Being a 29 year old I have the same mindset. Just not a parent yet. Those skills are important for survival in general. Without basic skepticism people tend to abuse control. Or healthy skepticism at least.

same age, same situation. can't wait to teach my future kids the way

I hope you are nicer to your kids then some of the people in this threads parents were

People should always question everything on a reasonable basis. That said, basic or healthy skepticism is almost non-existent here. Comments that question the prevailing group validation here are usually downvoted or buried

"The upbringing that my sister and I had was quite unlike anybody I grew up with. We were taught to always question what you are told and never assume that just because it was said/written it's the truth. How to live off the land. What to do if certain situations arrose."

Sounds like you had level-headed, forward-thinking parents.

Consider yourself lucky.

I had a similar upbringing to you, my old man was an engineer into ufo's/conspiracies, and mother into eastern teachings. Lots of rare books I still have worth thousands because they are out of print, weekends were filled with debates with professors, neighbors of various trades and all my friends were all anti-system question everything.

We were all looked at in High school as outsiders, but because I woke so many, we were like 40 deep and no one cared fuck with us. Eventually many of the same people who mocked, would later see me or FB me and say I was right all along.

My father is a hardcore prepper/conspiracy theorist. Other than him being a generally shitty dad, he taught me a lot of useful things. He leaned more towards paranoia than skepticism, but I even learned from that to never lean too extreme in any one direction.

Now that I'm raising a kid, I'm teaching them the good (how to live off the land and self-defense) and leaving out the bad (never trust anyone paranoia). So overall I think that aspect of my father's parenting was a good thing.

While I do have people in my life I trust, I think “trust nobody” is still good advice. ;)

It's a good adage, but terrible in practice. My father was incapable of having close relationships with anyone, either because he was paranoid or a narcissist (or perhaps due to both). He was always cynical of everything and everyone and it could often be exhausting.

Meanwhile, I'm a fan of the "it takes a village" philosophy and exposing that outlook to my kid as well. So much of life and happiness depends on one's perspective, and I'd much rather gift them hope and optimism than paranoia and skepticism.

And of course to be prepared should everyone disappoint and the world go to shit. ;)

"it takes a village"

Okay Hillary.

You prefer the “every man is an island” philosophy?

You and Hillary Clinton agree. Why are you attacking me? You're the one that agrees with Hannibal Lector. Piss off, mate.

Attacking you? Hannibal Lector? Piss off?

Dude, I think you need to take a vacation or a nice hike out in nature. Because you escalated that big time.

Says the guy who agrees with Hillary Clinton's "it takes a village" philosophy.

Jeez how cynical

Says the religion of "science". How progressive and modern of you!

lmao what magical machine are using to communicate?

Did the Russian Orthodox church invent the magic of the "Internet"

What does that have to do with the "science" of human happiness?

The scientific method is still the best way to 'know' anything. Go ahead and point out flaws in science. Im not arguing that the human process of science is perfect.

There is nothing that can replace the scientific method for proving things, as can be easily seen by looking at all it has done, and all that religion has not.

You aren't even answering the question. You glow so bright.

What?

Rephrase your question in a way thats meaningful then

I like that. I tend to be a good read of people and have only been wrong a handful of times, but I also keep my circle small. I have tiered relationships:

• Top tier - I'd take a bullet for and trust if I am running from the government
• Second tier - I trust to share my personal information with
• Third tier - I invite over for dinner and parties but keep it light
• Fourth tier- I'm friendly, but don't particularly care for
• Fifth tier - everyone else

Listen to what people are saying but watch their hands

I think the meaning of that is talk is one thing, but watch what they actually do

Good advice. A lot of big talkers in the world

I dont know how many people are aware of this, but we all suffer from paranoia, and were all slightly paranoid schizophrenic, for some reason in some people, its all consuming.

Its actually a survival tactic and helped make sure that humans are still around today, by having a healthy fear, they were able to avoid walking into the lions den, so to speak.

