conspiracy theories

[FlightlessDuck]

They didn’t create it. They released it.

Look what I found:

https://www.aldf.com/did-lyme-disea...ter-where-scientists-were-conducting-top-sec/

However, there is ample evidence to indicate that both Ixodes ticks and B. burgdorferi were present in the U.S. well beforethe Plum Island facility was ever established. An examination of museum specimens ofIxodes ticks showed that the presence of Lyme disease spirochetes in suitable arthropod vectors preceded — by at least a generation — the year (1982) when Lyme disease was first recognized as a distinct clinical entity in the U.S. (1, 2). More recent studies revealed that Ixodes ticks and B. burgdorferi were present in the northeastern and Midwestern regions of the U.S. in pre-colonial times and many thousands of years before European settlements were established in the U.S. (3). Lyme disease certainly existed in the U.S. long before anyone knew how to diagnose and treat it.

1. Persing, DH, Telford, SR III, Rys, PN, Dodge, DE, White, TJ, Malawista, SE and Spielman, A. Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi DNA in museum specimens of Ixodes damimini ticks. Science 249: 1420-1423, 1990.

2. Burgdorfer, W, Barbour, AG, Hayes, SF, Benach, JL, Grunwaldt, E, and Davis, J.P. Lyme disease: a tick-borne spirochetosis? Science 216: 1317-1319,1982.

3. Hoen, AG, Margos, G, Bent, S.J. Duik-Wasser, MA, Barbour, A, Kurtenbach, K, and Fish, D. Phylogeography of Borrelia burgdorferi in the eastern United States reflects multiple independent Lyme disease emergence events. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 106: 15013-15018, 2009.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Our educational system teaches us what to think, not how to think for ourselves.

Maybe you just had bad teachers.

 

[LuvOrlando]

So, what kind of situation are you skeptical of where money can be gained by the person speaking? Do you mean something like you have vaccine skepticism because the doctor that suggests it and people who made the vaccine make money off of it? I mean in theory almost any product we buy/consume could be secretly harmful since someone makes money off of it, right?

Consumer beware, yes, absolutely, which is why Nader revolutionized things with "Unsafe at any speed" which lead to Consumer Reports, his selfless advocacy saved inestimable lives & I can't imagine the smear schemes he must have endured - but we are better for it now. I am ok with spending though, I don't begrudge earnings IF it's an even playing field. I have all vaccines, was first in line for H1N1 when it hit the world and such because I completely understand the way it works and why it works. I am also ok with the cost of medicine because I realize that money funds current research and that for every drug that works countless millions get flushed when one fails. That said I am not one who doesn't see that there are rules because some who participate in the process aren't bothered by the losses to get a gain. Consider the Love canal? How about that whole VW thing recently? Too many to count.

So Caveat Emptor, if money is changing hands there needs to be caution & sometimes intervention if the demands of making an informed choice are so high that it's not reasonable to expect an average person to be fully informed - hence FDA etc. - they are there to pump the brakes for us.

 

[Pink Partridge]

The ones who think Sandy Hook didn't happen or the Earth is flat. They are clearly mentally ill.

The Sandy Hook deniers bother me the most. You have to be one sick ticket to believe that never happened.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

The most ridiculous conspiracy theories in my opinion are:

Gulf on Tonken
Operation Paper Clip
Tuskegee experiment
MK Ultra

See, things like this. Project Bluebook, Watergate, Iran Contra, etc., are good examples of why people buy into other conspiracies. But the problem is scale. I don't want to make light of Tuskegee or MKUltra, but it's hard to extrapolate that if the CIA was able to get away with MKUltra for as long as it did, then obviously our entire base of authority could just as easily be lizard people, or COVID-19 could be a smokescreen for mass arrest of pedophiles, or that the entire scientific community could be part of a centuries-long conspiracy regarding flat earth.

Project Bluebook and the recently released UFO videos show that the US take UFO phenomenon seriously. But that doesn't mean they are aliens. That's what the "U" means. Unidentified.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I was just posting that some conspiracy theories are truth.

One or the other. The truth is not/no longer a theory, but proven. A theory, conspiracy or otherwise, can't by definition be tge truth. Not until proven, at which time it is no longer (just) a theory.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Oy. What does Bill Gates supposedly have against us?

I think people have a general distrust of the wealthy? So they can't believe that someone is truly willing to use some of their wealth to do good in the world?

It doesn't make much sense to me though considering the same people I see claiming this are generally big supporters of the current president... who is also wealthy.

 

[a1tinkfans]

Yes, I guess I can see there is some history of our government not doing the right thing which could add to the suspicion. Forced sterilization, Native American displacement, taking children away from Native Americans to be adopted by white families, poor decision making and subsequent cover-ups of environmental and health crisis like the Flint Michigan water supply, making unsubstantiated claims about weapons of mass destruction used to justify a war, etc.

