The horrible truth about the horrible truth

[Kevin Daly]

Many people like to imagine that the world is governed by a shadowy and sinister conspiracy of immensely powerful individuals, usually in league with whichever religious and/or ethnic group they enjoy hating.

They will then blame this all-powerful conspiracy for their own sense of having no power over their lives (when actually pretty much everybody feels that way).

For extra points of course you have to throw in the Knights Templar (or as a more bourgeois replacement, the Freemasons).

In reality the behaviour of corporate clowns (to take one example of those who imagine themselves to be powerful) is more the product of fairly unintelligent and unimaginative people indulging their own greed, stupidity and fear. The apparent conspiracies are more like the emergent behaviour that gives the illusion of intelligence to the behaviour of an ant colony or the flocking of birds (not that birds themselves are not individually intelligent, but that's another matter).

So the horrible truth? Where people imagine that we are all trapped aboard a plane whose piloting and navigation are in the iron grip of a cabal of evil men....in reality there is nobody flying the plane at all.

Next to that realisation a conspiracy (because a conspiracy can after all be resisted, even fought and overcome) seems comforting by comparison.

 

[Experiencer7]

Many people like to imagine that the world is governed by a shadowy and sinister conspiracy of immensely powerful individuals, usually in league with whichever religious and/or ethnic group they enjoy hating.

They will then blame this all-powerful conspiracy for their own sense of having no power over their lives (when actually pretty much everybody feels that way).

For extra points of course you have to throw in the Knights Templar (or as a more bourgeois replacement, the Freemasons).

In reality the behaviour of corporate clowns (to take one example of those who imagine themselves to be powerful) is more the product of fairly unintelligent and unimaginative people indulging their own greed, stupidity and fear. The apparent conspiracies are more like the emergent behaviour that gives the illusion of intelligence to the behaviour of an ant colony or the flocking of birds (not that birds themselves are not individually intelligent, but that's another matter).

So the horrible truth? Where people imagine that we are all trapped aboard a plane whose piloting and navigation are in the iron grip of a cabal of evil men....in reality there is nobody flying the plane at all.

Next to that realisation a conspiracy (because a conspiracy can after all be resisted, even fought and overcome) seems comforting by comparison.

Perhaps the collective creates a pilot.

 

[skunkape]

I'm taking over this joy-stick. I'm a caveman in a spaceship. Sit back and enjoy the ride, to Hell with the safety-belts. We're all gonna die anyways.
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[conor]

It's easier and more comforting to believe in order, even if it is a twisted one bent on world domination, than it is to believe in chaos - that human affairs or a group larger than say a couple of thousand people is largely unpredictable. Conspiracy theory is like trying to create a mythology where all the bad things that have happened over the last couple of hundred years happened because they, the "bad men", willed it so. We, the people, so pure and good intentioned, would never have allowed such things to happen.

There are probably thousands of mini conspiracies which trip up each other all the time. Alan Moore once said of the CIA that, if your on one of their lists, you have nothing to worry about. however, if you have a name similar to a name on one of their lists, you could end up dead.

The US intelligence agencies are so compartmentalised that it must be extremely chaotic, with mistakes and mishaps happening all the time.

The world is what you make it:

 

[CapnG]

So the horrible truth? Where people imagine that we are all trapped aboard a plane whose piloting and navigation are in the iron grip of a cabal of evil men....in reality there is nobody flying the plane at all.

Is Jesus still my co-pilot? Cuz I just checked the parachutes and I swear there's one missing...

 

[Schuyler]

Is Jesus still my co-pilot? Cuz I just checked the parachutes and I swear there's one missing...

Just don't grab the knap sack by mistake!

 

[corechakra]

"It's easier and more comforting to believe in order, even if it is a twisted one bent on world domination, than it is to believe in chaos - that human affairs or a group larger than say a couple of thousand people is largely unpredictable."

I think it is the other way around --it is easier to believe that everything in the world is run by chance, by accident, by coincidence. Then you have the same number of dots on your dice as everybody else. It is much harder to accept that there are some very important things in the world that are not so open to serendipity. There may be no flawless, machine-like conspiracies, I have heard very few people propose that there are. That doesn't mean there are no conspiracies. And it doesn't mean that with or without full-blown conspiracies there are no parties capable of tilting the playing surface in their direction. The attitude that history is just one damned thing after another, that all the best-laid plans go aft aglee, that is just the same eye-covering as insisting there is absolutely nothing in the world for which there is not a "normal" explanation. Just a nice story to talk yourself to sleep with.

 

[skunkape]

Just don't grab the knap sack by mistake!

That would probably go something like this.

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[conor]

"It's easier and more comforting to believe in order, even if it is a twisted one bent on world domination, than it is to believe in chaos - that human affairs or a group larger than say a couple of thousand people is largely unpredictable."

