The Awe Inspiring Power of Stupidity
Recently I have become overwhelmed by a great wave of stupidosity washing over the Internets. Whether is is Archer Quinn with his 'free energy' device, or Steven Greer with his loving space aliens, or Dumb and Dumber with their Bigfoot body I take a deep breath in awe of the staggering range and quality of stupidity which abounds in our world. But, nothing quite takes the cake as poor, sad, little Eric Dubay on his website where he proudly proclaims that men never landed on the moon, nor did we ever put a rover on Mars. Eric embraces every lunatic conspiracy theory ever invented, including some he invents all by himself.
He is obsessed with the fact that people waggle their fingers in the 'rock-on' or 'Texas longhorn' salute. In that symbol alone he rests comfortably assured that nearly everyone is a Freemason and are all complicit in murder, treason, mayhem, disorder, subterfuge, disinformation, and unmitigated evil. In Eric's world people are fundamentally evil and out to get him.
Eric embraces all of the writings of the maddest of all Internet idiots, Alex Jones.
And this, my friends, is what concerns me. This poor young man, only 25 years old, has lost all capacity for rational thought. His self induced affliction was fueled by the bastards like Alex Jones who spread lies, hate, distortions, and near criminal stupidity to a vast audience. Here poor Eric is only 25 years old and he has willingly allowed his mind to be destroyed by the polluted filth that courses through the veins of the unwashed Internet.
In fact, today rational thought is threatened on a vast scale. While the new media is very exciting and empowering, I can now really see the dark side.
It used to be conspiratorial thought was something you got in the dark back rooms of obscure bookstores. These fringe books stayed pretty much where they belonged, way out on the fringe. But, today, with the awe inspiring power of the Internets and, with it, the incredibly disproportionate weighting of search engines like Google, a single addle minded 25 year old kid living in Thailand can wield a vast influence of misinformation and disinformation that would rival intelligence agencies of small countries in times past. Imagine that? One dumb kid in Thailand can spread more disinformation than a batch of professionals. Impressive no?
These proponents of 9-11 conspiracy theories, who demonstrate a woeful inability to conduct rational thought, do great harm and insult to millions of people. In the bizarre, strange, sick and twisted world these tools of idiocracy live in, they spin propaganda to suck more innocents into their cult. In their strange world it makes more sense that hundreds of thousands of individuals are willing to be complicit in murder, cover-up, and commit the most horrific crimes imaginable, all master minded by the grand genius George Bush himself, rather than accepting the most basic and simple facts presented to their mind, consciousness, and senses.
In a local school in my area, a high school teacher was presenting 9-11 conspiracy bullshit, IN A CLASSROOM! I kid you not.
It seems absurd that I should even have to be talking about these things. After all, why should I waste my time and effort commenting on beliefs so patently stupid that they shouldn't warrant a second thought? Unfortunately, it is because the Internets, and Google Search, have given them a large voice. And, of much greater concern, is that they suck people into their web of lies and delusions to such a great extent that it now does essential damage to our society as a whole.
I like to remind people from time to time the following basic fact. You know how dumb the average person is? Well, by definition, half of the people in the world or dumber than that!
I would like to applaud those who fight the good fight trying to stamp out this virulent infection of stupity which is washing over our population. People like Penn & Teller with their excellent program 'Bullshit!'. Or the tireless efforts such as those responsible for the site 'debunking911.com'.
There is a line in the first degree charge I try to remember. 'Neither are you to suffer your zeal for the institution to lead you into argument with those who, through ignorance, may ridicule it.'
Normally I try to have a light hearted attitude about this sort of thing. I hope to view it with both ironic detachment and a good sense of humor. But, lately, as I have seen the insidious power of the spread of this rampant stupidity I have become a bit more serious about it; a bit more concerned.
Sure, it's funny to laugh at the Bigfoot hoax, or the kooky Australian guy inventing his own free energy machine, or the kid who doesn't believe men landed on the moon. However, when the depth of the irrational belief systems begins to work its way into our culture in a deep and disturbing form, when high school teachers try to present it as 'fact' in their classroom, or families are torn apart because someone watched 'Loose change' too many times, suddenly it isn't quite so funny any more.
What can I say, today I am not laughing, I am breathing a deep sigh of despair for our nation, and our planet. When stupidity breeds stupidity in a vile and virulent form, when it leads to madness, chaos, destruction, and social disorder, you do need step back and wonder if there is any room left for order, light, rhyme, and reason.
Comments
It also seems paranoia does not necessarily infer stupidity.. often.. it is a symptom of emotional or mental issues -- obsessive compulsive behavior, etc. ;-) I believe many people, both good and bad, may suffer a bit from this.
One should not dispair simply because "some" people post "some" things that in "some" cases does not rationally fit properly in one's model of reality. When "all" people post "all" things that in "all" cases disagree with your reality, then maybe you should start to worry.