Another readers explanation for it. I found a blog trying to find evidence to support my theory, but its certainly buried deep somewhere, or maybe im just not googling the right things. The blog has a personal story of someone who copes with paranoid schizophrenia and this is a comment from another user on there that explains it a little better than me.

​

The entire biological system for fight or flight is evolutionary (or at least said to be). Paranoia as in the anticipated fear something may happen, but that fear can be inconsistent with reality and irrational.

When we used fight or flight in ancient times several mental modules were employed to detect possible predators (or even prey). This could include imagination, which is the basis of paranoid fear. Our imagination could scope out hundreds of different possibilities as to what may be lurking just beyond the treeline, as opposed to someone without a paranoid imagination who became eaten. Essentially those who took it safer were less sorry.

As these psychological processes aren't relevant in our modern society, they are no longer useful and are vestigial (like the appendix). This is all speculation of course, so if you're curious do read further.

​

The town motto of the place I grew up in was "question authority". Parents were hippies, into eastern mysticism and stuff, but not particularly concerned with politics. When 9/11 happened, everyone across the board assumed it was an inside job. My highschool journalism teacher taught us about how the gov trafficked crack into ghettos...Iran Contra, Rick Ross, Gary Webb, the whole deal. He also believed AIDS was created by the government to specifically target Gay and Black communities.

It was a blessing to be raised there.

your parents are my heros!

If you lived in 1858 and your dad took the family west you'd have to learn defenses for credible threats: bandits, Indians, dying from a myriad of threats, shooting a gun, finding water, tracking, hunting, animal care etc..

The threats are different today. They can come from conspiracies like the recent run up in college expenses and the consequent loans. The banks conspired with the administrators to jack up their own students. 15 years ago you could go to state universities for mere hundreds of dollars. How about the conspiracy to make everyone pay the equivalent of a second apartment rental, for healthcare? These corrupt conspiracies are milking the public like cows. Wouldn't you want to know about what you are up against, current credible threats? What's next? Either plug in or don't.

Agree completely.

My dad is a full on sovereign citizen. Bona-fide AF. Strawman, birth certificate/SSN, dept. Of commerce/treasury account with 1.? million he can't seem to spend. . .

He once tried to convince me to expatriate, file my UCC whatevers, but as I was a minor, I would become his legal property bullshit. . .

His dad was the same. It made me aware that there was and is a different reality where I'm not an individual, but piece of human capital, a wage slave. But what I think I got most out of it was a sense of responsibility for conducting my own due diligence.

He didn't get along with his father. I don't get along with him. He's a pathological narcissistic and a sociopath. An out bad former 1%er. He is incredibly smart, but ideologically bent.

My dad (I commented elsewhere in this thread) is also a narcissist (and asshole). Makes me wonder how many of these “sovereign citizen” guys are? Because skepticism and openness to conspiracy theories is good, but that kind of extremism is... well... extreme, and perhaps not particularly healthy. Especially in a family environment.

Its not a surprise that people who choose to live this way are built a certain way. It doesnt really seem like a happy way to live, or to think

How many of them actually had black helicopters come for them

No black helicopters came for him (a meth cook cousin of mine, however. . .) that I know of, but he was visited in relation to stuff related to his service in Vietnam. Pictures torn out of photo albums and other memorabilia was collected and burned in our backyard. This was apparently after a sister of mine took an envelope of photos of carnage to show and tell at school. I was a just a baby crow at the time and didn't understand what Dad's "friends" wanted or why.

Also, over other shitty things, he spent 7 years in prison. 3 of them were illegal, and he won a lawsuit over it. So one could say he was in a position to entertain the ideology and latch on the philosophy behind Redemption and sovereign citizenship. I just thank Pete that he isn't affiliated with any militias or organizations.

was he able to successfully complete the process?

I don't know how to answer that. He certainly isn't benefitting from it if it were successful. I never saw any documentation nor did I ask to see any. I did read the Redemption manuals and related propaganda. He's still a 14th Amendment Citizen. He has full disability from the VA due to what he endured through two overseas combat tours (Vietnam, 25th infantry division 2-22 mechanized infantry, Phoenix Program), pays taxes, etc.

