Comic Book Plus Forum
All And Everything => General Discussion => Topic started by: Captain Audio on April 01, 2014, 02:43:19 PM
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Ran across this quote and it started a train of thought.
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I tended to discount conspiracy theories. But there are so many truths to so many things. I think the truth usually lies somewhere between like in most things.
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Some conspiracy theories evolve, others are constructs intended to push an agenda, still others are creations by individuals purely to generate income by selling books and videos.
Some con men have found that if they pander to followers of existing conspiracy theories they can fleece them while getting nothing but praise from their victims. If they are caught their following assumes its some plot to discredit a supposed seeker of truth.
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Wow what a perfect description of Al Gore! Sorry to anyone who may still be a supporter but I think most have seen him discredited by now. Yes I know there are others in both camps profiteering off of fear mongering but no one I know of fits the bill better than Al.
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Keeping to generalities rather than specific examples, the pattern is very much the same no matter what the specific theory might be.
Motivation for spreading conspiracy theories are not all the same. Some actually believe what they claim, these are a minority of the most vocal. The majority of the most vocal have far less honest reasons.
The worst may be the "malignant Narcissist" who gains pleasure by bullying their way through any discussion of the theories, and who's basic motivation is to feel a sense of control over those who seem to believe the line of bull they are selling. They are most likely to resort to name calling and personal attacks when evidence that they are lying is presented. They like to pretend that they are the ones who have been offended no matter how obvious it may be that they are deliberately offending others.
The pretense being that they are passionate in their belief in the truth of a specific theory.
Their real victims are those who buy into their bull and in effect stop thinking for themselves in order to maintain the illusion of rational weighing of evidence.
The narcissists are more likely to present a photo thats they claim shows something that it does not show at all. Their followers don't actually study the image they accept what they are told and in their minds eye see only what they have been told to see.
Modern digital images make this tactic easier because lower resolution images can not be enhanced to show hidden details as well as the best quality film camera images of the past could be.
Digital enhancement of a digital image has a basic limitation, when an object is very small or far away the maximum magnification may not be able to distinguish it and its lost in the neighboring pixels.
On the other hand I've seen enhanced images that make a slight scratch and a crease in the skin look like a long deep wound due to the effect of shadow not being taken into account.
The person doing the enhancement wanted to find a deep wound and by golly he was going to find one whether it was actually there or not.
The same observer error can be seen in the Cidonia face on Mars photos. The first enhanced images show what looks like a face, but later enhanced images from a slightly different angle and time show it as a irregular rock formation.
Digital enhancements of older style film photos and movies show how much more informatrion could be captured by film vs lower resolution digital cameras. Greatly degraded film images still have enough information to allow for near perfect restorations.
The digital cameras normally produces serviceable photos, and the highest resolution cameras rival the film camera, but run of the mill digital cameras are more limited than most people realize.
Theoretically the film emulsion captures the details of images at a near molecular level rather than in separate pixels per square inch.
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Ah but, most of those conspiracy theories are absolutely correct, aren't they? There are obviously flying saucers, something that would be perfectly clear if you were to visit Bonnybridge, a village not far from here which is a centre of ufo activity. Or so we are told ;)
Gullable, me?
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There are certainly UnIdentified Flying Objects. Anything flying by that you can't identify is by definition a UFO.
There are even saucer shaped flying objects. The "Flying Flapjack"
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_XF5U&sa=U&ei=scVGU_s3yLjbBYCegdAI&ved=0CAgQFjAC&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHLW-fM-2rcM-BVJAK0jXcDGwKjgg
Caused a UFO scare when one on a test flight had to set down on a beach and was seen by passersby.
Then theres the Avrocar
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_VZ-9_Avrocar&sa=U&ei=NcZGU47sIOvE2QXu1oHwBg&ved=0CAUQFjAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNHX8YJsZhBYBeJirHkPbVWCqjCCAQ
Though it never got far from the ground.
Several experimental aircraft have been built with a saucer like shape.