Truthers are conspiracy theorists, plain and simple.
Truthers are also troublemakers - Internet troublemakers. Their actions can be summed up by way of a paragraph lifted from the pages of Debunking 9/11 Myths (yes - the very well written, well resourced book written by the staff of Popular Mechanics), which says:
Truthers take advantage of the fact that whatever is posted on the internet is there to stay. How many times have I attempted a search engine for a legitimate political topic and receive a list of conspiracy theorist websites? A good example of this would be to do a search for “Henry Kissinger New World Order” and see what you get! Here’s what returned for me: http://tinyurl.com/39dz7hq
There are other examples of CT’s mischief. There’s the Mythbusters forum! My guess is that Truthers were bombarding this forum with ridiculous “9/11 Was an Inside Job” remarks and posting YouTube videos and this is what led forum moderators to do the following…
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9701967776/m/7951972999
Another example of the “keep repeating and see what sticks” technique would be the endless barrage of comments posted on various YouTube 9/11 videos…
http://tinyurl.com/24ewjac
...as well as the endless barrage of Truther videos that have been posted ad nauseam since 2006! Doing a search on YouTube for “9/11” will return a colossal quantity of misinformation. IMO, I would say YouTube is the hallmark of the “KR & SWS” technique!
Some fascinating yet disturbing examples of Truther mischief can also be seen here…
Then there is the king of all troublemakers…
http://www.infowars.com/
…and his minions…
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/
And of course, you can always get a taste of Truther mayhem by just perusing the JREF Conspiracy Theories sub forum!
And so I ask – Is there a reasonable approach to alleviating such mischief on the Internet? Truthers really aren’t harming anyone, are they? Could be… http://tinyurl.com/2g9yg6b
In any case, there is a point where you draw the line and say enough is enough. It’s reasonable that people have concerns and want to express their opinions. But when those opinions get so much to the point that you cannot even post a message on a forum (see Mythbusters example above), it’s ridiculous!
I think a simple statement would be to tell Truthers to simply KNOCK IT OFF! Other members of JREF have suggested just ignoring them which is another excellent idea!
Reference:
Meigs, J. (2006). Repetition. In B. R. David Dunbar, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand up to the Facts (pp. 98-99). New York: Hearst Books.
Truthers are also troublemakers - Internet troublemakers. Their actions can be summed up by way of a paragraph lifted from the pages of Debunking 9/11 Myths (yes - the very well written, well resourced book written by the staff of Popular Mechanics), which says:
In the early days of the Internet, some commentators worried that material posted online would be ephemeral. In fact the opposite is true. On the Internet, errors can last forever – repeated, cross-referenced, and passed from site to site in an endless daisy chain. The essentially nonchronological nature of the Internet contributes to this phenomenon. Many postings don’t have dates, so it is difficult for readers to see what information has been disproven or superseded. Mainstream journalism makes at least an attempt to correct mistakes and prevent them from being repeated in later stories. This conspiracy movement prefers a see-what-sticks approach: Throw everything against the wall, and keep throwing (Meigs, 2006).
Truthers take advantage of the fact that whatever is posted on the internet is there to stay. How many times have I attempted a search engine for a legitimate political topic and receive a list of conspiracy theorist websites? A good example of this would be to do a search for “Henry Kissinger New World Order” and see what you get! Here’s what returned for me: http://tinyurl.com/39dz7hq
There are other examples of CT’s mischief. There’s the Mythbusters forum! My guess is that Truthers were bombarding this forum with ridiculous “9/11 Was an Inside Job” remarks and posting YouTube videos and this is what led forum moderators to do the following…
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9701967776/m/7951972999
Another example of the “keep repeating and see what sticks” technique would be the endless barrage of comments posted on various YouTube 9/11 videos…
http://tinyurl.com/24ewjac
...as well as the endless barrage of Truther videos that have been posted ad nauseam since 2006! Doing a search on YouTube for “9/11” will return a colossal quantity of misinformation. IMO, I would say YouTube is the hallmark of the “KR & SWS” technique!
Some fascinating yet disturbing examples of Truther mischief can also be seen here…
Then there is the king of all troublemakers…
http://www.infowars.com/
…and his minions…
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/
And of course, you can always get a taste of Truther mayhem by just perusing the JREF Conspiracy Theories sub forum!
And so I ask – Is there a reasonable approach to alleviating such mischief on the Internet? Truthers really aren’t harming anyone, are they? Could be… http://tinyurl.com/2g9yg6b
In any case, there is a point where you draw the line and say enough is enough. It’s reasonable that people have concerns and want to express their opinions. But when those opinions get so much to the point that you cannot even post a message on a forum (see Mythbusters example above), it’s ridiculous!
I think a simple statement would be to tell Truthers to simply KNOCK IT OFF! Other members of JREF have suggested just ignoring them which is another excellent idea!
Reference:
Meigs, J. (2006). Repetition. In B. R. David Dunbar, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand up to the Facts (pp. 98-99). New York: Hearst Books.
