Look for a GOOD motive behind the claims. I recently got an email from a liberal I know ranting about Flat Earth believers. He kept harping on how the people who believed there was a conspiracy to conceal a flat Earth never had a good reason for all the world's governments to unite behind a conspiracy like that and stick with it. He's right. Whatever science you bring to the argument there's never been any compelling arguments as to WHY the conspiracy would be started in the first place let alone maintained for thousands of years.
There has to be a benefit for conspiracies, even if the benefit is mere amusement. The site 4chan started a rumor you could recharge an iPhone 6 by microwaving it. People believed it. People destroyed their phones trying it. The motive for the rumor was "for the LOLS." While that's the motive of a degenerate, it's still a plausible motive.
"To keep us from shooting the elephants the flat Earth rests on," is NOT a plausible motive for a round Earth conspiracy.
There are no filters when researching this stuff. I suggest you get comfortable with relying on your own brain, reading multiple sources, reading between the lines, and taking things with a grain of salt. Stuff wont be handed to you on a silver platter. That would defeat the whole purpose of learning and growing.
Use your mind, via your eyes.
Seriously though, all those things belong here too and you'll just have to use your discretion and pass by the stuff that isn't of interest to you personally. That's what the rest of us do.
Evidence is a good place to start. Obviously with conspiracy theories, there isn't enough evidence to prove it, else it'd be a conspiracy fact (as some have become over time). But I tend to favor those that offer at least some semblance of evidence.
Following that, I tend to try to put them to a test of questions. The execution of a conspiracy is often risky and expensive. Therefore, it would seem logical that unless it's Emperor Palpatine executing it for no other reason than to be an evil fuck, someone has to benefit. There are rational questions that can be derived from that notion:
Who benefits? How do they benefit? How is the benefit so significant that it overcomes the inherent risk of ruin of doing something unlawful and harmful to obtain it? How do they keep quiet the people who would need to be complicit?
Little bit of evidence plus plausible answers to questions like that, yeah, it might be worth more thought and time.
It becomes a matter of demanding that people do their own research (and the fact that through that they can come to the right conclusion, regardless of what they’re told is right). And then the real problem becomes laziness. Most people don’t care enough to do anything but parrot what they’re told. They won’t do that work on their own, so they get lost.
That's like asking "how do I know if that guy in the forum is not a troll" answer is you don't. Just trust in your mind. Whatever makes sense to you, believe it. Or go out there and create a web plugin to filter the conspiracy theories based on a ranking system you made up.
Some pieces just fit better than the others. Filter out anything that you could never ever prove for yourself, and things that Hollywood, movies popularise. Trust your gut. There is somewhat of an end to this tunnel. Good luck!
just keep learning. as you keep improving your knowledge base, your filter will improve. things you thought were silly 6 months ago will now be self-evident. and vice versa.
Yes. Looking into flat earth will lead into looking into NASA which would lead to looking into PaperClip. It is ridiculed for a reason. To keep attention away from something else.
People are not stupid. People are just scared to look stupid.
The ones who don't vote, sure lazy. Some will vote though.
People are smart.
Yet most of them who do vote will vote for the candidates that absolutely without question are the most likely to fuck them over the hardest if they get the office.
So do you just see the boat forever no matter how far away it goes? because that is the only other option. I live on a god damn island, I'm not talking about anything I was taught I'm taking about something I saw daily since before I could speak. P.S., if I look out over the ocean I cant see to england, why is that?
With modern cell phones we can now measure the angle of the sun above the sky and prove this using photos and skype chat or periscope, etc. of things like flag poles, etc.
They either agree with round earth or flat earth. You can do this with a buddy using simple measurements with a buddy talking on the phone. Like if one of you is in Saint Louis, and the other is in New Orleans
If the shadows is suppose 120 units and it is only 100 units, etc. (or vice-versa) then there is something wrong.
A good day to test this is the equinox.
Have your buddy who you trust be one place, and you be in the other
Other similar pairs of cities exist, like Maimi and Pittsburg, or Seattle and San Francisco, etc you can find many such pairs. The farther apart the better.
It would be a fun experiment.
Since NASA can't be faking the angle of the sun everyplace on earth.
Major Companies are fighting with tomorrow's weapons already. One group deployed something that another had to counter. Someone has a way of Meshing all Networks together including Neural Networks so everyone is worried.
With modern cell phones we can now measure the angle of the sun above the sky and prove this using photos and skype chat or periscope, etc. of things like flag poles, etc.
They either agree with round earth or flat earth. You can do this with a buddy using simple measurements with a buddy talking on the phone. Like if one of you is in Saint Louis, and the other is in New Orleans
If the shadows is suppose 120 units and it is only 100 units, etc. (or vice-versa) then there is something wrong.
