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Our Nut-Job Litmus Tests

Zeke Newbold

Zeke Newbold

Carbon based biped.
Joined
Apr 18, 2015
Messages
1,249
`From the sublime to the ridiculous it only takes one step` -goes a famous saying.

This is no more true than in the world of Forteana. In this world it is not always easy to distinguish between a lateral thinking, open minded enquirer and someone who is unable to see the difference between facts and fantasies. There are many such borderline cases - and so how do we negotiate our way through this labyrinth?

Well,I suppose we all draw our own lines in the sand. Here then is my own nut-job litmus test. A person found espousing any of the following can safely be relocated to loony fringe trash can:

* Crystal healing
* Anyone who thinks there is a `face on Mars`#
* Anyone who says they are a reincarnation of Mary Queen of Scots, or who knows somebody who is a reincarnation of Mary Queen of Scots...or indeed any reference whatever to Mary Queen of sodding Scots!
* The taking seriously of any vampire or werewolf story - except in a mythological sense.
* Anyone claiming to be sitting on PROOF of something.
*References to the Holy Grail, (except as a piece of historical folklore).
*Denial of the Apollo moon landings.
* Claiming that there are hidden messages in recordings played in reverse.
* Talk of underground silos with hybrids in them in Area 51

* Er, that's about it - and note how it still leaves a lot of leg room for genuinely anomalous stuff!

What's yours then?

(#Although there have been some structures on Mars - notably the so-called `traffic light` - that I find difficult to account for, and which have given me pause for thought.)
 
Over-use of the word quantum or holistic.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
(#Although there have been some structures on Mars - notably the so-called `traffic light` - that I find difficult to account for, and which have given me pause for thought.)
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Easy. It's pareidolia, like everything else we see on Mars that doesn't belong there.

My nutter-filter lets in UFOs, Bigfoot, crystals, I dunno, palmistry, innards-reading - it's all of interest whether or not it has any basis in truth.What do we know? We're only monkeys.

Religion though, it can bog RIGHT off, all the lot of it.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
* Claiming that there are hidden messages in recordings played in reverse.
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Just curious - since "backmasking" is apparently a thing, how does this fit in with your litmus test? The Wikipedia entry mentions quite a few examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backmasking

As for my own personal opinion...well, I'm pretty weird myself, so I try not to be too judgy. But generally I become very doubtful if
1. the person claims to have singular knowledge of the "truth"
2. is excessively paranoid (for example, is beset by enemies determined to suppress this "truth")
3. is more interested in infighting than constructive discourse, and
4. has coined their own complex terminology to explain their theory

These things raise red flags for me, but usually I try to hear people out anyway. Sometimes strokes of brilliance come from the most unlikely places. It doesn't mean I have to believe everything they say.
 
Ulalume said:
But generally I become very doubtful if
1. the person claims to have singular knowledge of the "truth"
2. is excessively paranoid (for example, is beset by enemies determined to suppress this "truth")
3. is more interested in infighting than constructive discourse, and
4. has coined their own complex terminology to explain their theory

These things raise red flags for me,.
Click to expand...

Sadly that is a description of some on the Left who raise Red Flags.
 
ramonmercado said:
Sadly that is a description of some on the Left who raise Red Flags.
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Do you mean those who are trying to alert others to a real problem? I figure that could be the case in #2 (obviously, there is some information that others want to suppress) but IMO, whistleblowers don't usually claim to be the only one with the information, they usually want to do something about the problem rather than waste time on petty infighting, and they don't normally (as far as I know) create neologisms to describe the issue they are trying to raise.

Probably #2 carries a bit less weight, depending on the subject matter.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
`From the sublime to the ridiculous it only takes one step` -goes a famous saying.

This is no more true than in the world of Forteana. In this world it is not always easy to distinguish between a lateral thinking, open minded enquirer and someone who is unable to see the difference between facts and fantasies. There are many such borderline cases - and so how do we negotiate our way through this labyrinth?

Well,I suppose we all draw our own lines in the sand. Here then is my own nut-job litmus test. A person found espousing any of the following can safely be relocated to loony fringe trash can:

* Crystal healing
* Anyone who thinks there is a `face on Mars`#
* Anyone who says they are a reincarnation of Mary Queen of Scots, or who knows somebody who is a reincarnation of Mary Queen of Scots...or indeed any reference whatever to Mary Queen of sodding Scots!
* The taking seriously of any vampire or werewolf story - except in a mythological sense.
* Anyone claiming to be sitting on PROOF of something.
*References to the Holy Grail, (except as a piece of historical folklore).
*Denial of the Apollo moon landings.
* Claiming that there are hidden messages in recordings played in reverse.
* Talk of underground silos with hybrids in them in Area 51

* Er, that's about it - and note how it still leaves a lot of leg room for genuinely anomalous stuff!

What's yours then?

(#Although there have been some structures on Mars - notably the so-called `traffic light` - that I find difficult to account for, and which have given me pause for thought.)
Click to expand...

