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What's The Most Outrageous Conspiracy Theory You Have Heard?

sherbetbizarre said:
I've watched a few of his rambling/rhyming videos, but is there somewhere he tells us what he's being framed for?
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Who knows? .. either he's telling the truth and I don't want to deal with that or he's deluded and I don't want to deal with that either. I'm not keen on going down the rabbit hole of his videos or asking him face to face either.
 
The sound isn't that good on my computer so I'm having great difficulty hearing what he's saying. Is he claiming that the video was taken in Diss?
 
@Swifty is the narrator the bloke you met and who you described as 'posh'? Well he doesn't sound very posh to me.
 
Sollywos said:
@Swifty is the narrator the bloke you met and who you described as 'posh'? Well he doesn't sound very posh to me.
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He has a (mostly) Norfolk accent. Not posh at all.
Can't understand much of it because of his confused thought processes and poor pronunciation.

Sorry Mr Botwright, if you're out there - just talk more clearly. Thanks.
 
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When he's looking back down the street the church in the background isn't this one which is in Diss, so if he's claiming that's the town he's filming in he's um 'being creative with the truth'.
 
Sollywos said:
The sound isn't that good on my computer so I'm having great difficulty hearing what he's saying. Is he claiming that the video was taken in Diss?
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I wouldn’t fret about it - you’re not missing much. Wherever it is has a lovely cubic bush.
 
hunck said:
I wouldn’t fret about it - you’re not missing much. Wherever it is has a lovely cubic bush.
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F**k knows what he's always babbling on about?, you never know but me and 'hit the hot spot!' (fisherman slang) Brooksy photo bombed one of his videos a few days ago at the 0:25 mark in this video :) .. that didn't stop him though. We'll just leave him to it ...

 
Mythopoeika said:
It's stream-of-consciousness nonsense, most of the time.
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I know someone very similar to him, who has mental issues and wants everyone to believe he once framed for a murder.

He too uses social media. And in both cases the murders were real (plus they seemed to be living in the area when they occurred) but... the whole "people are trying to frame me" claims are surely delusions on their part.
 
I think this fits in here.

Excerpted from Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity by Sander van der Linden. Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nefarious Intentions and Persecuted Victims: On the Rise of Conspiracy Theories​

Sander van der Linden Investigates the Language and Psychology Behind Conspiratorial Narratives​

By Sander van der Linden
March 24, 2023
On 30 March 2014, I received an email from one “Alan Tarica.” He had been reading my work on the psychology of conspiracy theories and decided to send me a link to his detailed website uncovering patterns of a vast conspiracy to conceal or ignore the fact that Shakespeare’s famous sonnets were written by somebody else. Who might this be? According to Tarica, all signs point towards the Earl of Oxford. In several conversations, Alan tried to convince me that when you read the Sonnets from end to beginning, starting with the last poem and working your way back to the first poem, hidden truths are revealed.

Most of my colleagues don’t typically respond to such emails, but I often feel a strong pull—like a deep desire—to learn more about what exactly motivates belief in these type of conspiracy theories. After a few emails, I sent Alan Tarica a paper about how illusory pattern perception is linked to belief in conspiracy theories. After I googled his name and discovered that TARICA is an anagram for “ART CIA,” I quickly realized that he had been obsessively emailing and attacking scholars across the board. I told him that this was not my area of expertise but that I’m sure that “the truth is out there.”

One of his emails to me read as follows:
Thanks for response but really have to wonder if you find the behaviour of your fellow academics even remotely acceptable.
Of course, the truth is out there but without a conversation how are we supposed to get at it?
I can assure you I will make this ultimately about the contemptible behaviour of those that should be able to make informed comments. And I expect far greater participation from everyone despite their discipline.
But if you do nothing else, please pass that along.
All the best, Alan.
Click to expand...
The truth is out there, but that wasn’t enough for Alan. He kept emailing and his last email to me read: “Why don’t you try and refute my ‘conspiracy theory’ you useless and outrageous asshole.”

It may be that Alan feels marginalized: his views are not being heard and the scientific community is ignoring him.

If you start examining conspiracy theories, you will notice recurring commonalities in their narrative.

