Before I even attempt to tackle this subject this week, I want to take note of how difficult of a task this is for me to talk about, let alone explain. It’s quite obvious we are living in a rather strange time. I mean that literally, not just metaphorically. Never in human history have we been able to witness such a barrage of information shaping our realities day in and day out. Without a firm grip on reality, or at least what we can actually observe, it becomes rather easy to warp our world-views in ways that can be completely disassociated with those around us.
These days, it only takes a few decently put-together videos, regarding the shape of our planet for someone to alter their own fabric of reality. A horror show I have witnessed more times than I care to recall. Not because I am worried about what they will do with this ill-gotten knowledge, but rather the awareness that it is a pit that any of us can fall into, including myself.
Most of the time, the problem arises while trying to undo the informational damage caused. There is nothing more frustrating, and downright depressing than trying to convince a friend or family member of hard evidence against some of these world-shattering views. When someone believes their world is flat, it often doesn’t matter how much data you can throw at them as they often have had to change their reality to accept that the whole world is just either in on a clever little secret, or that you are blissfully unaware that of the evil shadows lurking of the world. How do you help someone who at their core believes everyone is out to trick them?
That is the ever-present danger of confirmation bias. Once someone has shaped their entire world around a half-truth, we’re often only a few short leaps of assumption away from becoming a zealot for a new cause. This becomes incredibly dangerous in a world where we have designed algorithms that feed us information based on what we like and engage with. The more conspiracy content you watch, the more Youtube and Google feed you in order to facilitate ads that alter your purchasing decisions. A dangerous game when we are playing with a plethora of fake information that actually drives people to the point of insanity.
“You simply cannot invent any conspiracy theory so ridiculous and obviously satirical that some people somewhere don’t already beleive it.”
-Robert Anton Wilson
Only a handful of years ago my friends and I used to play a game to see how quickly we could become “conspiracy theorists.” We would open a brand new google chrome webpage, switch to incognito, then scan Youtube to see how many clicks we were away from reaching the “Youtube rabbit-hole” A magical place where literally anything could be true with enough time, provided you shut off any reason-making apparatus that you had used to navigate the world up until that new point of discovery. It took about 5-6 clicks on average, which was bewildering to think about. One minute you are watching a video compilation of things being crushed under a hydraulic press, the next you are being instructed that every celebrity is a demon. All based on an algorithm that was designed to keep you engaged. You could say it all escalated rather quickly.
You could watch videos that portrayed myths like Atlantis as a reality of a civilization more advanced than our own, that was destroyed by some of the cultural troubles that plague us today. Or you could view amateur documentaries about how the entire government elite were actually reptilian creatures from a foreign planet that are hell-bent on world domination to consume the vitality of the young. Or maybe watch videos about weird occult rituals being performed outside of CERN the Large Hadron Collider located in Geneva Switzerland. A thought that still kind of haunts me a bit as some parts of these things were grounded in rather strange but self-affirming facts. The point is you could imagine any reality, and sure enough, someone would try and fabricate enough evidence to try and present a wild case in an unfettered content creation library. Of course, the problem has been alleviated for the most part now, as Youtube would much rather point you towards talk shows and other prominent cultural influences. It’s not the best for optics when you go straight from Stephen Colbert clips to Hollywood all being part of occult worship.
I’m sure the investors of CBS were quite adamant in avoiding that public relations disaster.
5-6 years ago, this was almost a hilarious matter that was met with very little skepticism as we came to realize how many of these channels were created privately by individuals who clearly did not have a very firm grip on reality. I could watch an Alex Jones rant about the exposure of atrazine from pesticides disrupting the reproductive cycles of frogs, which at the time, was hilarious.
I promise you if you search those words in a search engine you will find quite a lot of entertainment as you watch a man come completely unglued about turning frogs gay. I have fond memories of laughing at these with old friends.
Fast forward a few years, and that man himself would be getting banned and censored on every major platform available. Now you might think to yourself, that’s a good thing. Why would we want crazy people misinforming people on the internet and turning people crazy like them? Clearly, the removal of his voice, the de-platforming of his agenda is a net positive for the preservation of normal reality? We have to do what we can to de-platform misinformation for the Greater Good.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not the biggest fan of Jones and the way he attacks anything he doesn’t agree with. I am also very against the idea of someone who claims the world is out to poison them while providing “supplements” that aid against the poison he portrays. “HERE’S YOUR DISEASE, NOW BUY MY CURE.” Jones has also been no stranger to fueling the fires of polarization in our tense political climate. The way he would speak about any tragedy from the lens of everything being an attack, “I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS TO PROVE IT” As he points to one of the many lain-out pieces of paper scattered across his desk. He was off his rocker saying things like the school shootings were “false flags” created with the intent of removing people’s guns so they couldn’t fight against global domination. “I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS RIGHT HERE.”
A thought that even as I write it today with satire, still feels a bit weird to talk about given our modern situation.
