CHF
Illuminator
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2006
- Messages
- 3,871
The shooting at the Pentagon illustrates something that I've long been concerned about when it comes to the truth movement.
Average truthers are not dangerous, nor is the movement itself. Most truthers are what I'd call "casual believers" - the kind of people who claim there was a massive conspiracy because it's exciting and makes them feel as if they have special knowledge denied to the masses. It's a self-esteem thing, really.
Even the truthers who are more devoted and attend street actions, and drive off their friends and family, are not generally dangerous. Pitiful losers, yes, but not dangerous.
The real danger of the TM, IMO, is found in how truthers deal with those who really are insane.
Now I know it's easy to say that truthers by definition are crazy or insane (I'm certainly guilty of throwing those label around), but most of them are not clinically insane. They're just stupid. Indeed many of them don't really seem to believe it themselves deep down - hense their shocking reluctance to take any sort of real, meaningful action. To them it's just something they adopt to add excitement and meaning to an otherwise pointless life (it's either that or get a girlfriend and we know that ain't happening).
But there certainly are mentally ill people out there - sick people who need medication, councelling or a bed in an institution.
And what do truthers do for these poor people? Why, they tell them that they're perfectly right to be so paranoid, of course.
They tell them that the CIA really does follow them and really does tap their phone lines. There really is a conspiracy to stage terror attacks and set up a world-wide police state. There really is a plan to round up all truthers and put them into Dachau-syle FEMA death camps.
While this sort of nonsense is all good fun for the rank-and-file it's downright dangerous for folks like J. Patrick Bedell.
Given that such people really, really believe this stuff (unlike the frauds who claim they do yet refuse to even seek a peer-review), how can the mentally ill not lash out? Indeed, to them attacking government targets is a legitimate act of self-defence. And perhaps they'd be right to some degree if there really was a plan to round us up into camps. But there isn't!
While truthers are not criminally responsible for the actions of the mentally ill, they sure as hell are adding to the problem by working to confirm mentally ill delusions.
Average truthers are not dangerous, nor is the movement itself. Most truthers are what I'd call "casual believers" - the kind of people who claim there was a massive conspiracy because it's exciting and makes them feel as if they have special knowledge denied to the masses. It's a self-esteem thing, really.
Even the truthers who are more devoted and attend street actions, and drive off their friends and family, are not generally dangerous. Pitiful losers, yes, but not dangerous.
The real danger of the TM, IMO, is found in how truthers deal with those who really are insane.
Now I know it's easy to say that truthers by definition are crazy or insane (I'm certainly guilty of throwing those label around), but most of them are not clinically insane. They're just stupid. Indeed many of them don't really seem to believe it themselves deep down - hense their shocking reluctance to take any sort of real, meaningful action. To them it's just something they adopt to add excitement and meaning to an otherwise pointless life (it's either that or get a girlfriend and we know that ain't happening).
But there certainly are mentally ill people out there - sick people who need medication, councelling or a bed in an institution.
And what do truthers do for these poor people? Why, they tell them that they're perfectly right to be so paranoid, of course.
They tell them that the CIA really does follow them and really does tap their phone lines. There really is a conspiracy to stage terror attacks and set up a world-wide police state. There really is a plan to round up all truthers and put them into Dachau-syle FEMA death camps.
While this sort of nonsense is all good fun for the rank-and-file it's downright dangerous for folks like J. Patrick Bedell.
Given that such people really, really believe this stuff (unlike the frauds who claim they do yet refuse to even seek a peer-review), how can the mentally ill not lash out? Indeed, to them attacking government targets is a legitimate act of self-defence. And perhaps they'd be right to some degree if there really was a plan to round us up into camps. But there isn't!
While truthers are not criminally responsible for the actions of the mentally ill, they sure as hell are adding to the problem by working to confirm mentally ill delusions.
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