Playing with numbers of Covid deaths to include any/everybody.. yeah

 

[lilypgirl]

The most ridiculous conspiracy theories in my opinion are:

Gulf on Tonken
Operation Paper Clip
Tuskegee experiment
MK Ultra

I mean anyone who thinks the government would do anything to hurt their citizens is just insane and should be evaluated by a medical professional. They are dangerous, too.

sorry I was wrong!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think people have a general distrust of the wealthy? So they can't believe that someone is truly willing to use some of their wealth to do good in the world?

If I were Bill Gates, I'd go buy an island, not try to kill 10% of the population.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Your arrogant and ignorant comments on Tuskegee

You are missing that person's point. All of the things listed were actual conspiracies that actually happened. MKUltra were actual real experiments conducted by the CIA. Operation Paperclip was real. Operation Paperclip is what brought Wernher von Braun to the US, along with 1600 other German scientists.

 

[lilypgirl]

You are missing that person's point. All of the things listed were actual conspiracies that actually happened. MKUltra were actual real experiments conducted by the CIA. Operation Paperclip was real. Operation Paperclip is what brought Wernher von Braun to the US, along with 1600 other German scientists.

I guess I did I am only familiar with the one so it really bothered me that someone would deny that it happened . So I apologize for taking it that way and being so defensive .

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

If I were Bill Gates, I'd go buy an island, not try to kill 10% of the population.

He already owns an island.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

When one reports on research it’s customary to cite sources.

This is research I did years ago. For fun. I don’t keep extensive records of things I’ve read or researched.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

My DH and I just had a conversation about debates and theories the other day. In that conversation we both agreed that once someone starts calling people names they’ve lost the argument. Attempting to demean and prove how smart you are by calling those who disagree with you “sheeple” discredits everything you have to say. It’s kind of sad when you think about it.

I was called a crack pot and incompetent, can I not defend myself? And I’m sorry oh holier than thou but most people (including most people on this thread) blindly follow along and believe what they’re told without questioning like....wait for it....sheep! Sorry but facts are facts and I AM smarter then most people (I have a very high IQ, graduated high school at 16, have multiple awards and achievements) so I’m not trying to feel smart, I am smart. Sorry that a woman asserting her intelligence is intimidating to you. I do research for fun. I don’t keep all my materials or cite sources because I do it for my own entertainment.I was originally just trying to say that not all conspiracy theories are fake when I was attacked and laughed at by multiple immature people. My middle schooler is kinder than that. So sorry I defended myself by stating facts.

 

[cobright]

I don't understand that level of paranoia. Where does that come from? Do you think the amount of people buying into these theories is greater right now than at other times in history, or has this kind of thing always been with us in similar amounts?

I think conspiracy theories come into being, most often, when trust in the government is lowest.

I have met a legit flat-Earther and it was so uncomfortable I had to walk away.

I have a friend who honestly believes we faked the initial few moon landings. He's a Brit and has a dry sort of humor so, for a long time I just assumed he was joking. Nope.

Personally, I don't trust 3 people to keep a secret. True conspiracies are always doomed.

 

[briggscreek]

There are people in my town that think that you're a crisis actor if you go shopping with a mask on.

 

[RamblingMad]

So how do some come out of the same educational system as critical thinkers and some don't?

The X-Files. Age.

 

[belle032]

I was called a crack pot and incompetent, can I not defend myself? And I’m sorry oh holier than thou but most people (including most people on this thread) blindly follow along and believe what they’re told without questioning like....wait for it....sheep! Sorry but facts are facts and I AM smarter then most people (I have a very high IQ, graduated high school at 16, have multiple awards and achievements) so I’m not trying to feel smart, I am smart. Sorry that a woman asserting her intelligence is intimidating to you. I do research for fun. I don’t keep all my materials or cite sources because I do it for my own entertainment.I was originally just trying to say that not all conspiracy theories are fake when I was attacked and laughed at by multiple immature people. My middle schooler is kinder than that. So sorry I defended myself by stating facts.

I rather agree with you in that I don't believe all conspiracy theories are necessarily fake, however, reading through this thread, I don't see anywhere where you stated any actual proven facts. You stated your opinions on various theories. Just because you believe in something doesn't automatically make it fact. I don't care how high your IQ is.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I was called a crack pot and incompetent, can I not defend myself? And I’m sorry oh holier than thou but most people (including most people on this thread) blindly follow along and believe what they’re told without questioning like....wait for it....sheep! Sorry but facts are facts and I AM smarter then most people (I have a very high IQ, graduated high school at 16, have multiple awards and achievements) so I’m not trying to feel smart, I am smart. Sorry that a woman asserting her intelligence is intimidating to you. I do research for fun. I don’t keep all my materials or cite sources because I do it for my own entertainment.I was originally just trying to say that not all conspiracy theories are fake when I was attacked and laughed at by multiple immature people. My middle schooler is kinder than that. So sorry I defended myself by stating facts.

The quoted post where you mentioned "sheeple" was your first post in the thread. Were you preemptively defending yourself?

The humble bragging about your IQ and how smart you are is rather entertaining when you can't remember where you read things or provide a single source that backs up your claims.