What Alan doesn’t know is that his behavior fits exactly with what we found in one of our latest studies: an investigation into the language of conspiracy. Most studies in this field of research just ask regular people questions about the extent to which they endorse a myriad of conspiracy theories. But we wanted to do something novel—to examine the language used by actual conspiracy theorists, to see if there are particular patterns—or psycholinguistic features—that make conspiracy theorists distinct in the way that they express themselves online.
By analyzing the language used in hundreds of thousands of tweets from the most popular conspiracy theorists on Twitter, we found that they express much more negative emotions—particularly anger—compared to their popular-science counterparts. They also swear and talk much more about other groups and power structures. All of which is reflected in Alan’s language: he’s angry, he’s swearing at others, and he’s dismantling what he perceives as unfair power structures. ...

https://lithub.com/nefarious-intentions-and-persecuted-victims-on-the-rise-of-conspiracy-theories/
 
ramonmercado said:
I think this fits in here.

Excerpted from Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects Our Minds and How to Build Immunity by Sander van der Linden. Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nefarious Intentions and Persecuted Victims: On the Rise of Conspiracy Theories​

Sander van der Linden Investigates the Language and Psychology Behind Conspiratorial Narratives​

By Sander van der Linden
March 24, 2023
On 30 March 2014, I received an email from one “Alan Tarica.” He had been reading my work on the psychology of conspiracy theories and decided to send me a link to his detailed website uncovering patterns of a vast conspiracy to conceal or ignore the fact that Shakespeare’s famous sonnets were written by somebody else. Who might this be? According to Tarica, all signs point towards the Earl of Oxford. In several conversations, Alan tried to convince me that when you read the Sonnets from end to beginning, starting with the last poem and working your way back to the first poem, hidden truths are revealed.

Most of my colleagues don’t typically respond to such emails, but I often feel a strong pull—like a deep desire—to learn more about what exactly motivates belief in these type of conspiracy theories. After a few emails, I sent Alan Tarica a paper about how illusory pattern perception is linked to belief in conspiracy theories. After I googled his name and discovered that TARICA is an anagram for “ART CIA,” I quickly realized that he had been obsessively emailing and attacking scholars across the board. I told him that this was not my area of expertise but that I’m sure that “the truth is out there.”

One of his emails to me read as follows:

The truth is out there, but that wasn’t enough for Alan. He kept emailing and his last email to me read: “Why don’t you try and refute my ‘conspiracy theory’ you useless and outrageous asshole.”

It may be that Alan feels marginalized: his views are not being heard and the scientific community is ignoring him.

If you start examining conspiracy theories, you will notice recurring commonalities in their narrative.

What Alan doesn’t know is that his behavior fits exactly with what we found in one of our latest studies: an investigation into the language of conspiracy. Most studies in this field of research just ask regular people questions about the extent to which they endorse a myriad of conspiracy theories. But we wanted to do something novel—to examine the language used by actual conspiracy theorists, to see if there are particular patterns—or psycholinguistic features—that make conspiracy theorists distinct in the way that they express themselves online.
By analyzing the language used in hundreds of thousands of tweets from the most popular conspiracy theorists on Twitter, we found that they express much more negative emotions—particularly anger—compared to their popular-science counterparts. They also swear and talk much more about other groups and power structures. All of which is reflected in Alan’s language: he’s angry, he’s swearing at others, and he’s dismantling what he perceives as unfair power structures. ...

https://lithub.com/nefarious-intentions-and-persecuted-victims-on-the-rise-of-conspiracy-theories/
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A great post from you as usual. This will stir the fertilizer :)

Edit: I'm making popcorn.
 
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My popcorn is popped and buttered
And I am all a-fluttered
Waiting for the true believers
To refute.
 
A recent one:

Russian State TV talking head proposing that maybe Zelensky and Boris Johnson are having a homosexual affair, after being dumfounded by the fact that "in the west, being gay isn't compromising material"

Propagandists admit that Arestovich is gay and Zelensky is also most likely gay
Russians are trying to find an explanation in homosexuality for everything that happens in Ukraine. We wonder what Freud would have said about such Russian way of thinking?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1639192609448132609

There is a good analysis where this idea comes from, but it's on a political website and I hesitate to post the link.
 
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Another one, from Twitter:

Wild that Peter Thiel's entire life work could get unraveled solely because he could not resist the urge to have one of his boyfriends killed for talking to reporters. Someone is gonna swoop in and fire sale those assets, but god damn, this whole arc is pure Shakespeare.

https://theintercept.com/2023/03/23...ntercept&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

THE DEATH OF PETER THIEL’S “KEPT” ROMANTIC PARTNER IS BEING INVESTIGATED AS A SUICIDE
Miami police plan to interview Thiel as part of probe into the sudden death of Jeff Thomas, a model and social media influencer, sources said.
 