I believe what he had to do greatly shaped his disposition after being discharged. Like the saying goes, "He came home a different person." In the mid 90s, he was found guilty and convicted of child rape - he turned himself in and pleaded innocent - which earned him 4 years in prison, then he was held illegally for an additional 3 years past his release date. He won a lawsuit against the State of Washington and the DOC. Sometime during hisimprisonment is when he pursued sovereign citizenship (Redemption!).

More anti-authoritatian than conspiracy theorists, they were both very well educated (ivy leaguers) but also grew up poor and since traveled enough to have a deep understanding of the world. They taught me to not be afraid to question what I was taught and to really examine complex issues instead of just accepting what politicians or the media says is right. It meant I have always been skeptical and contrarian and definitely gotten along with conspiracy theorists when talking about politics or banking or the current neoliberal order. They were also anti-war which is probably the biggest part of my conspiracy journey growing up most in post 9/11 america where everyone was bought into an american exceptionalism and eating up narratives like saddam had WDMs.

I was raised by socialists & capitalists who questioned everything. One part of my family used to have thousands of socialists from all over the United States meet at summer cabins all over the midwest.

The other side of the family was involved in bookmaking & I don't mean making literature.

They were people from all walks of life.

I used to deliver Socialist Labor Party newspapers published out of Palo Alto California early weekend mornings with my grandfather & collect tens of thousands in cash in paper grocery bags from from accountants who lost big on football games.

You grow up reading the analysis in that SLP publication of the machinations of the US Govt & economy & you will never look at the world around you the same again.

I could also say the same about reading Investor's Business Daily.

In both cases they provided an somewhat extreme perspective that makes my empathetic to the working class people & at the same time make money by being more than a crony capitalist working stiff so to speak.

Lol anyone who was raised by a hippy was raised by a conspiracy theorist.

Hippies have such a negative connotation to it also, when they are one of the only generations to speak out and try to make a change. Us millennials are sad excuses for human beings. Were going to be the generation that gets blamed for letting everything go to shit, even though its the older generations controlling everything still thanks to our healthcare and the rich get live way longer than your average person.

Its also a double edged sword, while i have no doubt you have a lifetime of great memories and experiences, (so do i), but was it not lonely? Doesnt it suck when you cant trust 99% of people because all they want to do is take advantage of you somehow. I still can hear my grandma saying sometimes " Now name, dont trust anyone, they only want to take advantage of you." While thats somewhat true, i felt sad thats what my grandma believed. Like you, quality over quantity is important. I may not have a ton of friends, but the ones i have i would put my life on the line for, and i know they would do the same.

My dad used to talk about all these things back in the early 90's, and i just had no idea what he was talking about, it wasnt until 9/11 that i seen it with my own eyes. Even as a kid in highschool, who still believed that our superior leaders would never intentionally harm us, i kept thinking.... that looks like a controlled demolition. As a geek i was fascinated with rockets and explosives, so at that point in time I had already seen dozens, and dozens, and dozens of these things done on t.v. It was after that I actually started listening to what my dad was saying...

Somedays i wish i could be ignorant again, to just live my life in blissful ignorance, but at this stage i feel like everything is burning around us, and 1/2 the people cant see it. It truly is alot like that old kid's story about the king who was sold "invisible" robes.

millennials are sad excuses for human beings.

blame the fascist gen Xers who are in management jobs now.

Reagan's little mindless robots.

Nope. Was raised by an Intel guy, though.

The weirdest part about it is watching the pain people go through when realizing what is actually going on. It is very unsettling. People really do believe we live in a fairytale wonderland where everything is fine and our leaders are great and the TV is honest and school is the best place to send your children.

Then they get all outraged when it doesn't work out that way and I'm left wondering...wait...you actually believed them?

