talked a lot on here over the years about the conspiracy rabbit hole and mental health, and with that in mind, here's an extraordinary video by Brian Harvey. It's quite long, but worth sticking with it. Quote
Keith Houchen Posted July 15, 2018 Posted July 15, 2018 Meanwhile in Bournemouth, a man buys every single East 17 track and writes to MPs. If they don't reply by the third letter he will have no choice but to add them to the 2wo Third3 fans database and send them a jacket potato through the post. Quote
Paid Members Cod Eye Posted July 16, 2018 Paid Members Posted July 16, 2018 Christ, that video is like a grade A example of mental illness and conspiracy issues. It had everything from secret government plots, to the press trying to discredit him to the Freemasons and even God himself. The man clearly needs help... Quote
The King Of Swing Posted August 6, 2018 Posted August 6, 2018 Alex Jones is not having a good week. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/06/apple-pulls-alex-jones-infowars-podcasts-for-hate-speech.html His bullshit is finally biting him in the arse. Quote
Paid Members BigJag Posted August 30, 2018 Paid Members Posted August 30, 2018 Banachek is on Joe Rogan's podcast #1163. He's a psychic debunker who was has worked with James Randi. He was part of the scientific study that was covered in that great James Randi documentary which may still be available on BBC I player. The JRE podcast is a fun listen as he tells a number of stories form his time whilst in the scientific study. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted August 31, 2018 Paid Members Posted August 31, 2018 Yeh i'll check that. Pretty sure it was on the Joe Rogan Questions Everything show where he went to one of Banacheks shows and his mind blown by one of the tricks that was done to him. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted November 2, 2018 Paid Members Posted November 2, 2018 I'll never forget the day i watched the original un-edited autopsy footage at a mates housr. It was tagged onto the end of a commercial UFO VHS someone had. The actual program would finish and the screen would go dark for a minute before it cut to the autopsy footage, it was all silent and i absolutely shit my pants. The boys house was around 500 yards from mine and i remember being terrified walking home. That shit messed me up. Quote
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted November 2, 2018 Paid Members Posted November 2, 2018 (edited) I thought the Ant & Dec film was great fun. I also like how the fake fake footage (ie: the fake footage that was made for the movie, not the original fake footage) has been lauded around as though it's the genuine one that Santilli based his on. I know I had the footage on a commercial VHS, and I'm almost certain it was a documentary dedicated just to that, so probably the first release of it. I have Jonathon Frakes in my mind as presenting it. Edited January 17, 2019 by Nostalgia Nonce Quote
Paid Members Surf Digby Posted January 17, 2019 Paid Members Posted January 17, 2019 https://uk.style.yahoo.com/mom-shocked-security-camera-appears-show-ghost-late-son-101250870.html It'll probably get debunked soon or outed as fake, but if they genuinely were the only people in the house at the time, then this isn't a bad twist on the old "ghost caught in CCTV" story. Quote
SuperstarNeilC Posted March 29, 2019 Posted March 29, 2019 #GunControl: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Has Male Genitals? (BIG BALLS Cover) Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.