A good day to test this is the equinox.
Have your buddy who you trust be one place, and you be in the other
Other similar pairs of cities exist, like Maimi and Pittsburg, or Seattle and San Francisco, etc you can find many such pairs. The farther apart the better.
It would be a fun experiment.
Since NASA can't be faking the angle of the sun everyplace on earth.
41 comments
3 PeterCornswalled 2016-03-01
Look for a GOOD motive behind the claims. I recently got an email from a liberal I know ranting about Flat Earth believers. He kept harping on how the people who believed there was a conspiracy to conceal a flat Earth never had a good reason for all the world's governments to unite behind a conspiracy like that and stick with it. He's right. Whatever science you bring to the argument there's never been any compelling arguments as to WHY the conspiracy would be started in the first place let alone maintained for thousands of years.
There has to be a benefit for conspiracies, even if the benefit is mere amusement. The site 4chan started a rumor you could recharge an iPhone 6 by microwaving it. People believed it. People destroyed their phones trying it. The motive for the rumor was "for the LOLS." While that's the motive of a degenerate, it's still a plausible motive.
"To keep us from shooting the elephants the flat Earth rests on," is NOT a plausible motive for a round Earth conspiracy.
1 Putin_loves_cats 2016-03-01
There are no filters when researching this stuff. I suggest you get comfortable with relying on your own brain, reading multiple sources, reading between the lines, and taking things with a grain of salt. Stuff wont be handed to you on a silver platter. That would defeat the whole purpose of learning and growing.
1 IntellisaurDinoAlien 2016-03-01
Use your mind, via your eyes.
Seriously though, all those things belong here too and you'll just have to use your discretion and pass by the stuff that isn't of interest to you personally. That's what the rest of us do.
1 thc1967 2016-03-01
How do I filter nonsense from sense?
Evidence is a good place to start. Obviously with conspiracy theories, there isn't enough evidence to prove it, else it'd be a conspiracy fact (as some have become over time). But I tend to favor those that offer at least some semblance of evidence.
Following that, I tend to try to put them to a test of questions. The execution of a conspiracy is often risky and expensive. Therefore, it would seem logical that unless it's Emperor Palpatine executing it for no other reason than to be an evil fuck, someone has to benefit. There are rational questions that can be derived from that notion:
Who benefits? How do they benefit? How is the benefit so significant that it overcomes the inherent risk of ruin of doing something unlawful and harmful to obtain it? How do they keep quiet the people who would need to be complicit?
Little bit of evidence plus plausible answers to questions like that, yeah, it might be worth more thought and time.
0 metabolix 2016-03-01
Right on! This is the only right way to do it.
1 BobJohnsonIsRight 2016-03-01
Does it stand up to the scientific process?
If not, fake. If so, real.
3 IntellisaurDinoAlien 2016-03-01
Really?
3 BobJohnsonIsRight 2016-03-01
The scientific theory has nothing to do with what any given scientific institution does to corrupt the distribution of knowledge.
The procedure is outside human action. It remains when people do not.
1 IntellisaurDinoAlien 2016-03-01
The scientific theory and method is all very well, it's the scientific result that is bought and sold though and that's what really matters.
1 BobJohnsonIsRight 2016-03-01
It becomes a matter of demanding that people do their own research (and the fact that through that they can come to the right conclusion, regardless of what they’re told is right). And then the real problem becomes laziness. Most people don’t care enough to do anything but parrot what they’re told. They won’t do that work on their own, so they get lost.
1 wanderingbubble 2016-03-01
That's like asking "how do I know if that guy in the forum is not a troll" answer is you don't. Just trust in your mind. Whatever makes sense to you, believe it. Or go out there and create a web plugin to filter the conspiracy theories based on a ranking system you made up.
0 daddie_o 2016-03-01
Here are two excellent essays that have helped me a lot when trying to spot disinfo:
http://mileswmathis.com/guru.pdf
http://mileswmathis.com/glenn.pdf
0 metabolix 2016-03-01
Some pieces just fit better than the others. Filter out anything that you could never ever prove for yourself, and things that Hollywood, movies popularise. Trust your gut. There is somewhat of an end to this tunnel. Good luck!
0 CaucasianEagle 2016-03-01
Experience.
-1 flyyyyyyyyy 2016-03-01
just keep learning. as you keep improving your knowledge base, your filter will improve. things you thought were silly 6 months ago will now be self-evident. and vice versa.
just keep digging.
-2 Lo0seR 2016-03-01
Join the NSA.
-4 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
The more ridicule a subject gets the more you should look into it.
Mind Control is going to be huge in the coming weeks.
6 thc1967 2016-03-01
By that statement, Flat Earth would clearly be true.
0 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
I did not say believe. I said look into.