I think it is the other way around --it is easier to believe that everything in the world is run by chance, by accident, by coincidence. Then you have the same number of dots on your dice as everybody else. It is much harder to accept that there are some very important things in the world that are not so open to serendipity. There may be no flawless, machine-like conspiracies, I have heard very few people propose that there are. That doesn't mean there are no conspiracies. And it doesn't mean that with or without full-blown conspiracies there are no parties capable of tilting the playing surface in their direction. The attitude that history is just one damned thing after another, that all the best-laid plans go aft aglee, that is just the same eye-covering as insisting there is absolutely nothing in the world for which there is not a "normal" explanation. Just a nice story to talk yourself to sleep with.

WAY to much is thought to be conspiracy. We, as humans, order thongs. That's just the way it goes. It's easy to do with hindsight. But when you look into what will happen to you even tommorrow, there are bound to be at least some things which take you by surprise, banal things like seeing an old friend out of the blue, or sometimes things which can even change what happens the day after that and so on.

Power structures on a large scale grow up into what they become, but I can't see anyone who can say that they are a foregone conclusion.

If we focus on conspiracy, and believe that we are completely powerless to change our politics, or power structures, then our power is gone.

Conspiracy is mythology for the modern age. Understood as such, it may enlighten us as to the deep seated fears and beliefs we have in the modern age, like studying ancient Greek belief in the Gods as a window into how they viewed the world. To take them all literally, however, is to me wishful thinking. like life imitating art imitating life.

There probably have been men who have tried to steer us in one direction or another. I am of the firm belief that it didn't work, definitely not fully anyway, because people are the unpredictable variable.

In not giving too much creed to conspiracy, I am putting more faith in the power of free will and the individual

 

[CapnG]

We, as humans, order thongs.

Nonsense, I've never ordered a thong in my life!

There probably have been men who have tried to steer us in one direction or another. I am of the firm belief that it didn't work, definitely not fully anyway, because people are the unpredictable variable.

I'm more of the mind lately that both concepts are true. Yes, there is a dark, sinister, ubercaste that is trying to manipulate the fate of us all but at the same time life itself is so unpredicatable that their labours are mostly wasted on simply maintaining the status quo, leaving their more grandeos plans pushed firmly to the side. Kinda like someone driving a car with no power steering down a dirt road full of potholes.

 

[conor]

We, as humans, order thongs. That's just the way it goes.

Well, we don't order thongs so much as things, though I'm sure there's some ppl who order thongs, and enjoy it!

 

[SgtRock]

As both a freemason (32nd Degree) and a Knight Templar, I can personally attest that the persistent conspiracy accusations of world domination is hogwash.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

[conor]

As both a freemason (32nd Degree) and a Knight Templar, I can personally attest that the persistent conspiracy accusations of world domination is hogwash.fficeffice" /><O></O>

You would say that, now, wouldn't you

Haha, LOL

 

[SgtRock]

Muahahahahahahahaha. No seriously. It's true.

 

[conor]

Muahahahahahahahaha. No seriously. It's true.

True about being a member of the stonemasons and a knight templar? Okay, so I don't buy the theory that you guys rule the world, but what's the story with you guys??

Do tell:

 

[Ally]

True about being a member of the stonemasons and a knight templar? Okay, so I don't buy the theory that you guys rule the world, but what's the story with you guys??

Do tell:

I asked a trusted well traveled smart friend about this group. She thought they used to have this type of power and influence but the message and/or rituals have lost their power because it got lost in translation somewhere. I don't know if her answer was accurate so yes do tell!

 

[The Pair of Cats]

Just don't grab the knap sack by mistake!

Grabbing George Knapp's sack? Isn't that something that George Noory would do? lol

 

[cottonzway]

As both a freemason (32nd Degree) and a Knight Templar, I can personally attest that the persistent conspiracy accusations of world domination is hogwash.fficeffice" /><O></O>

Pfff...

Everyone knows you don't learn anything until your 33rd Degree. Try again, Stonecutter!

*WE DO! WE DO!*

 

[pixelsmith]

thanks cotton... these guys need to learn the horrible truth about the horrible truth about the horrible truth.

 

[Schuyler]

I actually think we are 'pattern people' We connect the dots when there are no dots. An outcropping becomes 'Old Man Rock.' The Face on Mars materializes from an eroded hill. When we don't have an explanation for something, we make one up. God did it. The Faeries stole the kid. An alien abduction explains that cellulite on your thigh. We don't need proof; we just need faith.

About that knap sack. It comes from an old joke about a crashing airplane with you, a hippie, Henry Kissinger, and Richard Nixon on the plane along with four parachutes. The pilot comes back to the passenger cabin, says the plane is going to crash, grabs a parachute, and jumps. Nixon says, 'Well, I'm the leader of the Free World. I must survive. He grabs a parachute and jumps. Then Henry Kissinger says, "I'm the smartes man in the world. I must live." So he grabs a parachute and jumps. You say to the hippie, "Whar are we going to do?" he says, "Don't worry, man. The smartest man in the world just jumped from this plane with my knap sack."

I was hoping someone would get it, but the jpke is probably too lame to remember. Sorry.