lucytunes

I totally understand where you are coming from but to me this is equivalent to a teacher saying "I trained hard to become a qualified teacher so I could have profound and stimulating conversations with my enlightened students, not get dragged into answering their dumb-ass questions" Don't you think it might be incumbent upon all critical thinkers to immerse themselves in these kinds of areas PRECISELY BECAUSE critical thinking appears to be somewhat lacking at times? Remember, if critical thinkers don't shine the light of reason onto these subjects then no one else will, and the social engineers will have won. They will KNOW that they can go full steam ahead with their favourite strategy using perception management, 'problem-reaction-solution', the Hegelian dialectic, manufactured (or overhyped) news stories/ talking ponts/ opinion pieces and other types of propaganda to steer society because they will know that most critical thinkers have made it their policy to stay away because they can't face getting involved in all the 'conspiracy theory' chatter. Whatever the truth is about Sandy Hook I would bet money that a lot of red herrings have been deliberately put into place to lead researchers up the garden path, and a lot of people are deliberately putting out disinfo to create a kind of conspiracy theory rollercoaster ride which goes round and round and up and down until most sensible people say "OK that's it, I've had enough of this now..... I'm getting off!!!". That seeems to be a major priority when it comes to these bizarre/ traumatising/ nonsensical/ politically loaded events: GET THE LEVEL HEADED CRITICAL THINKERS TO GIVE UP, WHILE ENCOURAGING THE HOT HEADED CONSPIRACY THEORISTS TO ALL PILE IN AND DOMINATE PROCEEDINGS. There might be an element of 'cry wolf' about it too. If events are 'spiced' with conspiracy bait and the conspiracy flames are then deliberatley fanned.... only for the whole thing to be eventually debunked, thus publically humiliating the 'conspiracy theorists' this will serve the 'criminal elite' well when they commit some future criminal conspiracy....... as soon as people start pointing to damning evidence or inconsistencies everyone will groan and say "Oh no, here we go again ..... not more crazy conspiracies....don't you guys ever learn?" The way I see it, before the information age (pre inernet, youtube, twitter, facebook etc) 'information control' tended to be more about limiting information, blocking information, suppressing information. Since that is not really possible anymore (what with the internet etc) the tactic has changed to just releasing a flood of disinfo, noise and nonsense into the mix instead. There are two ways to stop a man getting free drinking water from his local stream. Damn the stream, or just dump sewage into it. Now that our stream (of information) has become a massive river they have switched from the damn strategy to sewage strategy. I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing bizarre events occuring which are specifically designed to f*** with our minds, create maximum confusion and division on the internet and in society as a whole. Perhaps events like Sandy Hook are being already being deliberately exploited to create a kind of 'aversion therapy' for researching on the web. I myself have not really looked into this event actively, and the overwhelming feeling I had was "Oh god , I can't face wading through a whole bunch of poorly researched conspiracy stuff (well intentioned of not)" If we can be trained to feel that way about every major news event being used to justify changes in society then 'they' have won. You mention 9/11. 9/11 is a perfect example of this kind of complex psychology in action. It is the 'Shakespeare' of psychological operations, and like Shakespeare it's been around for long enough that people have been able to study it in depth. The cover up of 9/11 was (and is) far more significant than the event itself (as discussed in depth ). The event itself only needed to work on the day, but the cover up needs to work forever - or at least for a several decades, until the event has served it purpose, the official history books have been written and society has moved on (in the worst possible direction).To date the 9/11 cover up has been so successful that we now have the incredible situation where the physical evidence relating to the WTC complex in NY has been gathered and published in the public domain for over a year and (not a theory) proves beyond all doubt WHAT actually happened. (clue: not what we were told by the mainstream OR alternative media). No one has been able to refute this evidence (not a theory). Yet very few people will look at it because they either 'believe' the official story (jet fuel, collaspe) or they 'believe' the official coverup story (controlled emolition using thermite or mini nukes)......or they are just so sick of the endless bickering and nonsense coming from the 'conspiracy theory' scene that they don't want to think about 9/11 anymore (despite it still defining this age we find ourselves in). In every case the cover up / psyop has done its job.Anything contrary to the official conspiracy theory (Bin Laden, jet fuel, collapsing towers) has been autmatically defined as a competing conspiracy theory - even when it is actually just hard evidence which no one has been able to refute and which contradicts ALL theories. Once again the coverup / psyop has worked. And despite the shocking and literally civilization changing nature of this information (ie evidence, not theory) about 9/11 having been put out in the public domain for all to see, the average man on the street (and even the average '9/11 truther') has either not come across it, or if they have, they've been programmed to immediately dismiss it - despite the fact that it is 100% irrefutable (verifiable) evidence (not theory). It is the only evidence (not theory) to have been submitted legally by anyone. No one has refuted it. Yet the various competing conspiracy theories still get more attention. Again this proves that the cover up has worked. People care more about a bunch of competing theories than they do the hard evidence. 