When I was a school boy, I used to qualify for a free taxi to be taken to school ... our driver, Alex, was convinced about backwards messages in records and ended up on a TV show talking about it. He explained to me that there were two types of these messages, backward masking and backward phonetics : one type is when people record a record and deliberately place backward messages in them .. one convincing example is the song 'Darling Niki' by Prince that definitely says "Hello, how are you?, I'm fine because I know the Lord is coming soon." ... a less convincing example is Queen's 'Another One Bites The Dust' which was considered by some people to say "It's fun to smoke Marijuana." backwards but sounded to me more like "Scun T smk mana". He gave me a cassette tape of examples which I wish I still had but after I told my parents, they quickly had a change of driver organised. Backward messages on records definitely existed though:


edit: and there was also this film made about the trend

 
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Swifty said:
When I was a school boy, I used to qualify for a free taxi to be taken to school ... our driver, Alex, was convinced about backwards messages in records and ended up on a TV show talking about it. He explained to me that there were two types of these messages, backward masking and backward phonetics : one type is when people record a record and deliberately place backward messages in them .. one convincing example is the song 'Darling Niki' by Prince that definitely says "Hello, how are you?, I'm fine because I know the Lord is coming soon." ... a less convincing example is Queen's 'Another One Bites The Dust' which was considered by some people to say "It's fun to smoke Marijuana." backwards but sounded to me more like "Scun T smk mana". He gave me a cassette tape of examples which I wish I still had but after I told my parents, they quickly had a change of driver organised.
Click to expand...

A decade or more back,The James Whale show on Talk Radio (as was) used to regularly feature some pundit who was plugging Reverse Speech Excavation (or some phrase like that). In essence he'd get the speech of someone he didn't like - Bill Clinton, for example - and play parts of it backwards and -lo!- they'd be saying something unfavourable to their reputation `You let that get out, i'll dang you!` was one of Clinton's (this was during the various scandals). The claim was that people say what they actually mean when their speech is reversed.

It was pure poppycock (based on aural paredolia) - but hugely entertaining!

As Ulalume points out with her link, it is clear that some bands have consciously used back masking - but it is much less clear that our subconscious minds are able to pick these messages up!

I seem to recall watching a documentary featuring Judas Priest who were actually on trial in America for putting satanic messages in their songs via back masking. Well,they made mince meat of the case against them by playing random bits of their songs backwards and saying `Listen to this bit. we're saying `Don't forget to feed the tiger some grapes` (or whatever). The band went up in my estimation after that. They came across as intelligent and witty, and were giving the middle-digit to paranoid fundamentalist middle-Americans to boot.
 
For the techy stuff, it's mentioning Tesla. He is now the patron saint of cranks.
 
People who give rambling "scientific" explanations but clearly don't even have a basic knowledge of science.
People who blame everything on a mysterious "They" - They hid the true facts, They killed Kennedy, They know about UFOs etc.
People who look for the most unlikely and outlandish explanation for any event rather than the more likely mundane one.
And, as all of the above remind me of someone - people called Dave :)
 
Mythopoeika said:
Some of the best people I know are called Dave.
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The most entertaining person I know is called Dave - entertaining for all the wrong reasons. He comes up with all sorts of wild theories about everything.
The wife of one of our little group once asked him if Dave was such an idiot why was he friends with him. He replied "It's not really friendship, more like morbid curiosity."
 
I believe you have mentioned this fellow before, yes. :D
 
The "Only I know the TRUTH!" brigade who won't listen to anyone who disagrees with them. People (and sadly I know a few IRL) who only get info from YouTube and that's enough for them. People who ignore medical science preferring to pray/faith heal/Crystal heal/etc.
 
People who claim to communicate with god.
I once met a chap at a party who engaged me in conversation and proceeded to tell me that being gay is wrong because of the bible etc. etc. (It was a gay persons b'day party as well!) In those days I would engage in debate and was doing so when he became very intense, as if it was imperative he let me know something vitally important. I'd finished the point I was making when he leaned forward and whispered earnestly yet darkly into my ear "But I KNOW, god speaks to me."o_O
I spent the rest of the evening in another room getting high with the other 'abominations'.
 
pandacracker said:
People who claim to communicate with god.
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Yes! I totally agree. As part of my degree I spent time with a faith healing group whose members would think about what they were going to say next in general conversation and then would say "Thank you, Father!" before speaking, as God had given them the words they needed. Why couldn't I hear Him, I asked. You don't deserve to, was the reply!:oops:
 
Ulalume said:
Do you mean those who are trying to alert others to a real problem? I figure that could be the case in #2 (obviously, there is some information that others want to suppress) but IMO, whistleblowers don't usually claim to be the only one with the information, they usually want to do something about the problem rather than waste time on petty infighting, and they don't normally (as far as I know) create neologisms to describe the issue they are trying to raise.

Probably #2 carries a bit less weight, depending on the subject matter.
Click to expand...

I mean more those who dogmatically believe they are the sole repositories of truth and all other progressives are the main enemy.
 
cherrybomb said:
Yes! I totally agree. As part of my degree I spent time with a faith healing group whose members would think about what they were going to say next in general conversation and then would say "Thank you, Father!" before speaking, as God had given them the words they needed. Why couldn't I hear Him, I asked. You don't deserve to, was the reply!:oops:
Click to expand...
Hearing God speak to you personally.
Psychosis.

Such a fine line...
 
Mythopoeika said:
Some of the best people I know are called Dave.
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Other than David Cameron, I struggle to think of anyone called Dave that I haven't liked ... all the Garys I've met have been a bit weird, either in a good or bad way and all the Lucys have been nymphos for some reason.
 
Swifty said:
Other than David Cameron, I struggle to think of anyone called Dave that I haven't liked ... all the Garys I've met have been a bit weird, either in a good or bad way and all the Lucys have been nymphos for some reason.
Click to expand...
I've met three Hilarys and they've all been as mad as a box of frogs.
 
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