This is it folks, hold on to your seats, because S just HTF!

thanx for the thread! though i dont share the same life expierences as you i will admit that all the doom and gloom can get to me. i know SOMETHING is up with the world we obiously live in stange times this much is for sure but im sick and tired of YOU AND EVERTHING YOU CARE ABOUT IS GOING TO BE TORTURED RAPED AND KILLED ON THIS DAY ARE YOU PREPARED. im over it. i get such bad anxiety over strupid # i have no controll over. thats when i just go for a walk and look around at the trees the street other people birds in the sky or just the sky (OH NO CHEMTRAILS!!!!) im 29 years old and im part of generation that lives its lives as if the end it right around the corner. there is no such thing as the end i think and im enjoying this leg of the journey. thanks for the thread again made me feel a tiny bit better and ill try to keep this in mind next time i get the crazy ray pointed at me

I love you for every word that you share! Respect! As a Mayan would say - In Lakech (I am another you and vice versa). This is the best thread in months, if not in years! A real bit of Enlightenment! I've been trying to say this myself, but feel I haven't done so well so far. Thank you! I really appreciate it and will forward the message the best way I can. I won't grab and hold onto it though, cause it will kill it and it is alive now - not only in me and you and everyone who flagged this, but deep within the heart of every single human. Will finish in the spirit of Dzen:

This is only a moment, could not be forever. Forever is, because it's only a moment.

Should be clear for everyone who sees it. ;-)

Much love!

Your points may be valid, but you are obviously ignorant of the Exponential Function. Population growth cannot be sustained in a peaceful society infinitely in a world with finite resources. The path of living blissfully ignorant is what the 1950s to 2005 was for. We are at the brink of a massive change. It may not be coming for 30 years, but to avoid preparation and live in the moment is not advisable.

Originally posted by bullfinch
Your points may be valid, but you are obviously ignorant of the Exponential Function. Population growth cannot be sustained in a peaceful society infinitely in a world with finite resources. The path of living blissfully ignorant is what the 1950s to 2005 was for. We are at the brink of a massive change. It may not be coming for 30 years, but to avoid preparation and live in the moment is not advisable.

Hmm...I never said anywhere to live blissfully ignorant, although sometimes that is a tempting, but impossible thought. I LOVE knowledge, I love trying to figure out this crazy jigsaw but It's also good to lift your head up once in a while and be IN the moment.

What good is it to moan and complain behind a computer screen if nothing is getting done to change it anyways? At least you can be having a physical positive experience in your every day life if you try and find a balance.

Originally posted by seeker11

Originally posted by smurfy
I can understand in the profundity of your post, but the big question is, what do you actually believe has real truth in it? that would be something you have to deal with, and ask the big questions about, and you have to ask questions, sometimes just to know if people are coming from where they say they are. There are broadcasters here who regularly downplay a given topic with the most inane replies ad infinitum, and while you still ask yourself why, you really know why. There is the irony, in that the like of ATS is called a conspiracy site, where posters consider an issue that could be deemed as a conspiracy, end up as being called conspiratorial themselves, just because they have some agreement of events.

I believe in infinite possibilities. But I don't believe in scaring myself half to death with a bunch of bad science and unverifiable sources.

I am not saying that there aren't conspiracies or things going on under the surface, no I am not saying that at all. But this thread isn't about me sharing my thoughts on every theory and whether or not I believe in it, it is about relating to other people who have maybe gotten sucked very deep down the rabbit hole and need to be reminded that there is light back up here on the surface.

I already said I understand your post, take that as given, since your reply in part confirms that. As for other issues like bad science, what is bad science to begin with? Apart from deliberate hoaxsters, the whole of science is just like the rest of us who are not scientists, subject to misconception, simple mistakes, and dogmatism, or what is passing as the latest holy grail, yes even religion will come into it as a plus or minus.

That is why I asked you the question, what has real truth in it, and enough to rattle your cage.

I dedicated a thread to this myself, sort of. It fits with what you said.

My title was too plain, though. Few clicks. At least someone said it in a way that it got around.

I whipped right to the end, to say what a waste of people's time!
second line is a repeat!

So, the S didn't hit the Fan?
Damn, u tricked me. I come here on ATS to read that kinda stuff.

@seeker11

No way You are serious! You. Are. A. Disinformation-agent....

Nah.. Just kidding.

The thing is.. "gossip" and sensationalsm is highly addictive. It gives that "hit" of exitement, of fear and trepidation in a good way, like in a well-constructed rollercoaster. It féels dangerous, but it is nót.

However, especially when younger, indoctrination based on fear has a deep impact on the building of neural paths ina young brain. Your unlucky past in a "cult" ( just call the beastie by it's truename ey?) has engraved certain ways of thinking and reacting in Your young brain, that made for a hard, fearful life.

Endless Kudos to You for wrestling Yourself more or less "free" of this programming. Not everyone has the luck, fortitude, and circumstances to dé-program oneself. It is a feat on it'sown.
I come from a véry religious neighborhood, and I saw children of my neighbors getting indoctrinated by their puritan Protestant parents.

