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Our Nut-Job Litmus Tests

Speaking as a self-confessed nutjob, everyone has irrational beliefs for a variety of reasons, be that comfort, a sense of higher social status, control, or whatever. Belief is a paradoxically very strong and very fragile thing depending on how far you're willing to go to back it up. Some will have their whole lives revolve around an irrational belief, others just save it for a spot of magical thinking and leave it at that. I doubt anyone has the time or inclination to be super-logical about everything, it's only when the person starts getting offensive that my alarm bells start ringing.

But I doubt I'd confront them, better to let them stew in their own mental filth, you never know, it might bring them to their senses when they notice a lot of people backing away, figuratively and literally.
 
I haven't met a Mary Queen of Scots - but I was once having this perfectly ordinary conversation with someone who suddenly confided in me she thought she was the reincarnation of Richard III.

Since then, I usually take membership of the Richard III Society as a bit of a nutjob signpost.

She also had an imaginary degree in archaeology. And self publishes bad fantasy novels.
 
Considering that she wrote fantasy novels, are you sure she didn't in fact have a degree in imaginary archeology? Excavating Hobbiton and such.
 
Swifty said:
... 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."
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I too remember hearing about that one when I was at school. It was also claimed that Led Zeppelin's song 'Stairway to Heaven' contained satanic messages.
 
Zeke Newbold said:
* The taking seriously of any vampire or werewolf story - except in a mythological sense.
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About 6 or 7 years ago, I did a lecture at a High School on vampire legends and modern day cases (They were working on Bram Stoker's Dracula I think). I am not a vampire expert by any means, I couldn't tell my arse from my elbow when it comes to the toothy bastards but I had loads of fun researching it.

One really interesting case I found, and I posted it here, was the murder of a prostitute called Lilly Lindeström in Stockholm (1932). She was found bludgeoned to death and drained of blood. A large ladel was found which had been used to drink her blood. The murder remains unsolved.

So, I do not believe in the mythological Vampire but I certainly believe in blood drinking murderering "vampires".

On my own list of "Danger Will Robinsons" are crystals, healings, palmistry, mediumship (not the belief in but the claiming to be one), feeling auras, chemtrails and HAARP conspiracies.
 
I have a very good friend who does a bit of crystal healing (and she actually believes in it).
She's not at all barmy.
There are perfectly sane people who are prepared to believe in some absolute tosh and yet reject other things.
 
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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.
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Never really got on with anyone called Mike. Lucys insane rather than sex mad.
 
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Xanatic* said:
Considering that she wrote fantasy novels, are you sure she didn't in fact have a degree in imaginary archeology? Excavating Hobbiton and such.
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You're not trying to tell me Hobbiton is imaginary?

The only maps and atlases I have in this house are Ankh-Morpork and Middle-earth.:)

ETA: Is that a nut-job litmus test?o_O
 
Xanatic* said:
For the techy stuff, it's mentioning Tesla. He is now the patron saint of cranks.
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I guess I qualify, then. But Tesla did a lot of useful stuff before he either, depending on your position, lost his marbles or became an uber-genius.

I'm inclined to think something in the middle, but its unfortunate that we don't know exactly what he was trying to do or how he intended to do it.

But I don't mind if y'all think me weird :). Maybe its because my dad thought we were descended from Bonnie Prince Charlie, or because he took me to a faith healer several times to 'cure' my missing eye. I just try and go with the flow in situations like that - arguing only prevents one having some loony but interesting experiences!
 
I have known several Daves, and they do generally fall into the Weird Box. We had to distinguish them, though, so there was Whispering Dave, Shouty Dave, Beardy Tache Cycle Dave, Dave the Greek, Dancing Dave and, er, Dave Dave.
 
Dave Dave?
Please elaborate. :D
 
LOL :D DAVE Dave > :bananas:
 
I wasn't critizising Tesla but he is the go to guy for nutters.
 
Incidentally, the only creationist I know personally has degrees from both Princeton and Stanford.
 
Hmm. I reckon I hear alarm bells ring when I meet:

- folks who have one answer to lots of different questions/phenomena/things. Like, everything inexplicable is caused by dark energies, or Muslims, or the far right, or aliens, or Special Branch, or any other single solution.

- And, I have to confess, those with crazy conspiracies that quickly turn into racist/sexist/homophobic/generally unpleasant diatribes.

I'm not convinced by the 'red flag' subjects (crystals and suchlike). I'm not into that kinda thing personally, but for me it's an approach rather than a particular subject matter that I find worrying. Some very interesting and pleasant people find meaning in things that I would think of as being pretty 'out there'!
 
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.)
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That is, of course, until they are proven correct? Then what would you say? Maybe, :eek: ?
 
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Bigphoot2 said:

People who dismiss any event such as a major accident, terrorist attack, death of a famous person as a hoax.
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For years I refused to believe comedian Andy Kaufman was dead; it was just another of his bizarre stunts. And L. Ron Hubbard has sure been holding his breath a long time . . .