I was raised by "conspiracy"-leaning parents. Homeschooled. No TV. They were very sane and rational about it. They worked hard as hell, I can only hope to do as good a job for my own children in the future. A debt that can never be repaid, only paid forward.

My oldest started school this year and she loves it. I hate that I put her in because it was our plan to homeschool but with 3 kids I would not be doing her any favors.

I had no real TV growing up... my dad had a portable 4” b&w screened one he kept on a shelf in case of emergency. People think that is more insane than saying the earth is flat.

Daughter of a theorist here. My dad was never out there when I was younger but I knew he was on another level from most. I don’t recall him ever pushing anything on us but he did teach us about money, debt and he’s an avid gardener with yard birds and a lot of dry rice and self canned food.

At some point in my life I started to question the news. 9/11 was probably the start. Sandy Hook seemed odd to me. When Hillary lost the election I said Zuckerberg would be taken down or bow down even further giving up more control of FB to TPTB and both seem to be happening. Pretty sure everyone thought I was crazy but that was the reason I quit Facebook for good. My current thing that I haven’t spent too much time on is the distance between earth and moon (I think it’s closer than we are made to believe) and how the shadow of the earth covering the moon looks different with my own eyes than what it should be according to NASA. I have a hard time talking about a topic until I feel I’ve mastered it so if anyone has some moon distance theories throw them my way.

I slowly started to reveal to my dad my thoughts and I think he was relieved? My brother is similar. I love it. The conversations we have are a lot of fun.

Thankfully my husband doesn’t think I’m too crazy. He actually gets a lot of it too.

Not raised by alternative thinkers but I think that is why I started thinking alternatively. Hear me out, I was always told that school was the most important thing. No parties no video games no nothing was more important than getting an education. Coming from parents that saw the meaningless in life if education wasn't a priority they intended to give me priority in life by suggesting that the thing they didn't have was priority because it couldn't get worse then slaving away to make ends meet at a low level labor work force. The reason they wanted me to excel in school was the very same reason I realized it wasn't about school. It wasn't about learning if anything it was about learning to work people, meaning manipulation of people. This is what they thought they were teaching me by adhering to school. It wasn't until I started college and all the excitement subsided that I realized I was playing in a shark tank as a minnow. It hit me hard and to be honest I'm surprised I finished my degree. I don't blame my parent as they thought it was the way to go since they knew better from their circumstances. I just hope mine are a few steps further for my children if I decide or am able to have any, whether born or adopted. Teaching should be anybody's last homework in this life.

It may have been my post. I hid it bc I was being weird. I am saving this post to read later so I can see what people say... link to my post since i unhid it...

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https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/7003c9/how_to_raisetalk_to_kids_in_a_world_full_of_deceit/?utm_content=title&utm_medium=user&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=frontpage

“No matter how cynical I get, I just can’t keep up.” – Lily Tomlin

Hey im 26 and I think it is funny that reading your post makes think that is how I will raise my children. You seem to be aware and "woke" from a young age. I do wonder though, should children be allowed to be "asleep" during their early youth so they can have a view or happiness and a pure world? Idk im single atm so most likely my future spouse would add some flair into child raising.

Anyway great post, your parents sound like great people, as are you im sure! ☺

"it takes a village"

Okay Hillary.

No black helicopters came for him (a meth cook cousin of mine, however. . .) that I know of, but he was visited in relation to stuff related to his service in Vietnam. Pictures torn out of photo albums and other memorabilia was collected and burned in our backyard. This was apparently after a sister of mine took an envelope of photos of carnage to show and tell at school. I was a just a baby crow at the time and didn't understand what Dad's "friends" wanted or why.

Also, over other shitty things, he spent 7 years in prison. 3 of them were illegal, and he won a lawsuit over it. So one could say he was in a position to entertain the ideology and latch on the philosophy behind Redemption and sovereign citizenship. I just thank Pete that he isn't affiliated with any militias or organizations.

Says the guy who agrees with Hillary Clinton's "it takes a village" philosophy.