Best products from r/conspiratard

This isn't an absurd notion, but obviously, the analysis and understanding of the situation is completely off the mark like a lot of dumb shit almost anyone in the news says concerning international politics. Not sure the 700 Club really even counts as news but whatever. Main part.
>“Everyone is convinced this is a conspiracy,” Ibrahim told Robertson, “you can’t help but wonder, of course it is, because why is the Obama administration so adamant about helping this organization?”

Uhhh, because we still want Egypt to not do dumb shit we don't like. We basically propped up a dictator for decades that was, newsflash, one of those dreaded towel hat non-Christian Satan lovers you seem to hate so much. We did it to keep shit calm. And Mubarak may have been shitty, but he was no Saddam Hussein really in his bluster or treatment of citizens. This worked for us, Egypt and Israel got along as best as we could expect, Mubarak didn't blow up citizens with grenades and post it on TV like Saddam, and Egypt was generally a safe/modern country especially compared to the region. You could go visit the Pyramids as opposed to trying to navigate the decapitaty cartels in Mexico.

Then we got a new fun hobby. We thought it would be smart to start spreading Democracy with peace bullets in the region. Then the Arab spring happened, and like it or not, the Muslim Brotherhood was elected in Egypt. Since political culture in Egypt is going to be screwed up for quite awhile, it's no wonder people quickly threw out the MB after electing them. But it makes perfect sense, that the US had every motivation to get in cahoots with them after the election to continue not doing shit we don't like in the region. Since they were the MB, wrote a crappy constitution, and were that evil not Christian religion, it also makes sense we didn't call them being thrown out a Coup so those poor Egyptians could try this whole Democracy thing a few more times until they elect someone we can all agree upon.

This is in no way to make a call on the morality of any of this. Some want an end to all foreign aid, some want us to invade China and Russia because freedom. But it's still reality and the reason nation-states do seemingly weird things. A more obvious example is North Korea. We send them a ton of freedom burgers, they rip the USA label off, apply their own "Dear leader burgers made from US army members and imperialist tears," and give it to their citizens. This legitimizes power over their citizens, but it absolutely ensures they can't do shit to SK or anyone else. They have previously depended on China but China is now more of an ally, especially econ wise, to the US than NK. They're slowly embracing more free market methods and that dipshit neighbor drooling at the kids table isn't worth crap anymore. NK knows this. SK knows this. US knows this. NK knows SK and US know this.

Now let's have more fun in Syria..

Edit: Good intro reading for anyone who likes this subject.

>What qualifications do I need, exactly, to be able to express my potentially wrong opinions so that I may receive an educated reply?

You did not express opinions. You made statements of fact that were not only wrong, but idiotic on their face. You admitted that you were ignorant about the thing you were discussing, yet kept criticizing it as though you knew anything about it. It is not my job to hold your hand and cradle your precious feelings and gently explain to you why you're completely wrong about everything you say.

>Or is asking that question another no-no because apparently you're well-versed on the subject yet for some reason refuse to even give a subtle hint like an author's name or a specific movement I could look up.

I didn't bother because I don't believe you're here in good faith. I've seen the shit you post on TiA and its obvious that you don't actually care about social justice. It's not hard to project some "Red Piller bullshit" on you when you fucking act like one.

If you're actually interested in learning, I had this textbook for a couple classes during college. It had a bunch of different articles from a lot of perspectives on the issue of gender discrimination, and I found it very interesting. I'm sure you can find a copy online that you don't need to pay 63 dollars for. If you want a book by one person, rather than an anthology, I found The Equality Illusion to be pretty informative and easy to read, and it was published recently. The author addresses very well why there's discrimination, why it's a bad thing, and what specifically should be done about it, all of the things you ignorantly accuse feminism of not doing.

I somehow doubt that you're going to actually go and read those books, but that's okay, because there are lots of feminist blogs you can start reading and get educated. I like Feminist Frequency, though I dunno if you're one of those people who goes into a spitting rage at the sight of Anita Sarkeesian's face. Skepchick is a great skepticism/feminism blog run by another villain of the anti-feminist internet crowd, Rebecca Watson.

And of course, if you take 5 seconds to Google the issue, and read what feminists have to say about it, you'll find plenty more.

I once read a Newt Gingrich-approved scifi novel about EMPs called 'one second after'. Gingrich had written the foreword so I knew I was in for a fun ride. Surprise surprise the hero turns out to be a white, conservative straight man whose hunting and gunplay skills got him through the worst of society's downfall, all while sneering at liberal ideas and people. In the end he wins and becomes the leader of a glorious right-wing gun society.

It's a must-read if you ask me. Chuffing hilarious. Check it

Thanks for the recommendation. I read a whole lot. I did, in fact, read that article I just have some criticisms as you know.

You must realize you have just made a snide remark. I hope. I would suggest you read this book that I really enjoy: "Mistakes Were Made, but Not By Me" http://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/0156033909

It is truly an excellent book by very accomplished social scientists.

More generally I recommend "Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there,"as it contains some good analysis of why the brain makes connections it really shouldn't. So, this doesn't really pinpoint the demographic you are looking for, but it offers some insight into the cognitive process that can lead to nonsensical beliefs.

Also, I'm pretty sure the book is free somewhere out there on the Internet if you can't afford to buy it now.

I'd imagine that the amount of subscribers of conspiratard who would like Ronson's stuff would be really high. He deals with all the stuff talked about here, and has a great, fun writing style. Anyone who hasn't checked him out definitely should.

He's scheduled to have a new one coming out Halloween time.

