4.37/365: turn you inside-out

I’ve always loved this song. It’s my top big song on R.E.M.’s Green album. It’s just grand. It has Peter Buck’s great guitar work, where he’s stepped out of his jangly-guitar (which I love) and has guest drumming from Keith Leblanc along with Billy Berry. The drums are forward and is great. It’s a good song to play loud. My other three favorite songs on Green are softer, so this one is a big wow of a song.

This is also kind of a threatening song (which is awesome). “I could turn you inside-out/
What I choose not to do.” I could, but I chose not to. But I could. Oh, I could.

If I had a nickel…

This has been in my head for several days, so I’m giving it to you.

4.34/365: conspiracy theorists

Without naming any individuals or a particular group, I wanted to write about conspiracy theorists. I love a good harmless conspiracy theory. Bigfoot. The Loch Ness Monster. Elvis is really alive. Those are harmless.

Then there are the ones that go up a notch on the scale of crazy. Area 51. Lizard people. Flat Earthers.

After that, we have dangerous conspiracy theories. 9/11, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Las Vegas shootings were false flags or faked. John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Princess Diana are still alive. Pizzagate. Obama was born in Kenya. Hollywood elitists eat babies and traffic children. Donald Trump is the savior who will put an end to child trafficking. Former President Trump really won the 2020 election. Hillary, Obama, Biden, Kamala, etc. were all going to be arrested on inauguration day. The January 6th insurrectionists were really ANTIFA. President Biden is not the legitimate president because of (pick any reason). The former President is ruling a shadow government. Former President Trump will be inaugurated on March 4th because that was the original inauguration day (even though the date was moved by the passage of the 20th Amendment). And of course, COVID-19 isn’t real, masks don’t work, and breathing your own air in masks may give you lung cancer (which is why all medical researchers, nurses, dentists, doctors, and surgeons have lung cancer).

I admit, I’ve watched Loose Change, the documentary on 9/11 being a false flag operation. Parts of it seemed plausible. Then you do some research and it doesn’t hold up. I’ve watched all the conspiracy theory docs. Beyond the Curve, about flat earthers is fantastic. People, for various reasons, this the earth is flat. SPOILER ALERT: at the end, the guys performing an experiment trying to prove their theory does not work. Because the earth is a sphere. They would not admit it and said they needed a longer lens or something along those lines. I’ve watched several JFK assassination docs and finally, computer imagery lined up how the assassination happened with one “magic bullet” and it makes complete sense that only backs up what the Warren Commission put out in 1964. Same science (only modernized), same conclusion. In general, I probably watch more documentaries than most people. I have a lot of interests, but docs I watch usually fall into music, true crime, and cults. I find all of those fascinating. And conspiracy theorists CAN fall into the cult category. Not all, definitely not all, but some.

The reason I’m using the term “conspiracy theory” and not “conspiracy” is because a conspiracy theory is a theory without evidence that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators (from Miriam Webster). Conspiracy theories cannot be proven because there is no proof. It’s as simple as that. There will be predictions that never come true. Conspiracy theories these days usually are birthed and grow on internet message boards before they spill onto social networks. As an example, I’ve seen several different anecdotes going around of posts from nurses from who knows where that people have died of COVID that really died of other things, that the media is reporting it wrong. So, I guess the laws that say death certificates must be submitted to the state or county vital records office, which is part of the health department, which is where states are reporting the numbers from are wrong? Because doctors who purposely lie on a death certificate can be prosecuted by law. Yeah, that makes logical sense.

So, what’s the difference between a conspiracy theory and a conspiracy? Cornell Law defines a conspiracy as an agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act, along with an intent to achieve the agreement’s goal. This means people conspire to do something illegal. Think the Watergate scandal. Iran Contra. Operation Paperclip (The Church of Scientology actually infiltrated the FBI), The Black Sox Scandal of 1919 (threw the World Series). These are crimes. They were proven. A conspiracy theory will never be proven because there is no proof.

Why am I writing about this tonight? Because someone I went to high school with posts harmful conspiracy theories to Facebook quite literally everyday. Today I decided to call him out on it, asking him where the studies were that shows any of his numbers to be factual. I noted to show actual studies, not blog posts from random people, which are the only things I’ve seen him cite. I took a screenshot:

I asked this mainly because of the plethora of conspiracy theory posts he writes on Facebook, not only this particular post. This was just the latest. He proved my definition of a conspiracy theory. He couldn’t back up his post with a source. For some reason he has time to post several times a day, but not find a “not made up” source. And for some reason I have to research his statements”? He’s the one posting them, that’s his responsibility. He’s not posting sources because there are none. Or no reputable ones. This is the case with all conspiracy theories. The statements don’t hold water and have no reputable sources. What are reputable sources? This the best example on how you can evaluate an article, a website, a piece on television, or most anything on social media.

But how do you know if a website you’re reading is legitimate? Go to the About section. If there is no About section, that is a sign. If it reads like some manifesto of “truth,” congratulations, you’ve found a bad source. If they make it hard or impossible to find the publisher or founder of the site, skip that one. If it is an opinion it is not a source. I should point out that most of the primetime news channels lean heavily on opinion; sometimes all opinion. They may have legitimate guests that are experts, but you will notice that the host spouts opinions. News is news. Opinion is opinion.

That concludes my Conspiracy Theory post. I’ve been blocking Facebook friends who spout conspiracy theories, so I’m sure that’s where the person I wrote the post about will end up. This is 2021 and I’m not pitying any fools as my uncle, Mr. T would say.