And another one:

The killing of six people, including three 9-year-olds, at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, has been filled with speculation about the shooter's motive.
Audrey Hale, 28, was killed at the scene by police officers, 14 minutes after the first emergency call, with bodycam footage revealing the moment when officers opened fire.
However, only hours after the footage was released, conspiracy theories blossomed suggesting the shooter was wearing different footwear at different stages of the attack.

Multiple tweets posted between March 28 and 29, 2023, claimed that the Nashville shooter's footwear changed during the course of the incident.

One tweet by @WayneTechSPFX, posted on March 28, which has been viewed 852,000 times, said: "This was pointed out to me. The shoes the assailant were wearing were swapped out.
"So upon further inspection of the footage the church cameras had. And the footage that was released to by Metro PD.
"Upon inspection of both videos. I can confirm the shoes were swapped out."

Another tweet by @WhiteOnRiceAnon, posted the same day, viewed 2.1 million times, stated: "Pumas going in. Vans going out. All bullshit. Used a pre recorded training video. Explains why they released the body cam footage so quickly. They had it all set up and ready to go."

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-nashville-shooters-body-wearing-different-shoes-1791148
 
uair01 said:
And another one:

The killing of six people, including three 9-year-olds, at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, has been filled with speculation about the shooter's motive.
Audrey Hale, 28, was killed at the scene by police officers, 14 minutes after the first emergency call, with bodycam footage revealing the moment when officers opened fire.
However, only hours after the footage was released, conspiracy theories blossomed suggesting the shooter was wearing different footwear at different stages of the attack.

Multiple tweets posted between March 28 and 29, 2023, claimed that the Nashville shooter's footwear changed during the course of the incident.

One tweet by @WayneTechSPFX, posted on March 28, which has been viewed 852,000 times, said: "This was pointed out to me. The shoes the assailant were wearing were swapped out.
"So upon further inspection of the footage the church cameras had. And the footage that was released to by Metro PD.
"Upon inspection of both videos. I can confirm the shoes were swapped out."

Another tweet by @WhiteOnRiceAnon, posted the same day, viewed 2.1 million times, stated: "Pumas going in. Vans going out. All bullshit. Used a pre recorded training video. Explains why they released the body cam footage so quickly. They had it all set up and ready to go."

https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-was-nashville-shooters-body-wearing-different-shoes-1791148
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So... what are they saying? That this is a kind of psyop? Or that the shooter liked changing shoes between killings?
 
Mythopoeika said:
So... what are they saying? That this is a kind of psyop? Or that the shooter liked changing shoes between killings?
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For conspiracists there does not need to be a meaning or explanation. Just believable inconsistencies ...
 
Mythopoeika said:
So... what are they saying? That this is a kind of psyop? Or that the shooter liked changing shoes between killings?
Click to expand...
They're saying that the security footage was filmed, by the same company that created the moon landing presumably, and continuity and wardrobe fouled up and didn't give the actor playing the shooter the same shoes for each scene. So that people will be influenced in favor of the "government taking away your guns." Like the post someone put up a while ago about how photos of Putin were really just his head photoshopped onto another body photographed in a setting so that obviously Putin wasn't actually there and was therefore probably in fact dead. I've looked at a very few of these fake "fakes" and in none of them was the information the poster claimed even slightly evident.
 
Populist conspiracies redux.

Some of you probably noticed that I started a thread this morning about "populist conspiracies" but, unfortunately, it was derailed into politics and was consequently removed by the mods.

I contacted them though and have been given permission to submit my post again, as it's a question which fascinates me and on which I would be interested in forumists' views.

The adjective populist and the noun populism seem to be everywhere these days. You submit a search on this forum and these words crop up in a multitude of threads. If you Google for "populist conspiracies", you'll get literally millions of hits.

So, given that the definition of populist is "appealing to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups" this raises the question: what precisely constitutes a populist conspiracy and why is that considered as particularly egregious?
By definition, surely a fringe conspiracy, if believed by only a few cannot be populist?
If, however, such a conspiracy gains traction and is believed by a majority, then at what point does it become mainstream thinking, rather than a conspiracy?

Please no references to political leaders, either alive or dead, in any responses!
 
Populism is a style rather than an actual credo. I'm not sure it necessarily equates to 'popular'.

I think the important element of any 'populist' conspiracy is that it seeks to reinforce the perceived divide between two social groups through the very structure of the alleged conspiracy. Seems to me that to qualify as a populist conspiracy a theory has to be built around the idea of an elite bloc or class - not just a few NASA engineers, or some disaffected Cuban counter-revolutionaries, or a few power thirsty political operatives, or a rogue element within an intelligence or military community - but, essentially, everyone with any influence outside the subject audience. (Or, at least, an awful lot of them.)
 
