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#41 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 5,149
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The weakness of all Utopias is this, ... They first assume that no man will want more than his share, and then are very ingenious in explaining whether his share will be delivered by motorcar or balloon. -G.K. CHESTERTON |
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#42 |
Proud NWO Gatekeeper
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,835
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If I now say "dominoes", you won't think "pizza". Will you? - FireGarden on the Middle East |
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#43 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 31,662
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#44 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 5,149
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__________________
The weakness of all Utopias is this, ... They first assume that no man will want more than his share, and then are very ingenious in explaining whether his share will be delivered by motorcar or balloon. -G.K. CHESTERTON |
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#45 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 1,005
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It's only a conspiracy theory when it supports right wing talking points. When it supports the left wing talking points (e.g., the black lives are "systematically targeted for demise" CT that is the foundation of the whole BLM movement), it's true. And you're probably racist if you disagree.
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#46 |
Critical Thinker
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 487
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Violence is a weakness, not a strength. - Sylvester McCoy |
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#47 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,976
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Not so.
People are often incited to murder. They are, to be sure, easily influenced, on the edge and likely to do something horrible. But the things that set them off are influenced by those they listen to. It's not clear to me at all that the Florida bomber, for instance, would have been anything but a loser if he hadn't clung to Trump's rhetoric. It's not at all clear that the Squirrel Hill shooter would have done anything like this if he hadn't clung to anti-Jewish rhetoric. Not all potentially crazy folk do crazy things. There is often an additional trigger. None of this should be taken to mean that the Squirrel Hill shooter or the Florida bomber is not responsible for his actions (nor, of course, that he is -- some folk are genuinely incapable of rational decisions). When I say that people are "incited" to murder in these cases, I don't necessarily mean that others are ultimately responsible for these crimes, but that crimes like these may well have never happened, but for the impetus provided by the words of others. |
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#48 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,976
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#49 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,306
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But that's an academic exercise and, especially when politics or the media get involved, a biased one. If a Trump voter does something bad it's so easy to go back through the things Trump said, pick something tenuously related and say There! That's the trigger! Psychologically speaking, that's impossible, it doesn't happen. The truth is that the person's mental state and life experience led to the eventuality and things over a long period of time would have contributed to the act - a bad relationship, losing a job, a recent argument, losing a game of cards, a hangover, anything, not to mention mental illness itself. If things had been slightly different the guy might have been killing someone in a bus queue or blowing up his local tax office.
It's lazy thinking to go at these things with an agenda, like the mainstream media always do. When Darren Osborn ran down and killed a Muslim outside Finsbury Park mosque the BBC made a big show of how he had been on far right websites and how that was the trigger. The fact Osborn himself stated that the BBC drama '3 Girls' was the trigger was somehow ignored, as was the fact he was an unstable loner alcoholic with a history of unpredictable behaviour. Before he sat down and watch TV that night he didn't even know what a Muslim was. If things had played out a tiny bit differently in his life then sooner or later he would have done the same thing but with a different victim demographic, because that's how it works. |
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"I don't think I'm getting the most out of my computer. I turn it on... and use it as a light." - Harry Hill |
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#50 |
Critical Thinker
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Land of the Frozen Chosen
Posts: 350
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Conspiracy theories help to reinforce the thought processes already rattling around in the empty skulls of nutbags... and some of these nutbags may or may not be on the verge of snapping and going postal.
The more a person seeks out an echo chamber, the more fuel they receive to feed their inner thoughts. And the more those inner thoughts get fed, the more chance there is for said person to act on those inner thoughts because of how powerfully overwhelming the obsession might become in their head. A self-fulfilling prophecy per se. |
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"Some mornings it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps." ~ Emo Phillips |
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#51 |
Critical Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2016
Posts: 355
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What you just stated is nothing but speculation; the closest anyone came to claiming what you are saying is Vincent Bugliosi when he said Manson influenced those killings... yet, when it came to convicting Watson, Krenwinkel, and Sexy Sadie, Bugliosi said those 3 were responsible for their actions. He actually got it both ways.
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#52 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 10,976
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#53 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 4,361
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I'll toss this into the argument: CT's are more prevalent and to a more dangerous extent in communities that are more highly religious and less skeptical.
My 2c. |
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...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
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#54 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 4,712
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In an actual conspiracy (not the pretend one you like to argue for concerning the JFK assassination) people are responsible not only for what they do, but for what others in the conspiracy do -- so the getaway driver waiting outside the bank in the getaway car during a bank robbery gone bad is just as responsible for the security guard getting shot and killed as the conspirator inside the bank who held the gun and pulled the trigger.
That's the way the real world works. So yeah, Manson was properly judged guilty of murder, as were the conspirators inside the house who actually murdered (at the direction of Manson) Abigail Folger, Sharon Tate and the others on the property. Those posting nutty conspiracy theories on the internet can't be defined or tried as co-conspirators because some nut job actual believes your posts. Hank |
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I have never ”refused” to provide evidence. I provide evidence if requested to do so in a specific and relevant manner. Hanks ”method” [of requesting evidence] is not going to [get me to] provide any evidence since it has a completely different purpose. To create the the illusion of me not providing evidence when requested to do so. - Manifesto |
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#56 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,306
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I saw the report last night (the early hours, actually). It was quite humorous. The failing BBC are obviously wanting to turn people away from alternative news sources, primarily the right-wing ones, and have started a campaign to disparage any news that doesn't come from them. The bit I found humorous was when they live interviewed an expert in the area of these Indian 'hysteria' killings (where people are randomly accused of kidnapping children and murdered on the strength of it) and prompted him to state the fake news on social media was the primary cause. He replied (paraphrased), "No really, no." Which is pretty obvious, because the BBC didn't bother to distinguish between fake news and social media gossip. Never mind, now they've set the scene (fake news = non-BBC news = mass murder) they can focus in on their intended target - the right (and, of course Trump, watch this space).
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"I don't think I'm getting the most out of my computer. I turn it on... and use it as a light." - Harry Hill |
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#57 |
Maledictorian
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 6,797
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Sounds like FB in Myanmar, which is at least partially responsible for a number of assaults and killings of Rohingya.
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Opinion is divided on the subject. All the others say it is; I say it isn’t. |
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#58 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,306
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__________________
"I don't think I'm getting the most out of my computer. I turn it on... and use it as a light." - Harry Hill |
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