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A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

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Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#51

Post by vintermann »

gdulli wrote: post #41
Animats wrote: post #33

There are more conspiracies. Here are some well-verified ones: - Epstein and way too many important people. - The big one from the 1970s onward to increase the return on capital by lowering living standards, the "Powell memorandum".[1] That's the founding document of the modern conservative movement. - Facebook/Meta being behind schemes for age verification.[2] [1] https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/ [2]…

I wouldn't say that Epstein is a vindication of conspiracy theories, at least not the "Bigfoot" type. Epstein was already in trouble with the law for trafficking over 20 years ago. The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that. It's shameful that these stories didn't get more attention sooner, but the general veracity of them wasn't in question. The prototypical pedophilia conspiracy theory we d…

"Bigfoot" isn't inherently a conspiracy theory. If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. To be a conspiracy theorist, you also have to posit a grand conspiracy to conceal the existence of bigfoot.

If you posit a conspiracy that only involves a few people who could plausibly coordinate to conceal the truth, that's also not a grand conspiracy, and we don't call people conspiracy theorist for believing in regular, everyday criminal conspiracies.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#52

Post by Animats »

zdw wrote: post #26

Given that a large portion of the population has a HD or higher quality camera in their pocket most of the time these days, most cryptid style conspiracies seem pretty well debunked at this point.

Mandatory XKCD.[1]

[1] https://xkcd.com/1235/

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#53

Post by ChrisKnott »

lp4v4n wrote: post #31
mkoubaa wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're all on a spectrum between flat earth and Epstein didn't off himself, with some clustering at either end

A few years ago, the "tinfoil hat crowd" had this absurd claim that Ghislaine Maxwell was a reddit powermod: https://www.vice.com/en/article/incoherent-conspiracy-sugges... The article above is from 2020, and later the FBI itself used the user maxwellhill as evidence in Ghislaine's investigation: https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1qsf6y6/reddit_pos...

This is almost certainly because a member of the public phoned the police/FBI and alleged that GM was /u/maxwellhill, not that it was part of the FBI’s case. Look at the other stuff on the list.

I don’t know if the claim is “absurd” but it appears to be essentially baseless.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#54

Post by n4r9 »

gdulli wrote: post #41
Animats wrote: post #33

There are more conspiracies. Here are some well-verified ones: - Epstein and way too many important people. - The big one from the 1970s onward to increase the return on capital by lowering living standards, the "Powell memorandum".[1] That's the founding document of the modern conservative movement. - Facebook/Meta being behind schemes for age verification.[2] [1] https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/ [2]…

I wouldn't say that Epstein is a vindication of conspiracy theories, at least not the "Bigfoot" type. Epstein was already in trouble with the law for trafficking over 20 years ago. The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that. It's shameful that these stories didn't get more attention sooner, but the general veracity of them wasn't in question. The prototypical pedophilia conspiracy theory we d…

I think if 20 years ago you claimed that there was a global sex trafficking ring that procured young girls for elites, politicians, celebrities, and royalty, you'd be laughed off as a David Icke level conspiracist. These days it just seems obvious that that was going on.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#55

Post by throwup238 »

vintermann wrote: post #51
gdulli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say that Epstein is a vindication of conspiracy theories, at least not the "Bigfoot" type. Epstein was already in trouble with the law for trafficking over 20 years ago. The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that. It's shameful that these stories didn't get more attention sooner, but the general veracity of them wasn't in question. The prototypical pedophilia conspiracy theory we d…

"Bigfoot" isn't inherently a conspiracy theory. If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. To be a conspiracy theorist, you also have to posit a grand conspiracy to conceal the existence of bigfoot. If you posit a conspiracy that only involves a few people who could plausibly coordinate to conceal the truth, that's also not a grand conspiracy, and we don't call people con…

> If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist.

I’m not sure if “I’m just a cryptozoologist” is much of a vindication.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#56

Post by defrost »

throwup238 wrote: post #55
vintermann wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Bigfoot" isn't inherently a conspiracy theory. If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. To be a conspiracy theorist, you also have to posit a grand conspiracy to conceal the existence of bigfoot. If you posit a conspiracy that only involves a few people who could plausibly coordinate to conceal the truth, that's also not a grand conspiracy, and we don't call people con…

> If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. I’m not sure if “I’m just a cryptozoologist” is much of a vindication.