9/11 proves that, just as government education works.... just as relentless propaganda works..... so do sophisticated cover ups and psyops. Some people think government education fails, or government wellfare fails..... but we know they work just fine, because we know what the true objective is (in simplistic terms: dumb down the population and get them dependent on government). In the same way you seem to think 'conspiracy theories' (such as those related to 9/11) fail at their job of uncovering conspiracies. You automatically assume that was their original objective, just as one might automatically assume the objective of government education is to produce a highly intelligent, knowledgable population capable of critical thinking. Do you see what I'm getting at here? Here's another angle on it... If someone believes that 'a government' (for all its flaws and failings) is fundamentally there to 'protect our rights' and 'help society' and that taxation is morally good (etc etc) then it's impossible to have a meaningful and rational discussion with them about the state. In the same way, if someone believes the twin towers collapsed (for whatever reason) it is also impossible to have a meaningful and rational discussion about what happened in New York on 9/11. People are kept from ever defining what a governmet actually is by the distraction of party politics. We are encouraged almost from birth to passionately debate WHICH TYPE of goverment is best for society from a (false) choice of two options (left vs right etc). We never start out by defining what a government actually is according to reason and evidence. In the same way people have been kept from defining what actually happened on 9/11 by the distraction of competing 'conspiracy theories'. We have been encouraged from the day of 9/11 itself to passionately debate WHICH TYPE of conspiracy theory is most likely to be true from a (false) choice of two options (19 bad guys with box cutters vs inside job with controlled demolition). We never started out by defining what actually happened on that day according to reason and evidence. Thanks to the cover up and psyop, the crime of 9/11 was never clearly defined to begin with, according to even the most basic physical evidence. This is absolutely incredible when you think about it. 9/11 will go down in history as the Trojan Horse of our age! How can a government best protect our rights? ......... It can't because, by definition, the governemnt violates our rights. Did jet fuel fires or thermite cause the twin towers to collapse? ........ Neither, because, by definition, twin towers did not collapse, they Competing conspiracy theories were put in place from the start - just like competing political parties - to stop us from starting out with basic empirical observations and basic definitions. Most people think they know what a government is just as most people think they know what happened on 9/11. If you try to show them that a government is 'a monopoly on the legal right to initiate force' or that the twin towers 'turned to dust in mid air' they will probably look at you like you're babbling nonsense - even though you're being completely rational and empirical. Both these assertions can be backed up by reason and all available evidence and are impossible to refute. Does this mean people can be easily de-programmed of their fraudulent and irrational beliefs regarding government or 9/11? Hell no! Propaganda, perception management and psychological operations work! People tend to think the actual crime or 'event' matters the most and that what happens on the internet or in the media afterwards is less important, but I'd argue the opposite is true. The 9/11 event killed 3000 people, but the 9/11 cover up has resulted in millions of deaths, massive environmental and financial devastation and the erosion of freedoms and liberties around the world. The cover up is infinately more terrible a crime than the event itself. The cover up of 9/11 (which FWIW involves all the main players of the so called '9/11 truth movement' and so called 'alternative media') was finally exposed last year and is set to explode this year. It may never be possible (or necessary) to prove who the perpetrators of 9/11 were (I for one don't have the foggiest idea!) but it certainly can be proved who has gone out of their way to help cover the crime up. And like I said, the cover up is far more of a crime than the event itself in terms of sheer death and destruction. And the value in learning how we were decieved is far greater than the value gained by stringing up a bunch of evil criminals. In this sense the quagmire of 'internet research' and 'conspiracy culture' is perhaps one of the toughest environments in the known universe to test your own critical faculties and commitment to reason and evidence. The amount of disinfo, misdirection, hostility, deceit and just plain 'white noise' the net is absolutely insane! BUT....... if you study the cover up of 9/11 for long enough you will eventually begin to see how cover ups work and 'perception management' operations and you'll be