Conspiracy Science 101

A rose by any other name.....is still a rose.

Warning: This post and others in here may contain psychological nudity.

1. If you are offended by common sense, logic, reason, and analysis, leave now.

2. Faith and beliefs are not the same thing. Item 3 does not apply to people of Faith.

3. If your personal beliefs are more important than the ability to think clearly, leave now.

4. If you wish to participate in a discussion on how to turn a conspiracy tabloid into a
scientific endeavour, you have the right place.


So, to start this forum out right, I will re-state the rules of ATS in my own words:
no shirt, no shoes, no service
no seagulls allowed (all they do is squawk and shyt)
no dissin ya homies

Why start this topic? Well, a story is in order. Like most folks who occasional do some
research on the internet, I sometimes go to places to break the routine, for a laugh or
tension relief, and very occasionally, to conspiracy sites. (Psychological nudity warning)
Hate to break the news, but these are considered "kook" sites. Anyways, that is not
how I came to visit here. A friend sent me a link to an ATS forum in response to a
question on shield volcanoes. The link took me to the ATS forum on Yellowstone.
Found what I was after and became very impressed by some of the folks working
in that forum. Names seemed a little wierd, DragonRider, Astrocreep, etc....but there
was some decent stuff in there. I backed out to the main page, noted there was no
fee to sign up, and leaped in. Well, I needed a user name.....hmmmm... ok that
DragonRider fellow was probably a fan of the DragonWeyr series by Anne
McAfferty (spelling??) so to paraphrase his ID , NightWing, get it ?? The idea
was to get into a discussion with him on a similiar topic. To my chagrin, and after
some reading, gads, I had signed up on a tabloid (nicer name than what I used above)
and even worse, the person I was looking for had apparently got banned ?? In the search
to find out why, I began to notice the talents of some of the folks that post here. That
much talent in one place is potential energy looking for release. Just in the time since I
signed up, (I visit three or four times a week) ATS has launched a news site. Kudos !
Combine the talent with perseverance, and you are going somewhere.
So this forum is to add suggestions for those talented folks, and many of whom are also
on the staff here. The first of many suggestions would be a serious, scientific look at
conspiracy topics, most of which are truly contradictory, thus cannot be mutually true.
Quoting from my favorite, Dr S.W. Hawking:
"Real science can be falsified by observation. "
Meaning that science seeks to disprove, not to prove. Sometimes it is
mathamatically expedient and intuitive to prove something for all cases, but
not often. A single disproof of a concept starts the search again. So the
process is basically to describe the conjecture/hypothesis in a manner
that provides for observational testing to see if it fails. The path to truths
is found by eliminating the falsehoods.
If you are still following, its time to take a dive in the deep end. And
another warning. The scientific community considers "conspiracy theory" to
be an oxy-moron, or the coo-coo's nest. "Political-science" is even worse, the nesting ground for seagulls.
The first conspiracy site to understand this and attempt to join the
scientific community has the potential to create a new field of research,
maybe become the real GhostBusters of the 21st century. Thats what I want
to talk about here. No, I do not have all the answers, just suggestions and
a few guidelines. And a hint: Hint is first. Check the number of views for
the top news story " NASA is not altering Mars colors" and compare it to
ANY other forum on this board. You, ATS, are changing whether you know
it or not. True conspiracy sites will stick with the "they are hiding the truth
from us and altering scenes from mars". Instead, you became one of "them"
and left science fiction behind. You are being referenced, people, and by
"them", the evil cabals, and NASA, and gvts. and mad physicists. You are
getting this not because you made the FBI or CIA stalk list, but because
you suddenly became a Credible Source. Do you not see a real possibility
here? With the member talent, and content you now have, you can become
the ONLY credible source for Conspiracy Science 101, complete with
news flashes that nobody else could ever scoop you on.

Before making any further posts, a "test of the national broadcast system":
The tone you hear may or may not be the "banning" of nightwing.

Test of the Administration: "Deny Ignorance" SUKS. It conjures
up images of, you guessed it ! Dancing Bananas.
What do the innocient and the guilty always have in common?
They DENY Guilt. How do you tell the difference?
Now, stupidity is a trait. Ignorance is a condition. To cure a condition,
you acknowledge it, correct it, and prosper, just like you did with the
Mars Colors story, otherwise you continue dancing
with all the other bananas. End test.
If this had been a real emergency...........nightwing is now banned.

/\/ight\/\/ing

From your perspective......nicely said NW. Then again, your "perspective" is one of a multitude.
In such ATS's perspective is a collective understanding called and termed:

"Deny Ignorance"

(posted by William on 15-9-2003 at 04:46 PM)
"deny ignorance.

This motto has life. It has purpose. It asks our members to think.

It is a state of mind.
It is a sense of purpose.
It is a statement against paradigm.
It is a rage against mindless status quo.

The idea of "deny ignorance" isn't a goal that ATS hopes to accomplish. Instead, it's a challenge. A call to all those who come here to aspire to a higher state of awareness through informed discussion and debate.