Their reaction? Joining an even móre dubious cult of jesus-people named "The Living Waters" that was even móre strict than their parents and their former church éver were... Call me baffled. A city-kid in a bible-belt village, and confronted wit áctual peer-pressure to join some Waco-like cult..

Suffice to say, i politely declined all their attempts to ensnare me, but it gave a unique perspective to see a cult growing, gaining followers, and program them. Scary but also intrigueing in an almost aloof, scientific way. I was a neutral observer here. Funnily also accepted as such, after having rejected the peer-pressure. Coming from "The City" I was considerd the friendly "village-idiot" anyways, i guess

It was a large part of what shaped my later ventures in sciences, philosophy and psychology.

In Your case, I can say no more than "respec!!" You became a very balanced grown-up, despite the unpleasantness and fear in Your youth. Something that was not for the poor kids that got angled and bamboozled into these 'Living waters' suffice to say, it did not end well for a couple of them.

To end my musings, just think of ATS as an endless stream of (often) well-written Sci-Fi and fantasy, with a nucleus of truth thrown in here& there. ( that's what writing Sci-Fi is about. It múst have a connection to reality. Most Sci-Fi is also a great parable for real life as it currently stands! With a lot of normative observations mixed-in)

ATS also is a joyous celebration of all things that intrigue, bemuse, entertain, and keeps us looking at the world in wonderment and exitement. Néver forget that!

reply to post by seeker11


I hear what you're saying. And I hope you're right. But 5 years isn't a very long time. Come back in another 26 and I think you'll be singing a different tune, although I'm sure the world will still be here. But what shape will it be in? Time will tell.

Originally posted by seeker11
I didn't know how to filter out the nonsense. Alex Jones, David Icke, Wilcock, you name them, if they were on the forum I would read the information. I just absorbed absorbed and absorbed until one day I had the worst 6 hour panic attack. I have never experienced anything like it again and hope I never will. All of these crazy threads from unverifiable sources about Martial Law, the New World Order, FEMA camps, HAARP, Chemtrails, etc. started having a terrible effect on my subconscious.

There's things about Jones, Icke, and Wilcock that I really don't like.. nothing personal...but to say that everything out of their mouths.. is 100% false ... is immature and ignorant I think. You can't just completely brand the entirety of one source of information as complete BS

IMO, take it all with a grain of salt..

Originally posted by prevenge

Originally posted by seeker11
I didn't know how to filter out the nonsense. Alex Jones, David Icke, Wilcock, you name them, if they were on the forum I would read the information. I just absorbed absorbed and absorbed until one day I had the worst 6 hour panic attack. I have never experienced anything like it again and hope I never will. All of these crazy threads from unverifiable sources about Martial Law, the New World Order, FEMA camps, HAARP, Chemtrails, etc. started having a terrible effect on my subconscious.

There's things about Jones, Icke, and Wilcock that I really don't like.. nothing personal...but to say that everything out of their mouths.. is 100% false ... is immature and ignorant I think. You can't just completely brand the entirety of one source of information as complete BS

IMO, take it all with a grain of salt..

I said no such thing. I was simply saying that at that time theirs is the information I would absorb all of the time. I did not mean to imply that I thought they were or are lying only that I had no idea how to filter out the nonsensical things and I just soaked it all up in one huge glob of information so my mind just started believing as fact everything that I read. How could I presume to know what is false and what is true to that level? I would never do such a thing.

Thanks for your input.

Originally posted by canadiansenior70
I whipped right to the end, to say what a waste of people's time!
second line is a repeat!

Yes because every minute of your time sitting on ATS is Oh so valuable. well...You had time to post your reply so you wasted your own time...not my fault!

reply to post by seeker11


I totally get where you're coming from. I grew up a Catholic, used to go to church on Sundays and went to a Catholic primary school (I think you guys call it pre school in the US), so I can relate to the brainwashing that you endured. I finally woke up at the age of 18 and got out of that nonsense, I guess you could say the BSHTF for me at that time.

I can also relate to get getting a little too caught up in all this conspiracy stuff a few years ago. I needed to take a step back and clear my head. As you said, I absorbed and absorbed and absorbed until it became too much.

While I still have an interest in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, I don't dwell on them like I used to.

We should just make the most of what we have, while we have it, because life is too short to worry about what may or may not happen in the future.

