Sharpening Hanlon's Razor
“never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity”
Robert J. Hanlon
I can’t believe it’s come to this.
First up; livejournal friends, I’m sorry if this is comes out of nowhere. It’s not directed at you guys. I had to put this rant somewhere and hopefully directing people to my livejournal will take the edge off what is essentially a slap upside the head for anyone who has sent me links to, or has made me sit through, pseudo-historical ‘documentaries’, conspiracy theories, propaganda and pyramid schemes.
I’m not going to debunk conspiracy theories. It’s an immense waste of time. Idiocy is like a fractal- extending outwards and inwards to infinity.
Instead I’ll try and throw out a bit of pop psychology and ask why people seem to be drawn to irrational ideas.
The only explanation I can offer is that those who buy into these theories are people who, on some level, feel disempowered by the world they live in. They encounter problems and setbacks and injustices and they want to make sense of it all. But researching history, economics, geopolitics and religion is demanding. At the very least there’s a lot of reading involved.
So instead people attribute human tragedies and social problems to evil plots by secret organizations and, in doing so, they forget what their own experience should have taught them. Namely, that shit happens and it usually happens by accident.
The problem with these films and these theories is that they undermine legitimate complaints. The popularity of videos like loose change, money masters and zeitgeist allow conservative ideologues to discredit those who take issue with government policy or issues of social justice.
So this is just fair warning. If I have to sit through one more internet video about the US Federal Reserve, the world trade centre, zodiac, zionism, fiat currency, timecube or ‘multi-level management’ programs I’m going to tell the shady international banking cabal that you’re onto them. They don’t take kindly to this sort of talk.
Was that condescending enough?
Splendid.
Robert J. Hanlon
I can’t believe it’s come to this.
First up; livejournal friends, I’m sorry if this is comes out of nowhere. It’s not directed at you guys. I had to put this rant somewhere and hopefully directing people to my livejournal will take the edge off what is essentially a slap upside the head for anyone who has sent me links to, or has made me sit through, pseudo-historical ‘documentaries’, conspiracy theories, propaganda and pyramid schemes.
I’m not going to debunk conspiracy theories. It’s an immense waste of time. Idiocy is like a fractal- extending outwards and inwards to infinity.
Instead I’ll try and throw out a bit of pop psychology and ask why people seem to be drawn to irrational ideas.
The only explanation I can offer is that those who buy into these theories are people who, on some level, feel disempowered by the world they live in. They encounter problems and setbacks and injustices and they want to make sense of it all. But researching history, economics, geopolitics and religion is demanding. At the very least there’s a lot of reading involved.
So instead people attribute human tragedies and social problems to evil plots by secret organizations and, in doing so, they forget what their own experience should have taught them. Namely, that shit happens and it usually happens by accident.
The problem with these films and these theories is that they undermine legitimate complaints. The popularity of videos like loose change, money masters and zeitgeist allow conservative ideologues to discredit those who take issue with government policy or issues of social justice.
So this is just fair warning. If I have to sit through one more internet video about the US Federal Reserve, the world trade centre, zodiac, zionism, fiat currency, timecube or ‘multi-level management’ programs I’m going to tell the shady international banking cabal that you’re onto them. They don’t take kindly to this sort of talk.
Was that condescending enough?
Splendid.