[dead]

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#57

Post by razorbeamz »

mukmuk wrote: post #48

Somewhat relatedly, there is a pretty plausible theory that some “find the Yeti” expeditions were in fact cover for operations by my country’s intelligence services to sabotage China. See e.g., https://topsecretumbra.substack.com/p/the-secret-history-of-... (Btw the general idea that there are animals that we don’t know about is not remotely far-fetched. A new possum genus was discovered like a month ago.)

Bigfoot proposes the idea that there are animals we do know about, but just haven't found proof of, which is a little more farfetched.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#58

Post by darkwater »

mukmuk wrote: post #48

Somewhat relatedly, there is a pretty plausible theory that some “find the Yeti” expeditions were in fact cover for operations by my country’s intelligence services to sabotage China. See e.g., https://topsecretumbra.substack.com/p/the-secret-history-of-... (Btw the general idea that there are animals that we don’t know about is not remotely far-fetched. A new possum genus was discovered like a month ago.)

> (Btw the general idea that there are animals that we don’t know about is not remotely far-fetched. A new possum genus was discovered like a month ago.)

I might be totally mistaken but I think most of the times when a new "species" is found is either a) some different genus which a non trained eye would not be able to distinguish from an existing one, or b) some species that lives only in a very difficult to reach place with some very specific conditions (i.e. underwater near volcanoes).

Something so different with so many "sightings" as a Bigfoot? Almost impossible.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#59

Post by AnthonyMouse »

vintermann wrote: post #51
gdulli wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say that Epstein is a vindication of conspiracy theories, at least not the "Bigfoot" type. Epstein was already in trouble with the law for trafficking over 20 years ago. The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that. It's shameful that these stories didn't get more attention sooner, but the general veracity of them wasn't in question. The prototypical pedophilia conspiracy theory we d…

"Bigfoot" isn't inherently a conspiracy theory. If you say that bigfoot exists, you're wrong, but not necessarily a conspiracy theorist. To be a conspiracy theorist, you also have to posit a grand conspiracy to conceal the existence of bigfoot. If you posit a conspiracy that only involves a few people who could plausibly coordinate to conceal the truth, that's also not a grand conspiracy, and we don't call people con…

> If you posit a conspiracy that only involves a few people who could plausibly coordinate to conceal the truth, that's also not a grand conspiracy, and we don't call people conspiracy theorist for believing in regular, everyday criminal conspiracies.

No, but we did call people conspiracy theorists for believing the thing Snowden subsequently showed to be real.

Re: A new Bigfoot documentary helps explain our conspiracy-minded era

#60

Post by graemep »

gdulli wrote: post #41
Animats wrote: post #33

There are more conspiracies. Here are some well-verified ones: - Epstein and way too many important people. - The big one from the 1970s onward to increase the return on capital by lowering living standards, the "Powell memorandum".[1] That's the founding document of the modern conservative movement. - Facebook/Meta being behind schemes for age verification.[2] [1] https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/ [2]…

I wouldn't say that Epstein is a vindication of conspiracy theories, at least not the "Bigfoot" type. Epstein was already in trouble with the law for trafficking over 20 years ago. The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that. It's shameful that these stories didn't get more attention sooner, but the general veracity of them wasn't in question. The prototypical pedophilia conspiracy theory we d…

> The pedophilia in the Catholic church was known decades before that.

Except the proportion of paedophile priests is about the same as the proportion of paedophiles in the general population. There are more paedophiles in schools and social services than in religious organisations - and there have even been more convictions of teachers and social workers, at least tin the UK. The reason you think of the Catholic Church this way is BECAUSE it got more media attention earlier than elsewhere. A surprising number of people the UK do not know about the biggest big paedophile scandal in the country, the Islington one, that was huge, and at least one politician who was responsible for the failure to investigate went on to have a successful career in politics (the only time it set back her career at all was when Blair wanted to make her minister for children there was a backlash)

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