reply to post by seeker11


Thank you for writing this.
I feel much the same way.
I read ATS CRITICALLY...
ATS is a curious animal. On one hand it is a place where people freely exchange ideas and information. It's a place that seems to encourage people to explore alternative theories, discuss events, share feelings, and expose truths...
On the other hand it's almost worse than the MSM and shows itself (and it's members) to be participating in what they claim to be fighting against; free-thought.
There are far too many people that believe what they read.
The best way to approach any topic is with SKEPTICISM.
I see more half-truths and out-right llies posted here than i do anywhere else.
One must be critical of any and all claims made on ATS (and anywhere else).
People are quick to say things are "true" or "fact" based on very little (or, really, NO) evidence other than a desire for it to be truth. They see what they "want" to see. If they already think something, then someone presenting "evidence" (for lack of a better word) simply reinforces their position.
What the OP said, in making the connection between the fanaticism of the "cult" and the behavior of many "ATS" posters/readers is sadly accurate.
A fact isnt a fact because you WANT it to be true.
I read ATS because it can, at times, lead me to alternative ideas and opinions. Ones that I can explore for myself. That is how one learns. You need to examine things from all sides and get all the available information before forming an opinion. As I said, people are too quick to take what others post as gospel or will state things as "fact" when they are anything but.
The "culture of conspiracy" that exists around sites like ATS (and shows like 'Coast to Coast) et al, is toxic. there has formed, despite it's stated goals (and the ideals purported by the community of conspiracy theorists - for lack of a better term.), a sort "cult" in which people are so immersed in the conspiracies that they see them everywhere and see "proof" of them everywhere. They no longer approach things in a critical or skeptical manner, but begin their thoughts on a foundation of beliefs that are, frankly, ludicrous.
When I say "ludicrous" I mean, as an example, Someone will post something like, "Barack Obama is a reptilian and he is part of some nefarious plot" (vague, I know, but purposefully. it's not the point). People will, invariably, begin replying to the thread as if it's a given that A) Reptilians do, in fact, exist and B) there is such a plan .
(To clarify, I'm not saying EVERYONE is like this, but a significant portion of the "community" at large IS and that is what I find dangerous)
Without proof, and without critical study and skepticism, many people will take that information and begin discussing it.
BLIND BELIEF is a dangerous thing.
Esoteric beliefs, whether socially accepted or fringe (think Christian or conspiracy) can be dangerous in the hands (or should I say minds) of ignorant people.
Now, the use of the word "ignorant" here does not mean "dumb" but it means "lacking in knowledge" and, even that, I mean a sort of common sense knowledge or a critical, skeptical knowledge. The sort of intuitive knowledge that people have when it comes to sorting out whats real and whats bull.
Being an ATS member or a part of the greater "conspiracy community" does not make one inherently intelligent or wise. Believing in or espousing conspiracy theories does not mean one has a greater knowledge or understanding of the truth. In many way, those proponents of conspiracy are often the same sort of people that fall victim to fraud or would be lured into a cult. There's an allure to the supposed "esoteric" and a longing to be a part of something bigger than ourselves (see OP) and "CONSPIRACY" fits the bill nicely.
I'm sure, by now, many of you are furiously typing out your retorts, and I don't blame you. Some of you will feel offended by this or it will cut to the bone. I'm fine with that. I'm not here to argue the point, but simply make it.
What I hope for is a community that approaches these ideas CRITICALLY and SKEPTICALLY. If we really want TRUTH or to effect CHANGE we have to take our research SERIOUSLY. We have to get away from the "Carnival Barker" mentality and (as the OP stated) SENSATIONALISM.
Not every ATS member or member of the greater community has the ability to see through the bull. It's on us to not lend credibility to that which isnt credible. It's on us to weed out the "crazy" as it were.
These Skeptical terms help when reading through a site like ATS: The biggest being COMMUNAL REINFORCEMNT, APPEAL TO AUTHORITY, CONFIRMATION BIAS, PIOUS FRAUD, CIRCULAR REASONING, TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE, POST HOC FALLACY, REGRESSIVE FALLACY, STRAWMAN ARGUMENTS, SPOTLIGHT FALLACY, RETROSPECTIVE FALSIFICATION, ARGUMENT TO IGNORANCE, CLUSTERING ILLUSION, etc, etc.
BE A SKEPTIC. THINK.

reply to post by seeker11


yes. i agree too. this is completely on target as well.

reply to post by MuchTooSerious


Yes, If I learned anything from my extreme religious upbringing it's that blind faith can be a very dangerous thing. And it is such an easy thing to fall into. Excitement for a new idea is generated, a few people come together and support it, eventually they convince enough other people to follow and support, then eventually the idea becomes a centralized fact and before long every other idea is renounced and the 'outsiders' ostracized. It can and does happen both ways. Skepticism is important. Never stop being curious and never shut off that part of your brain that persistently asks why, because there is probably a good reason for those little pesky questions in our heads.

Thank you for your in depth reply.

Great OP!

I have only been a member for about a month now, but I have seen how one can get so sucked into the "doom and gloom" or "everything is a conspiracy" that you can lose hold of reality. And there is just as much disinformation here as there is on cable news, the difference is the disinformation is far more entertaining here and I can give a pass to regular people who aren't broadcasting their "truth" to the masses, posing as experts.

I read ATS regularly because I do want to hear the other side of the story, but I have learned to read alternative news VERY critically.

YO! Bitch! We are the ones we been waiting for!

AND we brought BEER!

Originally posted by rainbowbear
YO! Bitch! We are the ones we been waiting for!

AND we brought BEER!

lol i've heard that before SO many times.
but there might be some truth to it, in the end the only being that can free and save you is yourself.