Deny ignorance is what we do. It's how we think. It's how we talk. It's how we listen.

Ignorance is the creeping crud of history that has clouded our minds and dulled our brains. It is the evil that men do, the reason history repeats, and the cause of intolerance. We deny it. It's not welcome here. Within these boundaries, it has no strength.

Here, ignorance is denied."


Feel the vibes yet?
Spiritual to me dude!
Yoga and meditation can't touch that.



regards
seekerof

Great post. Looking forward to more

However, by disproving the Mars Color conspiracy, many people were educated on real science. However, you never learn anything if you just assume everything told to you is correct.

Always nice to have a friendly audience.

Great post. Looking forward to more - Netstorm

Enjoyed your Martian Bigfoot Post as well NS.
Next time, can you get one of what made it? (laugh)

However, by disproving the Mars Color conspiracy, many
people were educated on real science. - Esoterica

Normally a good thing, but in this type of community,
it is a double-edged sword. Ask SkepticOverlord about
the hate mail he is getting over that. Seems the rest
of the local community aint all too happy about ATS
joining the Bilderburgs and NWO cabal at NASA. You do
see the humor in that? Conspiracy folks are the first
to scream about how open minded they are.

However, you never learn anything if you just assume
everything told to you is correct. - Esoterica

Agree. But that is sorta implied by the "motto" here,
I think. Nice pre-amble to prepare an answer to
Seekerof. Thanks.


/\/ight\/\/ing

Congrads Seekerof !!

From Seekerof:
[From your perspective......nicely said NW. ]

(blush)

From Seekerof:
[Then again, your "perspective" is one of a multitude.
In such ATS's perspective is a collective understanding called and termed:

"Deny Ignorance"]

Yes, read Williams speach when I came here day one.
Corporate policy and all that. I didnt really want to
dwell on this cause I would probably give away secrets
he doesnt want known. Well, not really secrets, but
astute business practice. If you are going to form an
enterprise that is aimed at a particular group, you have
to consider that audience and tailor your enterprise to
meet their needs. I believe William out-did himself so much
in this area that I have a vision of him starting out
with tongue- in- cheek and finishing with an all-knowing
big evil grin. The conspiracy folk as a group tend to be
slightly to fully left wing with a dusting of hard right
wingers thrown in to assure there will never be a
consensus. The hippie generation and their legacy fit
right in. Picture a 1960's protest march where the
participants slug and yell at each other while they hold
up their " 'ell No, We Wont Go" signs. Now add a few
soup eaters who get hit on the head by the toilet lid
while lickin the bowl. Thats about 40 percent. The rest
are spectators and fans who simply cannot believe
what they are watchin - awesome, clap...clap.

And here is how well this was done: Select a negative,
" ell no, wont go" is already taken, so a less obvious
negative, protesting sounding term and tack on a
cleverness. Denial, ...uh make that Deny......war?
Violence? Guilt?
Got it. Ignorance.....that's it. Honey to conspiracy. But
how to sell it?
Got it, where is my old oath thingy from my Fraternity,
Beta Sigma Pie ? Cross this out, replace......ohhhhh,
yeah ! Finished. "Here, ignorance is denied." Voila !
A masterpiece. My only critique of William's work
would be that he forgot to convert it to Latin.

More seriously, Seekerof, your motto is your business
and I have said too much. I simply point out that for
general audiences, it is a "red flag".

Planted a seed :

just remember, in the winter,
far beneath the bitter snow,
lies the seed, that with the sun's love,
in the spring, becomes the rose.


/\/ight\/\/ing

Its about time to kick-start this topic, which we shall do in the next post.
So be thinking along the lines of "core beliefs". What are the "core beliefs"
of conspiracy buffs? What is a conspiracy? What are the "characteristics"
of a conspiracy? Is there a "true conspiracy" or are they all false? (Before
attacking that last question, note that I reminded the audience above that many
conspiracies are contradictory, therefore we already know they cannot all be
true.) Why would anyone "start" a conspiracy that they know to be false?
That will be the first "lesson" we shall address.

Now to get everyone primed (thanks Seekerof for showing me how sensitive
the "motto" topic is) lets do a final exercise with "Deny Ignorance" to
get the blood moving.

A word association exercise for "DeNy Ignorance" didnt give me a "hit",
so I tried a slight modification. "DeFy Ignorance" was the most minimal (one letter)
change that gave a "hit". It is the central large red bold type on the "home"
page of www.veritastruth.com... (click on home button
in the upper left of that page) While this site does not currently
claim this as its motto, there are hints this is so. Coincidence? I think not.
It is another conspiracy site, Birds of a feather? I hope not. What I have seen
so far of that site is bad Ju-Ju. Its a good illustration of the dangers of
paranoia, and a very bad example of the freedoms we enjoy.

So, until next time, .......Happy Trails to You.........

/\/ight\/\/ing