I was going to tell you the story of Mike, the 25 year old who worked for me who has pretty much the same mindset... except that he developed his before he became familiar with teh internetz. When he was 18, he used to listen to a guy in his 40s (who also worked here) who believed the same things - and all without having touched email, let alone web surfing. And now, Mike passes his beliefs on to other people, much like those ballyhooed "meme" viruses.
The internet makes it easier for people who are so inclined, but I believe that one needs to be so inclined in the first place.
I thing that most of those who believe strongly in the global conspiracies are those people who - in the parlance of the current socio-therapists - are those with little power or access to power. When things aren't going your way, it's much easier to believe that it's because of some shadowy in-group putting hurdles in your way, than to believe that it's because you haven't applied yourself in school or at work.
In that context, Eric is not much different than those sad people who spend hours making huge websites proclaiming that the Freemasons are behind their misfortunes, such as zoning complaints and traffic tickets. Trying to explain that following the local regulations is fruitless. Telling them that they might go further in life if they went back to school instead of spending hours arguing on the internet gets you nowhere.
I dont' mind a teacher presenting 9-11 theories as an example of critical thinking, but I'm assuming that this is not the case.
Personally, I blame much of this on the lack of scientific and logical thinking taught in schools. I can't tell you how often I've re-educated some of the teachers of my children on certain points. My daughter is guaranteed to bring home several notes each year from a teacher who is not accustomed to students who don't believe a lesson, much less one who can demonstrate otherwise.
You know how dumb the average person is? Well, by definition, half of the people in the world or dumber than that!
LOL - I'm going to be stealing that one!
You are correct that in my post I intentionally equated intelligence with poor reasoning skills. In the case of someone like Eric Dubay, he must have some degree of intelligence to have graduated from University and to be such a prolific writer. Those with truly poor intelligence usually neither read, nor write a great deal.
Nevertheless, it is my rant and I chose to equate idiocy with the complete and total loss of capacity for rational thought. My choice. What is really sad is that this state of mind is usually self inflicted.
You suggest I am ranting about two or three people, when the rant was really directed at a massive sub-culture of conspiracy addled who fuel the Internet in disproportionate levels with their hate speech. Eric Dubay is only a symptom, not the real problem which is people like Glenn Beck, Alex Jones, etc., etc.
The Internet, conjoined with tools like Google search, are placing a great power for spreading propoganda, lies, and distortion throughout our society with sometimes devestating effects.
Maybe you haven't investigated this 9-11 conspiracy sub-culture enough to see how many millions (not one, or two, or three) who have succumbed to this tripe.
It is a danger to our society and it is an insult to millions of hard working Americans who do their jobs with pride to help their fellow man.
I stand firmly behind my rant.
John
Who can truly say who is 'right' or 'wrong' and do the two even exist but in our own minds?
We all have different perspectives that are constantly changing based on the circumstances we find ourselves in, the information we are presented with at any given time.
Could it not then be just as dangerous to disallow certain information which YOU deem dangerous because it does not fit YOUR reality?
And what exactly is rational thought? It is whatever the majority determins is the 'norm' at the time. Rational thought has changed many times over the course of our existence based on the circumstances that were occurring at that time.
At one time rational thought consisted of burning all 'witches' at the stake, another time rational thought consisted of segregating black people and white people, and yet another rational thought consisted of human sacrifice to the gods.
So where exactly does one draw the line and what determins rational thought? I think the important thing to remember is that we all have a different perspective based on our unique experiences and what may seem absolutely crazy to you may be completely normal to someone else. It would be entirely impossible to change another person's perspective to fit your own without giving them every experience you have ever had.
It could be that we are one consciousness experiencing the imagination of ourselves. If this is the case, life and death are not to be feared, and we can never truly be 'hurt' be someone else's perspective.
I like to look at it with the following analogy:
You have 3 people. One man is standing at the bottom of the Eiffel tower, very close to the base, he is observing all of the tiny little cracks in the metal and all the small details. He has no idea that what he is looking at is part of a very large tower.
Guy #2 is standing at the top of the tower. He can see that he is indeed on top of a tower and would laugh histerically if he heard that the man at the bottom of the tower had no idea that it was in fact a tower. He might make fun of him and call him insane and ridicule him incessantly.
Guy # 3 is in an airplane flying above the tower, he has no idea that Guy # 1 or Guy # 2 even exist, he can see a very large picture, the tower, all the surrounding buildings and areas, yet he cannot see the tiny cracks and crevices that Guy # 1 can, nor can he see Guy # 2's perspective.
So none of these 3 guys are wrong, they are all right in their perspectives, yet they just don't have the whole perspective.
I can think of things far worse than Eric Dubay's blog, what about War, starvation, the slaughter of innocents, the abuse of children, racism, the list goes on...
So don't worry too much, live, expand, explore, do what you wish, but allow others the same courtesy.
miranda
People believe in conspiracy theories because they rarely take the time to investigate the facts themselves, and rely on specious explanations. I often hear statements such as "To think that something this big wasn't orchestrated is ridiculous" given as "proof", when in fact, those statements themselves are part of the original conjecture. Recently, I read a criticism of the Freemasons in very similar words; the author set up arbitrary criteria for something and decided that anything falling outside of that was part of a Masonic conspiracy.
