Comments on: Treating Conspiracy Addiction

By: Exit Conspiracy « Villageblog

Exit Conspiracy « Villageblog — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:41:23 +0000

[...] Timâ€™s got a post about stepping out of the conspiracy theory headspace and itâ€™s got me thinking about how much good judgment is missing in our world. I have friends who like to tell me that people are spontaneously getting stupid or that we have evolution in reverse or some such. Frankly I think this is just another sign of poor judgment, itâ€™s a step up from common poor judgment but we really need to get to the top of the stairs and not just be smug about being on a different step to the rabble. [...]

By: Quit Smoking Ban Cell Phones Anonymous - Pop Occulture

Quit Smoking Ban Cell Phones Anonymous - Pop Occulture — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:57:52 +0000

[...] Where does Scientology and Alcoholics Anonymous fit into all of this? (See also: Treating Conspiracy Addiction) Read Similar Articles: [...]

By: Conspiracy Theater - Pop Occulture

Conspiracy Theater - Pop Occulture — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 23:16:15 +0000

[...] I’ll admit: I used to really get off on conspiracy theories. They are just so weird and complex and juicy and… confusing that they can be very entertaining if you’re in the right frame of mind. But I’ve realized something by “doing a lot of work on myself” lately and attempting to harmonize my intentions with my actions. Namely, that’s all conspiracy really is: doing things on purpose. [...]

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 05:12:32 +0000

Garrett and I have been talking about this:

http://www.boontdusties.com/journal/20...student-tasered-at-john-kerry-speech/

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 04:23:21 +0000

Looks like people are taking conspiracy theories very seriously at the moment

Check this out

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:46:22 +0000

Data organization for next generation software that hasn’t been invented yet… (wikipedia does a sweet ass job of that though: they mark-up kung fu is brilliant)

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:05:27 +0000

You’re linking to a lot more of your old posts lately.

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:55:02 +0000

meaning-happiness-contentment-no more search.

Ancient philosophers called it ataraxia. Christians call it finding Jesus. Rationalists and skeptics might be comfortable calling Finding the Truth, although I know how much they hate to capitalize words like that. Just try it on as a way of emphasizing the words, that's all...

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:43:03 +0000

I want a positive feedback loop but what I’m seeing is search for meaning-happiness-contentment-no more search.

By: Self-Expression & Oppression - Pop Occulture

Self-Expression & Oppression - Pop Occulture — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:33:02 +0000

[...] “We should always try to have a reality-tunnel this week, bigger, funnier, and more hopeful than we had last week, and we should aim even higher next week. Besides, paranoia is a Loser script; it defines somebody else as being in charge around here except me. I prefer to define myself and my friends as the architects of the future. If David Rockefeller has the same idea about himself and his friends, well, the future itself will decide which coalition was really on the Evolutionary Wave: the Money people or the Idea people” - Robert Anton Wilson [...]

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:30:23 +0000

We want a positive feedback loop though, right?

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:26:04 +0000

People want and need desperately to live in a world that has meaning.

This reminds me of a survey taken of very conservative Muslim women in another country. The survey takers decided that the results showed that some women living under these rules still felt the need for meaning and found it in the rules of the religion. Because the rules for them were so strict it almost acted like a feedback loop. No meaning, search for meaning. No meaning, search for meaning.

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:47:31 +0000

Your post makes me wonder what it is we want so bad that we are willing to live in a reality with horribly evil people working in the shadows to make things happen.

People want and need desperately to live in a world that has meaning. If there is right action and wrong action - and things that stir us to emotions of outrage - then those things must be proof that there are indeed Ultimate Truths of some kind in the universe: if only within our own hearts, and our responses to things.

That is the true quest of which conspiracy theory is only a relatively small fractal component.

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:44:25 +0000

once youâ€™ve been accused of being an agent of the government, or member of the illuminati by someone, and you

Yeah, I’m going to start admitting that I am openly Pro-Illuminati on my website, because I am. And also to get conspiracy people riled up. I mean, the Illuminati, they had good values! I think they have some really strong organizational mission statements and emotionally stirring and poetic language and legal constructions. Declaration of Independence, US Constitution? That’s some beautiful music right there.

More importantly, the reason I’m Pro-Illuminati is that I am Pro-Everybody. Any descriptive word you could use to describe a HUMAN PERSON, then I am absolutely for that person: even if the word is negative: like murderer, baby-flesh-nibbler, whatever. There is no use being “against words” in general and there is even less use in being against people: which is one of the other major problems conspiracy thinking takes you into, “Those bastards don’t deserve to live; they’re lizards!”

By: Tim Boucher

Tim Boucher — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:54:50 +0000

It wasnâ€™t that we REALLY believed it, its that we let ourselves believe it because in the beautiful woods the world could be filled with mystery and unknowns, and it was worth the threat of the mysterious ghosts to let ourselves believe in and live in a world filled with the mystery and unknowns of the night woods.

Goddammit this is beautiful! Talk about adding value, thank you for your wonderful comments lately. They have given me a lot of insight on my own life and work.

By: Svenson

Svenson — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:59:34 +0000

Conspiracies. I think once you’ve been accused of being an agent of the government, or member of the illuminati by someone, and you find yourself saying “yeah, that’s a great psychological technique to keep me silent!” You are forced to question all of it. But I love the way you talk about it like its a drug, because it is. For me, Jeff Wells over at Rigint is the finest wine…his analysis with its focus on sex and fragmentation of the personality and UFOs as being “something else entirely” just makes me high. Its the feeling I used to get as a kid, sitting around the campfire when my dad or whoever would start telling some ghost story of his own concoction, and the kids would be transfixed on it. It wasn’t that we REALLY believed it, its that we let ourselves believe it because in the beautiful woods the world could be filled with mystery and unknowns, and it was worth the threat of the mysterious ghosts to let ourselves believe in and live in a world filled with the mystery and unknowns of the night woods.
Your post makes me wonder what it is we want so bad that we are willing to live in a reality with horribly evil people working in the shadows to make things happen. I think the beauty of the conspiracy world which makes us willing to believe in it is the idea that somebody is in control, total control…this means 1) that the world is not a scary place toppling through space with no driver b) we are not responsible for things, because its beyond our control, we are not with them.

Anyway, I love the changes to this site, I want to keep “adding value” to it…I keep swinging by just to “check really fast” if you’ve said anything new and exciting and then I get sucked in to adding value. So How do I treat Pop Occulture addiction??? I need to tae a break and get some work done!!