Conspiracy lunatic thread - people who believe in absurd nonsense are dangerous

[abates]

I remember when the White House under Obama tried to exclude Fox News from interviews describing it as "not a news network" and CNN etc sided with Fox. I wonder if they still think that was a good decision.

 

[Pocket]

I doubt anything productive would have come of shutting them out. It's not like you're preventing them from going on air and telling their lies anyway. All it served to do was antagonize them even more. And then Trump, Mr. "I'm going to be the exact polar opposite of Obama", spent his entire presidency treating CNN as an enemy of the state, so... I'm not usually one to use the phrase "dangerous precedent", but it kind of adds up here.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Wasn't entirely sure where to put this, but since it involves an idiotic conspiracy theory, this thread's about as good as any.

A Pro-Trump Social Network Wants to Corner the Anti-Vax 'Jizz Market'

Gettr, a struggling right-wing social media company, is looking to create a marketplace for unvaccinated men to sell their sperm.

www.rollingstone.com

 

[NovaSaber]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/04/20/mike-lindell-prove-wrong-contest/

MyPillow founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell made a bold offer ahead of a “cyber symposium” he held in August 2021 in South Dakota: He claimed he had data showing Chinese interference and said he would pay $5 million to anyone who could prove the material was not from the previous year’s U.S. election.

He called the challenge “Prove Mike Wrong.”
On Wednesday, a private arbitration panel ruled that someone did.

Zeidman had examined Lindell’s data and concluded that not only did it not prove voter fraud, it also had no connection to the 2020 election. He was the only expert who submitted a claim, arbitration records show.

He turned to the arbitrators after Lindell Management, which created the contest, refused to pay him.

In their 23-page decision, the arbitrators said Zeidman proved that Lindell’s material “unequivocally did not reflect November 2020 election data.” They directed Lindell’s firm to pay Zeidman within 30 days.

 

[NovaSaber]

And another one faces consequences:

Hate troll Matt Walsh loses YouTube & Twitter platforms partly because of his Dylan Mulvaney hatred

YouTube won't give him $1.2 million a year to spout hatred anymore, he pouted.

www.lgbtqnation.com

 

[Pale Rider]

FB friend:

One of the signs of a cult is that they will continue to use long-discredited arguments, with no indication that they acknowledge or have even SEEN numerous criticisms of those arguments.

Religious apologists continue to use Thomas Aquinas' First Mover argument and Pascal's Wager, centuries after they were debunked, with no attempt whatsoever to update those arguments to even try to address the debunkings.

Creationists continue to use Hoyle's junkyard 747 argument, the "no way for the eye to evolve" argument, and their horrific misinterpretation of the second law of thermodynamics, decades after they were taken apart, again with no effort to update those arguments to account for the debunkings.

NRA apologists continue to use their "a well-armed society is a polite society" and "millions of defensive gun uses every year" and "gun-free zone" arguments despite numerous public debunkings, again with zero effort to address those debunkings, or any indication that they're even aware of them.

Global warming deniers continue to use cherry-picked numbers to pretend there's no warming trend and no glacier melting trend, long after their misuse of statistics was pointed out. They continue to pretend that the temperature correlation is the ONLY evidence of the CO2 greenhouse effect, as if the lab tests confirming this mechanism were never conducted, no matter how many times you point this out to them.

Conservatives who pretend that "cancel culture" is a mostly liberal phenomenon never adjust their arguments after you point out example after example after example of conservative cancel culture to them, going back decades.

It's not just ignorance either: it's deliberate dishonesty. If you come armed with evidence and argue with one of these people to the point that he stops trying to defend his claims, you can reliably expect to see that same exact person using those same exact arguments a week later, to you or someone else, with ZERO effort made to update those arguments to respond to what you showed him.

Honest people can be reluctant to admit when they're wrong, but they will at least TRY to address criticisms. Cult members don't bother. They will just act as if they've erased your criticisms from their memories. It's one of the most consistent cultish behaviours that I've seen.

 

[Pocket]

"Most ignorance is willful." - Bill Watterson

 

[Rhinox]

*insert generic reference to Dunning-Krueger here*

 

[DefaultOption]

*insert generic reference to Dunning-Krueger here*

Oh, I think we're all much too smart for that.

 

[Dekafox]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1658210763884863524

 

[Ironbite4]

Well god damn I thought that guy died. I mean when we put him in Book World it was because he was.....I've said to much.

Ironbite-*retreats to TV World*

 

[Patch]

Apparently the latest victims of conspiracy theorist abuse are meteorologists:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/world/meteorologists-conspiracy-harassment-abuse-climate-intl/index.html

 

[NovaSaber]

"I never thought they'd eat my face", said the actual face-eating leopard.

Right-Wingers Consider Fully Canceling Their Once-Holy Chick-Fil-A

The chicken sandwich chain’s diversity chief said the brand's committed to “respect, understanding, and dignity,” apparently antagonizing the reactionary right.

gizmodo.com

As Rolling Stone reported Tuesday, far-right podcast host Joey Mannarino wrote on Twitter over the long weekend complaining about Chick-Fil-A’s front-facing DEI program, calling it, “...bad. Very bad” then adding “I don’t want to have to boycott. Are we going to have to boycott?” He complained about how the company “just hired” McReynolds, though the exec has been with the company for more than a decade.

This was followed by a round of tweets from other conservatives figureheads like right-wing provocateur Ian Miles Cheong and conspiracist Stew Peters. The latter of which wrote “Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy says ALL whites should get on their knees and shine black peoples’ shoes.”

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I was bored enough to read Chick-Fil-A's whole DEI page. It is pure corporate fluff. If they have a problem with this, they're admitting this isn't about any specific things they've accused any company of doing. They want companies to not even say the words. Not even lip service.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

What they really want is for people to stop telling them to not be assholes. The idea of just....not being an asshole, is impossible to process, when that's all their identity is based on anymore.

 

[Pocket]

Doesn't Chic-Fil-A also have a longstanding policy of treating their workers like human beings and not expendable robots like other fast food chains do? I imagine it wouldn't sit well with the right to learn that either.

 

[Dekafox]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1665483397701988354

A rather succinct post about the lure of such theories.

 

[NovaSaber]

That doesn't explain the times they get mad about stuff that isn't even happening, like this:

Conservatives are outraged over fake AI images of Target’s Satanic offerings

Target has never sold these items, but right-wingers still think the devil is involved...

www.lgbtqnation.com

Conservatives were already upset about Target over its LGBTQ+-inclusive Pride collection. But now they’re angry over fake AI-generated images that show the store selling “Satanic” clothing.

The images show kids wearing clothes with inverted pentagrams and goat heads and a store display with a red, goat-headed mannequin. The images were created by Facebook user Dan Reese with the AI program Midjourney, Reuters reported. A Target spokesperson told the publication that it “has never sold” the pictured items, and the items aren’t available on the store’s website.

 

[KidTDragon]

Oh, that's just because they hate everyone who isn't exactly like them and welcome any justification of that hate.

 

[wonko the sane?]

If you're dumb enough to believe obviously fake bullshit... then you're dumb enough to believe obviously fake bullshit? Deep fakes are literally just mass produced conspiracy theories instead of home made.