I've heard that theory concerning Sandy Hook, and that's one I had in mind when I said some were irresponsible and dangerous. The alien theories are usually equally (and often beyond) speculative, but they have little bearing upon our everyday lives. Those politically centered ones that secretly advocate certain political positions, however, are far more disconcerting. They just pollute discourses with uninformed thought and unhealthy paranoia. What's worse, they usually have a hardened-bias built right in, so that they're never proved wrong by any amount of rational thought or plausible evidence. Any contrary evidence/argument is reworked to fit the theory, rather than testing it. And that, is bad theory.
You're probably right. I do wish TV would clean up its act though, for the sake of everyone else out there. There's few things I watch on a consistent basis, and I do have a lot of DVDs as well.
Baron of Terribad (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
I don't even really watch TV anymore ... I watch stuff on Netflix or buy seasons on DVD/BD if the word of mouth is really good. Sounds like having the worst schedule to watch TV is actually a benefit to me!
I have come to loathe conspiracy theorists more and more over the years. Especially with the political climate the way it is, the extreme Right just feeds peoples' fears and you see more and more nutjobs coming out of the woodwork. Have you heard about the conspiracy theorists who think the Sandy Hook school shooting is just a media campaign by Obama to push new gun laws? They've been harassing innocent people who were there during the shooting, saying they're just paid actors.
The biggest problem I have with Ancient Aliens is that its on History Channel, when everything they talk about is crank theories, and even the real history is full of errors. The only people they interview are the theorists, they don't even talk to any skeptics who could potentially present rational explanations. And it seems that aliens are responsible for everything in history. Pyramids? Aliens. Dinosaur extinction? Aliens. Weapons of mass destruction? Aliens. Einstein? Aliens. We must be pretty useless as a species if aliens had to do everything for us.
I've never seen Ancient Aliens, but it sounds like something that I would have liked...many many years ago. Nowadays, whenever I turn on the radio at night (an AM station) and late-night conspiracy radio is on, it sometimes gets on my nerves. I guess after becoming very familiar with methods of investigating, analysing, and verifying theories, conspiracy stuff makes my head hurt.
At their worst, conspiracy theories are distorting, misleading, irresponsible, and thus dangerous. In their own way, they too draw upon emotions which distort thinking by overwhelming it with fear, anxiety, and paranoia. It's just yet another way of pandering and appealing to aspects of our unthinking selves, relying largely on emotional reactions.
Pleiades Rising
Otaku Idol (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
@TimeChaser:
I've heard that theory concerning Sandy Hook, and that's one I had in mind when I said some were irresponsible and dangerous. The alien theories are usually equally (and often beyond) speculative, but they have little bearing upon our everyday lives. Those politically centered ones that secretly advocate certain political positions, however, are far more disconcerting. They just pollute discourses with uninformed thought and unhealthy paranoia. What's worse, they usually have a hardened-bias built right in, so that they're never proved wrong by any amount of rational thought or plausible evidence. Any contrary evidence/argument is reworked to fit the theory, rather than testing it. And that, is bad theory.
TimeChaser
Madman With a Box (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
@Shinmaru:
You're probably right. I do wish TV would clean up its act though, for the sake of everyone else out there. There's few things I watch on a consistent basis, and I do have a lot of DVDs as well.
Bazinga!
Shinmaru
Baron of Terribad (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
I don't even really watch TV anymore ... I watch stuff on Netflix or buy seasons on DVD/BD if the word of mouth is really good. Sounds like having the worst schedule to watch TV is actually a benefit to me!
Love thy Evangelion.
TimeChaser
Madman With a Box (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
@Pleiades Rising:
I have come to loathe conspiracy theorists more and more over the years. Especially with the political climate the way it is, the extreme Right just feeds peoples' fears and you see more and more nutjobs coming out of the woodwork. Have you heard about the conspiracy theorists who think the Sandy Hook school shooting is just a media campaign by Obama to push new gun laws? They've been harassing innocent people who were there during the shooting, saying they're just paid actors.
The biggest problem I have with Ancient Aliens is that its on History Channel, when everything they talk about is crank theories, and even the real history is full of errors. The only people they interview are the theorists, they don't even talk to any skeptics who could potentially present rational explanations. And it seems that aliens are responsible for everything in history. Pyramids? Aliens. Dinosaur extinction? Aliens. Weapons of mass destruction? Aliens. Einstein? Aliens. We must be pretty useless as a species if aliens had to do everything for us.
Bazinga!
Pleiades Rising
Otaku Idol (Otaku Eternal) | Posted 01/25/13 | Reply
I've never seen Ancient Aliens, but it sounds like something that I would have liked...many many years ago. Nowadays, whenever I turn on the radio at night (an AM station) and late-night conspiracy radio is on, it sometimes gets on my nerves. I guess after becoming very familiar with methods of investigating, analysing, and verifying theories, conspiracy stuff makes my head hurt.
At their worst, conspiracy theories are distorting, misleading, irresponsible, and thus dangerous. In their own way, they too draw upon emotions which distort thinking by overwhelming it with fear, anxiety, and paranoia. It's just yet another way of pandering and appealing to aspects of our unthinking selves, relying largely on emotional reactions.