able to apply this knowledge (this template) to other bizarre, improbable, traumatising and politically loaded events which also dominate the news and provide a chance for major policy changes to occur as if by natural processes... You'll understand why there is so much 'conspiracy nonsense', bickering, infightning, name calling, ridiculous theories and general 'noise' on the net. It's deliberatly put there to muddle everything up, provide false choices and deter well educated, rational, critically thinking types (such as yourself) from ever getting involved. And it's also put out there to infuse the whole concept of a 'conspiracy' with the same emotive, repulsive and ridiculous connotations that the word 'anarchy' has, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME teaching us that coming up with some random 'conspiracy theory' is the proper place to start when it comes to investiging these kinds of events. First they train us to be fools, then they punish us for being fools. That is one of the favourite strategies of the ruling classes and power 'elite', it's what keeps them in power. We all know there is this thing called 'potential for knowledge' and 'potential for intellectual prowess'...... and then there is this other thing called 'the government education system'. The true potential for knowledge and critical prowess is far greater than what's on offer in schools, right? I'm sure you are aware of that, and I'm sure you are only aware of that because you've managed to somehow 'break through' the jumbled up, tedious, embarrassing, demoralising, stupid, nonsensical, contradictory, immature, backward AND DELIBERATELY DUMBED DOWN quagmire that is 'government education' (and higher education). Had you NOT broken through 'government education' you'd probably just think school was a tiresome experience and so was 'learning stuff' (the two would be one and the same in your mind). And so just as government education is the quagmire we must cross in order to reach our true intellectual and knowledge potential, it's also true that the world of conspiracy theories is also a quagmire which we must cross if we are to get any kind of clear view of these bizarre and traumatic events which keep being used to justify unpleasant changes in society. In both cases you have to rise above and beyond the nonsense which is on offer and the only way to do it is through the uphill and often lonely process of self educating. It is not achieved by just walking away because it's too messy. To dismiss conspiracies so casually because of 'conspiracy theorists' and 'conspiracy theory culture' is like dismissing education because of government schooling and school culture. One of the central messages promoted by 'conspiracy theory culture' is that the truth can never be known (the truth can never be discerned through gathering evidence and applying reason to it). Instead, conspiracy culture teaches that the truth is merely a strongly held 'belief' which is either the result of speculation or is supplied by some self proclaimed authority figure or group or just by overwhelming 'consenses opinion'. This makes 'conspiracy theorists' no different to statists or any other cult-like group. Statists are just conspiracy theorists who like to pick on the small guy. Let's not forget that statists are by far the biggest and most destructive group of conspiracy theory believers out there. The conspiracy theories they've believed in and promoted have been used to justify the most hideous crimes of this century, from the Nazi holocaust to the genocide in Iraq. I've never seen the millions of conspiracy theorists who 'believed' the THEORY that Saddam was CONSPIRING with his military to manufacture WMD's being condemned, ridiculed or shunned because of their unfounded and hugely destructive conspiracy beliefs. To question and dig deeper into bizarre, improbable, nonsensical and politically charged events like Sandy Hook is absolutely the right thing to do. I would argue it is the moral thing to do. And if you see that people aren't doing a very good job of questioning or researching these events critically and rationally then that is a reason to help them do a better job of it, if only by constructively pointing out where they are messing up. Creating an 'us vs them' mindset serves nobody but the ruleing classes/ social engineers. As has already been pointed out in this thread, part of the agenda is to use conspiracy theories to create division in society (divide and rule). As people move away from strong political allegencies and organised religions the ruling classes need to encourage us to bicker and waste time and energy over other types of strong and divisive belief. I predict that beliefs centred around 'conspiracy theories' will be increasingly encourgaed and used to this effect......... Gotta keep everyone divided, distracted and at each other's throats all the time! When philosophy and morality is reduced to (party) politics we can discuss and argue all we like without threatening the power structure. And in the same way when criminal behaviour by the elite establishment and ruling classes (and yes that includes conspiracy) is reduced to 'conspiracy theory beliefs', again, we can bicker and argue all we like and we are no threat to anyone but ourselves. So anyway that was my honest and friendly criticism of your slightly negative/ hostile/ impatient attitude.... it's not that I think your attitude is 'wrong' per se.... I just think it's based on a false (or rather a short sighted) premise. (my first post on FDR for a while.... obviously making up for lost time LOL ........ went on a bit there, sorry!)