1 thc1967 2016-03-01
FE is worth looking into? Among the most so, because it is among the most ridiculed?
0 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
Yes. Looking into flat earth will lead into looking into NASA which would lead to looking into PaperClip. It is ridiculed for a reason. To keep attention away from something else.
People are not stupid. People are just scared to look stupid.
1 thc1967 2016-03-01
Or you could skip the Flat Earth bullshit and look right at NASA or whatever else...
Voters across the USA today will prove that wrong.
2 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
Average Joes fall for the NASA facade. They have to be looking for issues outside the set narrative. FE is an issue outside of the set narrative.
That is people being lazy. People are smart.
2 Lo0seR 2016-03-01
Or clairvoyant, a real mental giant that just happens to have all the right answers .
1 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
They exist.
0 Lo0seR 2016-03-01
Sorry, just being sarcastic, the regulars came out for the usual condensending comment control.
1 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
I know. I was just saying. The regulars are getting sloppy too.
0 thc1967 2016-03-01
The ones who don't vote, sure lazy. Some will vote though.
Yet most of them who do vote will vote for the candidates that absolutely without question are the most likely to fuck them over the hardest if they get the office.
That ain't smart.
-9 metabolix 2016-03-01
Actually flat earth is true. NASA is a propaganda agency not a fucking space agency. You must be getting your facts from Hollywood movies?
14 JesusaurusPrime 2016-03-01
Go to a beach anywhere on planet earth and watch a boat sail away.
-16 metabolix 2016-03-01
Done that. And surprise, surprise, it doesn't dip into the horizon as we are taught! :P
30 JesusaurusPrime 2016-03-01
So do you just see the boat forever no matter how far away it goes? because that is the only other option. I live on a god damn island, I'm not talking about anything I was taught I'm taking about something I saw daily since before I could speak. P.S., if I look out over the ocean I cant see to england, why is that?
-1 metabolix 2016-03-01
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEqDbsPUgH8
7 DethFiesta 2016-03-01
Yes, yes it does. And it is trivially easy to prove that it does.
https://deadconfederates.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/hull-down-03.png
http://stupidconspiracies.org/misc/toronto.gif
It is trivially easy to prove that the Earth is not flat. This is why I was banned from /r/theworldisflat.
6 joedl1 2016-03-01
You are an imbecile.
3 LordCheeses 2016-03-01
Yes it does.
5 Scientologist2a 2016-03-01
Then the important test question is
With modern cell phones we can now measure the angle of the sun above the sky and prove this using photos and skype chat or periscope, etc. of things like flag poles, etc.
They either agree with round earth or flat earth. You can do this with a buddy using simple measurements with a buddy talking on the phone. Like if one of you is in Saint Louis, and the other is in New Orleans
Diagram
If the shadows is suppose 120 units and it is only 100 units, etc. (or vice-versa) then there is something wrong.
A good day to test this is the equinox.
Have your buddy who you trust be one place, and you be in the other
Other similar pairs of cities exist, like Maimi and Pittsburg, or Seattle and San Francisco, etc you can find many such pairs. The farther apart the better.
It would be a fun experiment.
Since NASA can't be faking the angle of the sun everyplace on earth.
1 metabolix 2016-03-01
hmmm good experiment... will try it!
1 Scientologist2a 2016-03-01
using trig calculators you can figure out how high the sun should be.
they should all be in agreement
1 [deleted] 2016-03-01
[deleted]
2 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
Major Companies are fighting with tomorrow's weapons already. One group deployed something that another had to counter. Someone has a way of Meshing all Networks together including Neural Networks so everyone is worried.
1 [deleted] 2016-03-01
[deleted]
1 BrotherSpartacus 2016-03-01
People are worried for a reason.
http://www.businessinsider.com/when-artificial-intelligence-turns-scary-2015-5
14 JesusaurusPrime 2016-03-01
Go to a beach anywhere on planet earth and watch a boat sail away.
5 Scientologist2a 2016-03-01
Then the important test question is
With modern cell phones we can now measure the angle of the sun above the sky and prove this using photos and skype chat or periscope, etc. of things like flag poles, etc.
They either agree with round earth or flat earth. You can do this with a buddy using simple measurements with a buddy talking on the phone. Like if one of you is in Saint Louis, and the other is in New Orleans
Diagram
If the shadows is suppose 120 units and it is only 100 units, etc. (or vice-versa) then there is something wrong.
A good day to test this is the equinox.
Have your buddy who you trust be one place, and you be in the other
Other similar pairs of cities exist, like Maimi and Pittsburg, or Seattle and San Francisco, etc you can find many such pairs. The farther apart the better.
It would be a fun experiment.
Since NASA can't be faking the angle of the sun everyplace on earth.