One of my best friends acted like she was giving me Ancient Wisdom when she told me that men who insisted on being called "Dave" were invariably A-holes, but men who wanted to be called "David" were always okay. She also said she had never met a bad "Mike" (including me), but within months her brother-in-law Mike divorced her sister and spent years fulfilling the "evil ex" archetype (not paying child support, trying to get possession of the house, furnishings, HER family heirlooms; sugar in the gas tank, etc.).

When I consider the probabilities/likelihood of chemical combinations, possible alternate species becoming ascendant, factors like size of a planet/distance from a star/atmospheric composition, etc., I feel the chances of extraterrestrials looking even vaguely humanoid to be incalculably unlikely. Let alone like Space Brothers. Let alone able to interbreed with earthlings! So I don't think much of the E.T. theory for UFOs.

I never could take widespread/centuries old conspiracies and secret societies seriously; its just against human nature to know a Big Secret and not want to tell people. I'd have to brag to people that I was one of Them or bust! At the very least I'd annoy people by singing:

"I know something you don't know, you don't know, you don't know,
"I know something you don't know, nyeah, nyeah, NYEAH, nyeah!"
 
amarok2005 said:
I never could take widespread/centuries old conspiracies and secret societies seriously; its just against human nature to know a Big Secret and not want to tell people. I'd have to brag to people that I was one of Them or bust! At the very least I'd annoy people by singing:
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Funny, I was talking with a fellow student yesterday and we discussing how you just can't keep a secret in a company. The only way is to not tell anyone.
 
gellatly68 said:
I have known several Daves, and they do generally fall into the Weird Box. We had to distinguish them, though, so there was Whispering Dave, Shouty Dave, Beardy Tache Cycle Dave, Dave the Greek, Dancing Dave and, er, Dave Dave.
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My husband's called Dave. As are at least 4 other people at his work.

I am so showing him this.
 
amarok2005 said:
Bigphoot2 said:
... I never could take widespread/centuries old conspiracies and secret societies seriously; its just against human nature to know a Big Secret and not want to tell people. I'd have to brag to people that I was one of Them or bust! ...
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I would once give a fair hearing to such long-term conspiracy / secrecy stories, but even that polite approach dissipated over time. The main reason was that ongoing experiences with people (particularly in groups and institutional sets) convinced me no such human aggregation is, or has ever been, capable of either (a) securing any Really Big Secret from broader dissemination or (b) keeping the Really Deep Doctrine they derive from such secrets stable over a period of mere years, much less centuries.
 
EnolaGaia said:
I would once give a fair hearing to such long-term conspiracy / secrecy stories, but even that polite approach dissipated over time. The main reason was that ongoing experiences with people (particularly in groups and institutional sets) convinced me no such human aggregation is, or has ever been, capable of either (a) securing any Really Big Secret from broader dissemination or (b) keeping the Really Deep Doctrine they derive from such secrets stable over a period of mere years, much less centuries.
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Except that, these 'secret societies' often use threats against co-members and/or get other members to take an solemn oath. Freemasons, Mafiosi, Church of Scientology, for instance.
 
Coal said:
Hearing God speak to you personally.
Psychosis.

Such a fine line...
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You could say, its all in the... 'Ear's of the beholder?'

EDIT: Those that say they can hear GOD 'speak to them' would not, in the main, think of themselves as being psychotic.
So the line can only be drawn by those who doubt.
It is said that, those that have Faith 'without knowledge' are blessed. Which would suggest that those who 'require knowledge' in order to have Faith, are in the 'wrong' camp.
Therefore, the drawing of a line, could be said to be, meaningless?

DOUBLE EDIT: What I mean, and where this is leading: I have no idea?
I think I've just created my own 'Gordian knot'?o_O
 
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Carmilla K said:
Except that, these 'secret societies' often use threats against co-members and/or get other members to take an solemn oath. Freemasons, Mafiosi, Church of Scientology, for instance.
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As if that counts for much ... There are elaborate and tangible threats - reinforced by solemn vows and third party monitoring - used to supposedly secure governmental and corporate secrets, and that hasn't demonstrably prevented leaks over much shorter timeframes than are required for the grand conspiracy theories.
 
EnolaGaia said:
As if that counts for much ... There are elaborate and tangible threats - reinforced by solemn vows and third party monitoring - used to supposedly secure governmental and corporate secrets, and that hasn't demonstrably prevented leaks over much shorter timeframes than are required for the grand conspiracy theories.
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That is supposition, of course, as the 'really big' secrets are as yet, unknown?
 
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:
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The response given to you was nonsense. None of us are deserving, since we're all imperfect. The Lord speaks to whom he so wills to. I have news for you it happens. But not nearly as often as these fraudulent hucksters would have you believe. Of course psychotics, sensationalist and hucksters claim to hear from God as with many other Fortean events it can be difficult to discern the few that actually do.
 
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