Everyone is going to hate me but because I paid 20 dollars for a month of ChatGPT4, I asked it this question. And it agrees with the previous posts:

Populist and Non-Populist Conspiracies.​

Model: GPT-4

Give a few examples of what might be called a "populist conspiracy theory ". Then please contrast it with examples of conspiracy theory that is not populist.

A "populist conspiracy theory" typically involves narratives that pit the common people against a powerful, secretive elite or establishment, often accusing them of manipulating events or institutions for their own benefit. Some examples include:
  1. The "New World Order": This theory suggests that a secretive, global elite is planning to establish a totalitarian world government, undermining national sovereignty and manipulating global events to further their interests.
  2. "Deep State" conspiracies: These theories argue that unelected bureaucrats and intelligence agencies covertly control national governments, operating independently of elected officials and pursuing their own interests at the expense of the public.
  3. "Big Pharma" and vaccine conspiracies: These theories claim that pharmaceutical companies, in collusion with governments and health organizations, suppress natural cures or exaggerate the benefits of vaccines to maintain their profits and control over the population.
In contrast, non-populist conspiracy theories do not necessarily involve an elite or establishment, and may focus on specific events, entities, or phenomena that are perceived as hidden or unexplained. Some examples include:
  1. UFO cover-ups: This theory posits that various governments, particularly the United States, have concealed evidence of extraterrestrial life and UFO sightings, to prevent public panic or maintain control over advanced technology.
  2. Moon landing hoax: This theory claims that the Apollo moon landings were faked by the United States government, in order to win the space race against the Soviet Union and boost national pride.
  3. The Bermuda Triangle: This theory suggests that a specific region in the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Bermuda Triangle, is responsible for the mysterious disappearance of numerous ships and aircraft, possibly due to supernatural or unexplained forces.
These non-populist conspiracy theories do not necessarily involve a struggle between the masses and a powerful elite, but instead focus on hidden or unexplained phenomena that may challenge conventional understanding or official narratives.
 
uair01 said:
Everyone is going to hate me but because I paid 20 dollars for a month of ChatGPT4, I asked it this question. And it agrees with the previous posts:

Populist and Non-Populist Conspiracies.​

Model: GPT-4

Give a few examples of what might be called a "populist conspiracy theory ". Then please contrast it with examples of conspiracy theory that is not populist.

A "populist conspiracy theory" typically involves narratives that pit the common people against a powerful, secretive elite or establishment, often accusing them of manipulating events or institutions for their own benefit. Some examples include:
  1. The "New World Order": This theory suggests that a secretive, global elite is planning to establish a totalitarian world government, undermining national sovereignty and manipulating global events to further their interests.
  2. "Deep State" conspiracies: These theories argue that unelected bureaucrats and intelligence agencies covertly control national governments, operating independently of elected officials and pursuing their own interests at the expense of the public.
  3. "Big Pharma" and vaccine conspiracies: These theories claim that pharmaceutical companies, in collusion with governments and health organizations, suppress natural cures or exaggerate the benefits of vaccines to maintain their profits and control over the population.
In contrast, non-populist conspiracy theories do not necessarily involve an elite or establishment, and may focus on specific events, entities, or phenomena that are perceived as hidden or unexplained. Some examples include:
  1. UFO cover-ups: This theory posits that various governments, particularly the United States, have concealed evidence of extraterrestrial life and UFO sightings, to prevent public panic or maintain control over advanced technology.
  2. Moon landing hoax: This theory claims that the Apollo moon landings were faked by the United States government, in order to win the space race against the Soviet Union and boost national pride.
  3. The Bermuda Triangle: This theory suggests that a specific region in the Atlantic Ocean, known as the Bermuda Triangle, is responsible for the mysterious disappearance of numerous ships and aircraft, possibly due to supernatural or unexplained forces.
These non-populist conspiracy theories do not necessarily involve a struggle between the masses and a powerful elite, but instead focus on hidden or unexplained phenomena that may challenge conventional understanding or official narratives.
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Fair points.
Surely though UFO cover-ups could be described as populist, due to a lot of people believing that the US authorities (i.e. the elite) took possession of a crashed UFO (and possibly its occupants) and have been busy secretly reverse-engineering the alien technology at high security state facilities such as Area 51?

Arguably also, the Moon landing conspiracy, if you subscribe to that (which I definitely do not) was a state cover-up to disguise either a failed mission or the fact that the USA's technology in 1969 was insufficient to accomplish a genuine landing.

Any members of the common populace digging too deeply into either of these could fear a threatening visit from those sinister agents of the elite known as Men in Black.
 
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