That's not just having a different perspective, that's totally sloppy thinking and reasoning.
And while we can all think of worse things than Eric's blog, let's keep in mind that when Eric and his friends waste time in spreading this type of faulty thinking, they are taking away resources that could better be used - perhaps - in solving the real problems of our world.
What law are you referring to? Are you an attorney?
My comments are no more inflammatory, than what is said on Fox News and the Glen Beck show on CNN on a daily basis.
Calling stupid people stupid isn't necessarily inflammatory, it's just an astute observation.
John
I just have to say its refreshing to come across someone advocating critical thinking and rational thought, rather than all the slop you see in both old and new media, which replace objective analysis with fury and yelling (I'm looking at you, O'Reilly).
As far as the 9/11 conspiracies go, I've always felt there's more than enough reasons to dislike George Bush, and we don't need to go around inventing reasons to do so.
I'm retired, in my late 70's, and spent my life working for technology firms as an engineer.
Because of my life-long fascination with science, I've spent many decades reading and researching, in my spare time, a whole host of topics that interested me at the time.
It's just so incredibly sad to me, that, in this day and age, with the technological advances we've made, that we can still, as a species, still be so darn closed-minded.
When I first heard about zero-point energy back in the mid fifties, I made the mistake of mentioning the subject to some of my "highly educated, highly-intelligent" co-workers. Even though both Max Planck and Einstein had done amazing theoretical work along those lines, the laughter and recrimination at my interest in "conspiracy theories" was swift, complete, and very disheartening.
Now, finally, after spending decades in the fringe area of "pseudo-science", even NASA, along with all other "reputable" scientific institutions, agree that it IS real. The new "spin" is to say, "Sure, it's real, but we'll never learn to harness it."
Throughout my life, I have seen many instances where "conspiracy theories" eventually have become accepted scientific fact. But I'm just too old, too tired, and too fed up with concrete-brained people like yourself to have any hope of ever seeing a world where humans will be any different.
Too many hard working, earnest, intelligent people have been run out of the scientific community for thinking too far ahead of the pack, only to be regarded as vanguards of a new age long after their deaths. It's just too damn depressing for an old soldier like myself.
I'll be gone soon, thank God, and you dim-witted idiots will have the world you so justly deserve.
I stumbled across your blog and was praying this comedy. It was quite depressing to realize your hard headedness and closed mind were the genuine thing. So that is what it is like to be in that other half you point a finger at?
The only reason they are called conspiracy theories is because they have not occurred or been proven as such yet. You would know this if you got out of your ivory tower and did a little reading from alternative sources of note. No not Jones or Icke, but Dr. Finklestein, Michael Parentis, Norm Chomsky, Mr. Zinn, to name just a few.
There are always a few wingnuts out there, however, there is much more to this world than what can be proven by the empirical scientific methods of today. Things are rarely as they appear on the surface but some folks don't have the wit or the depth to realize this and go on face value. You seem to fall into this category somehow. No insult intended, just how I read your words.
Interestingly, what you have done is advertise Eric's blog! It has been my experience to note that when something is insulted or brought to notice that curiosity improves ratings of the target of vitriolic verbiage.
Personally, I think anyone who is NOT over there killing and poisoning women, babies and other folks who just want to be left alone is a decent individual. War for the lies we have been sold is just plain immoral to put it politely. I won't bother your tender sensibilities with all the real reasons genocide is being practiced on such a grand scale because I already know it would be a waste of time. You are too ensconced in your comfy lil "god seat" passing judgment on all others who offend you by exercising their right to freedom of thought and word.
Feel free to respond as you seem to be into that sort of thing, but I have already wasted too much time here, I shan't return. Too busy writing about the upcoming battle mankind faces with fire ants, a hideous menace threatening us sometime this August coming.
Human-looking ETs in US
Then one day I had a wake up call. I lived in St. Petersburg, FL for 11 years. When I finally reached the age of working, I could not find work. Neither could any of my friends. Everyone I knew under 30 couldn't find a job in that whole damn county.
During the time in which I was unemployed, I started a web business that now makes me a living today. FYI...a 25 year old is not a kid, neither is a 19 or 20 year old. People like you that carry these sorts of mindsets are the ones that make it difficult for hard-working young adults like myself to find work.
Your time is up. Its time to move aside and let the younger generation get to work. I'm a proud member of Generation Y; the first in my family to attend college and the first to run a successful business. Guess what? I'm under 25. Gasp!
Back to my original point. The 9-11 conspiracy theory has a LOT of evidence to back it up. I'm not going to bring up every point. Look into it yourself. I don't believe in UFOs or any of that other stuff. But I wholeheartedly believe that Bush has killed thousands of our youth in Iraq for oil and that is just SICK.
You, however, don't have any evidence that it was not a conspiracy. Everything points to 9-11 being an inside job. I hope you are happy supporting the killing of thousands of brainwashed young soldiers. Must be nice.