Needless to say, there is quite a lot about this man I disliked. That being said, he has since apologized on numerous occasions for his own radicalization and admitted that his career often leads him down roads of half-truths. After his attacks on the parents of the deceased children from Sandy Hook, claiming they were all “crisis actors” he lost most, if not all, public trust. Which lead him to be removed from Twitter, then Youtube, Itunes, and whatever else would be considered a public space. Major corporate press outlets and Late Night talk-show hosts would be quick to celebrate the defeat of an evil conspiracy theorist.
Jones himself wouldn’t go down without a fight, however. He ended up gaining an incredibly large following after his removal from “public conversation” on Twitter. He decided to grow his Infowars brand and expand into a rather large network committed to fighting “The war for our minds.” Making tours around the country, met with fervent if not zealous fans. Needless to say, his following grew tenfold from the public ostracization.
It’s almost like silencing crazies, just makes more people crazy. His banning was probably the single biggest mistake anyone could make if they wanted to bring people back to “reality”
After he was removed from the public, he became an even larger name than he ever was before. Making record-shattering appearances on programs like Joe Rogan’s and Libertarian commentator Tim Pool’s respective podcasts. Every time crazy uncle Alex shows up, the internet appears to break, as if an entire generation is eager to watch what strange things may happen next in the journey of the world’s most prominent “conspiracy theorist.”
It is kind of funny, and a little too harrowing that a large amount of the things that Jones rants about with extreme hyperbole, end up being true. What would start off as a rant about “CLONED BEEF AND HUMAN ANIMAL HYBRIDS” would quickly become a rather insightful look into how many farms across the country have adopted cloning cows to help produce meat to keep up with the high demands we create as a society.
As for the animal hybrids, I’ll let you enjoy that terrifying and confusing journey yourself.
“Alex Jones is never wrong” is more than just a meme these days. It’s a callout to the fact that calling someone crazy, doesn’t discount the fact that they are passionate about trying to get people to see the world they see. When someone is that passionate, it’s quite possible they know something you don’t. Even some of his most exaggerated claims about global allegiances have ended up being rather on the nose given the nature of our current environment. His removal sparked most of the very censorious behavior we see today. We are in a society where it’s easier to pull the plug on someone’s voice, rather than letting them explain a nuanced position on topics most of us are not aware of.
I mean, we wouldn’t want the crazies spreading misinformation…
I find it fascinating because it follows very closely with a question I have regarding the exact lines we draw when we decide if someone has made enough personal contributions to the world at large, and where their evil acts overwrite the good deeds they accomplished. How many correct things does a conspiracy theorist have to call out, before we stop calling them a conspiracy theorist? Why do we call Edward Snowden evil for correctly warning us about the massive intelligence networks we created to spy on our own people? Or what about Julian Assange who leaked controversial documents about corrupt dealings with our political elite? Can conspiracy not be used for the perpetuation of The Greater Good? Or is it simply a cudgel those in positions of power use to label information that would be detrimental to their hegemony?
It’s funny because even though I have tried my absolute hardest to not fall into the rabbit hole of conspiracy, something about the way we “silence the crazies” has me quite determined to find the lines of the truth that we silence along with them. I don’t like the idea of pushing crazy ideas underground, because that is where they fester unchallenged and grow more radical with time and lack of understanding of a larger picture. I have a few older websites I used to visit when I was younger, and I cringe at what they have become. However, I am also against the idea of listening to people who consistently tell half-truths in order to make a profit from uneducated viewers. Which in my view, is largely the way our corporate press structure operates. In this world, we really have to do our own research in order to understand what is real, and what is fabricated if we want to stay ahead of the trouble.
This is a topic; I find unbelievably vital as we start to call everyone conspiracy theorists because we each follow different threads of truth. It’s rather common for that label to be applied to anyone who does not follow the model that is created by our “elected leaders” in a time when compliance is perceived as of the utmost importance. One of the very reasons I started this blog was because there was something about this world that I knew I saw different from many others I spoke with. It was quickly clear to me that I would need to spend a healthy amount of time, tackling these ideas, rather than just drawing a line in the sand. It’s easy to say “Just punch all Nazis” but what happens when we start calling the rational people Nazis? When this conversation ever comes up, it’s quickly followed by claims of perpetuating “alt-right” behavior instead of condemning the silencing of dissenting opinions.
Instead of alienating anyone, I propose the world is better off understanding why people think the way they do. Getting to know views outside of your own to see where your realities overlap, and where they differ. To see what truths you hold, compared to the truths your neighbor’s hold. How much of our values are based on what we have observed, versus how much we are told is reality?
Of course, this may fall on deaf ears to a lot of individuals who are turned off at the idea that everyone should have a voice. The idea of letting people who they disagree with speak, could challenge a confirmation bias that has been created to protect, what I would say is a rather fragile world-view of those that simply follow their leaders. How much of what is preached to use daily, is simply from a fervent conspiracy theorist who refuses to accept new information in their crudely shapen reality? What do you do with someone who refuses to accept the truth, when it damages their biased perception of the world. This may end up being rather a dangerous point of contention
Because in order to admit that you want to challenge the conspiracies of today…
You would have to be a fool
Thank you for reading
-The Young Fool
1 Comment. Leave new
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.