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Sea-Jon-Ronson-Mysteries/dp/1594631379/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347343349&sr=1-6&keywords=jon+ronson
>
>Ronson investigates the strange things we’re willing to believe in, from lifelike robots programmed with our loved ones’ personalities to indigo children to hypersuccessful spiritual healers to the Insane Clown Posse’s juggalo fans. He looks at ordinary lives that take on extraordinary perspectives, for instance a pop singer whose life’s greatest passion is the coming alien invasion, and the scientist designated to greet those aliens when they arrive. Ronson throws himself into the stories—in a tour de force piece, he splits himself into multiple Ronsons (Happy, Paul, and Titch, among others) to get to the bottom of credit card companies’ predatory tactics and the murky, fabulously wealthy companies behind those tactics. Amateur nuclear physicists, assisted-suicide practitioners, the town of North Pole, Alaska’s Christmas-induced high school mass-murder plot: Ronson explores all these tales with a sense of higher purpose and universality, and suddenly, mid-read, they are stories not about the fringe of society or about people far removed from our own experience, but about all of us.

If America is becoming more like a dystopian novel, I think it would be Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story."

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0812977866

Yeah I wish I could give you some better points about your mom but that's one of those things she's going to have to work through on her own. Your little sister though doesn't deserve to just hear crap. Honestly, one of the best refutations to conspiracy beliefs is to just point out the absurdities of it all. Laugh at them, because they have no sense of humility.

A good book on the subject if The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer. Maybe you could see if your local library has that or even buy it for her at some point and see if she's into it.

"Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Conspiracist Underground" by Jonathan Kay is pretty great. It tries to understand conspiracy theorists' motivations and reasons for thinking the way they do in a non-mocking way, as many of them (9/11 truthers in particular) are actually pretty intelligent and patriotic, wishing for the rule of law to prevail over whoever they believe really did 9/11.

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Truthers-Cognitive-Underworld-American/dp/0062004816

Also: "The Great Derangement: War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire" by Matt Taibbi has a section about his time immersed in the 9/11 truther movement, followed by a pretty biting and hilarious analysis of the fundamental logical failures that underpin all 9/11 conspiracy thinking.

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Great-Derangement-Terrifying-Politics/dp/0385520344

There's a great book you might enjoy:

• Amazon: Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground
  
  
• NYT Review: Inside the World of Conspiracy Theorists
  
  
• Bloggingheads: A great one hour interview of the author.
  
  The author, Jonathan Kay, is the editor of Canada's The National Post newspaper.

There's a lot of historical context in the subject of mind control of the masses you could get up speed with;

It started in 1896 by Gustav Le Bon with, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind from there we have Walter Lippman's Public Opinion. Those two works formed the underpinnings of the pioneers that followed.

Edward Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, drew from his uncle, Lippman, and Le Bon building a public relations and advertising empire eventually hired by the US government as a consultant in areas of propaganda and public opinion "massaging". Edward Bernays' work and monumental effect on 20th century advertising and propaganda is brilliantly covered in Adam Curtis' BBC documentary, The Century of the Self.

America's own Noam Chomsky goes in great depth in public opinion control in his book Manufacturing Consent: The Political economy of the Mass Media. His book and historical background is covered in an extensive interview with Chomsky about the subject.

I would absolutely suggest anyone interested in the relationship between the press, politics, and the state, have a read of Peter Pomerantsev's Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible. Presents an interesting view of how things are in Russia, and how Putin gained power by "weaponising" the media.

Really great book on the subject here. The short answer is that true believers will just double down on the stupid, making new predictions and stepping up proselytizing. According to Festinger, this is due to the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance, defined as the conflict between what we believe to be true, and what the real world reveals to be true. People will naturally seek to reduce dissonance, which for a true believer means getting others to believe the same hokum.

Goddammit I love CRACKED so goddamn much and I don't care what anybody else says about it.

You should all use your bonus $100 to pick up David Wong's This Book Is Full of Spiders if you haven't already!

There is no evidence. Podesta mentions pizza in like 3 emails and everyone flips out and over analyzes everything to piece together stuff that isn't there.

"But that picture is weird" Doesn't mean its a child sex ring.

"But they are gay lovers" Oh so being gay = child sex ring?

"They are business partners!" So anyone you have ever been business partners with or worked for/with suddenly shares your same sexual preference and helps develop an underground child sex trafficking ring?

"This artist is a whack job. Just look at her art" Yup she is nuts....oh this is also evidence for child sex...it's exhausting.

This is how every single conspiracy theory works. You grab a couple "facts" interject your own opinion which can change the context of those "facts" tie it loosely to other "facts" pose a question "Isn't it odd that x is related to x?" Let the audience feel like they have been apart of discovering this complicated theory.

If your interested this is a fantastic book a couple people from this forum have talked about it before too I think.

https://www.amazon.com/VOODOO-HISTORIES-CONSPIRACY-SHAPING-HISTORY/dp/0224074709

Another thread about debunking:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DebunkThis/comments/5dqwta/debunk_this_pizzagate/

I read Hill's memoir, and after the event he says he went into serious depression and alcoholism that took him like 20 or 30 years to recover from. It's an amazing read, and gives you a great insight into the working life of the secret service: Amazon

Even better- Michael Shermer actually did a book called Denying History: Who Says the Holocaust Never Happened and Why Do They Say It? about holocaust denial specifically and covers a lot of the claims that Holocaust deniers make.

I read it and it is pretty good. It should help explain about why these people are full of shit.

Based on this book I believe. Dear white people

Philip DeFranco did a piece on it that I thought was pretty good.

Get Mistakes were made, but not by me as a general introduction to the pervasive biases that affect everyone. It is well enough referenced to launch a grad student career. Tip of the iceberg of the research that is out there.

This book is decent It also has a chapter on Ayn Rand objectivism as a cult.

Also see another book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Believing-Brain-Conspiracies-How-Construct/dp/1250008808/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=128C3144EKDPV7SQPYRY


Among the Truthers is also not bad.