Joe is apparently an unlicensed tax-evading plumber

[dougin]

"CNN Student News" just asked a trivia question: "who is the only president to have served more than two terms?" This is probably one of those questions that says more than most statements. Maybe every American need not know the answer. -But how can one not? It was multiple choice btw. The answer is not Washington, Taft, or Clinton

Comments

[zigidoll]

Heard an interesting psych study the other day, related loosely to those who plunge head-first into conspiracy theories. The basic result implied was this:

People who feel like they have no control over their lives or a specific situation tend to see patterns where there are none.

Kind of like the brain makes sense out of randomness in a vain effort to reinforce a feeling that someone/something is in control (especially if you feel like you're getting it really stuck to you - guess it helps if you feel like they are out to get you when shit goes awry).

[dougin]

Sounds interesting; got a link?

I remember hearing about 'Loci of Control'. Overly passive people assume control of the world to be outside themselves -in Fate, God, or conspiracies. Overly active people assume that they control their lives regardless of circumstance

?!

[ensurientchaos_]

"But evil geniuses and puppet-masters can't determine human interest or dictate what interests them."

Are you saying people actually want (place superfluous material possession here)?
The entire point of advertising is to manufacture interest.

Then again, perhaps I'm gullible -or in on it

[dougin]

Touche.

Perhaps it's a matter of semantics. But I'd argue that advertising directs interest more than it manufactures it. We may like shiny popular figures , but it is advertisements that direct our focus to specific rhinestone-clad celebrities.

In any case... Though it may be a weak demonstration, it seems significant to me that conspiracy theorists themselves represent a portion of the population, which is not duped -even by the distractions that they assume to be intentional. Therefore, those intentional distractions can at best focus our attention. -They cannot demand it.

It seems to me much more likely and reasonable that we, the hoi polloi, are occupied by our own individual interests whilst clever opportunists exploit our distraction. To orchestrate and coordinate the many diversions necessary to occupy the entire public -while conceivable- seems beyond realistic.

[ethernaut7]

If the conditions are set up right, I think people will happily play out their roles in the scheme without any pressure from the puppeteers at all.

[dougin]

Well, at what point does conspiracy-theorizing become a simple thought experiment?

At some point (I feel) we're forced to live our own lives and move past our ideas of our place in the universe -be it a pawn in a conspiracy, an insignificant spec in the cosmos, or another soul in the battle b/n God and Satan.

At some point we all put our ideas of the context of our lives aside and go on living. The wiser do it sooner, I feel.