Grand Ol' Conspiracies...

I've took some time off from the forum over the past couple of months, but have keep my mind busy, thinking about things and questioning previously held beliefs. I found myself in an odd position. I created a forum, with the intent of gathering like-minds for discussing particular ways of thought (i.e. researching what are general conspiracy theories)...but then basically ended up no longer believing in a conspiratorial view of the world. In fact, I see it as largely unhealthy.

This sense of doubt didn't exactly happen over night, but has developed in strength over the past several months, to a point where I just didn't really feel comfortable expressing some of my views regarding these subjects. I didn't want to tarnishing friendships that I've built over the years with some of the members here. I also didn't want to ruin the flow of this forum, nor did I want to make people suspicious of my motives in the face of all the paranoia that was going on just a few months ago.

And because of all this, I decided to stay somewhat neutral about expressing my doubts and mostly kept them to myself unless I was personally asked outside of the forum. But now I no longer feel the need to be silent about the things I believe to be true.

But I do so at the risk of alienating myself from a very alienated group of people lol. I mean, the forum is pretty much dedicated to conspiracies for the most part (and the most esoteric of conspiracies at that lol)...and I still do believe that conspiracies obviously exist...but I no longer believe in the "grand overarching, thousands of years old conspiracies" that spin into outlandish tales and lunacy. I'm very causal in my thinking, and what I find is that many of the grand conspiracy theories are seriously lacking in causal connections, and provide erroneous explanations in place of the most likely answers.

And I also find that a common trait among most grand conspiracies, is a distrust for modernity and science, a nostalgia for an unrealistic past, and general themes that are often based in religious constructs (even if the theorist claims to deny religious inclinations). Most people I know are religious to some extent, so I've learned to keep my mouth shut about many things they believe as to not offend them, even if their beliefs have no basis in reality what-so-ever...but now I have no qualms about expressing that I don't believe in the supernatural at all.

And if you can get over that hump, then many non-nonsensical claims (whether they be religious or conspiratorial) will not impress you at all. And for me, none of this has been a waste of time...for what has started as an interest in conspiracies, has developed into an interest of "why" people choose to believe in conspiracies. So, with that being said, I'm gonna try to keep the forum going for those who wish to participate, but let it be known that there's no central subject to this forum...nor is there any particular "researcher" (or fabricator) central to this site's interest. But see it as a place for general education, research, discussion and debate.

I decided to stay somewhat neutral about expressing my doubts and mostly kept them to myself unless I was personally asked outside of the forum. But now I no longer feel the need to be silent about the things I believe to be true.

.....I'm glad, because I appreciate someone "smart" fact checking any ideas or beliefs I have.

And I also find that a common trait among most grand conspiracies, is a distrust for modernity and science, a nostalgia for an unrealistic past, and general themes that are often based in religious constructs (even if the theorist claims to deny religious inclinations). Most people I know are religious to some extent, so I've learned to keep my mouth shut about many things they believe as to not offend them, even if their beliefs have no basis in reality what-so-ever...but now I have no qualms about expressing that I don't believe in the supernatural at all.

.....I'm not religious, but I am spiritual with beliefs in the supernatural, so any differences we have will make interesting reading. If we all thought the same things in the same ways there would be no need for a forum and life on earth would be a rather dull place.

Yeah, let's just keep the forum flowing for the discussion of topics of interest in general, whatever they may be.
But I agree with the OP concerning conspiramania. I'm just about done with the whole scene right now, I just dip my head into the web-bot paranoia pages every now and again to see what they are sounding the alarm about on any given day.

I usually don't mind unconventional beliefs, and have entertained the ideas of them for many years, making friends along the way...but something happened with our group that went wayyy too far over the deep end. Perhaps not all of you were able to witness firsthand, but it was disturbing as well a fascinating for many reasons as it happened.

Its like our group, went through a period of mental deprogramming, which is another way of saying "view EVERYTHING as paranoid as possible, and the recoiling reaction will free yourself from that everything." But doing so, I didn't realize we also uninstalled our mental firewalls...you know, that part of your conscience that tells you that something is wrong or incorrect.

But if EVERYTHING we know is a lie, then maybe...just maybe, this nonsensical story which "everybody-who-is-wrong" doesn't agree with, might just so happen to be right afterall! So the crazier and crazier the story, the more possible it may be! (assuming that everything conventional is automatically wrong anyway, who cares if its utter lunacy, it might be truth!) And with our guards down, a series of virally infectious memes came through and captivated many of us.

I've seen first hand how people who I've considered smart, have got themselves into a strange thought process, and while thinking of themselves as clever, have incrementally thought themselves out of all rationality and sanity. I've seen within them the progressive hatred of self-critique, external-critique, logical reasoning, and the confabulation of a new definition of "truth" as basically being defined as "any idea or belief that everybody hates, except for any idea my guru and I deem batshit enough." And then to continually reaffirm themselves by nullifying their insecurity with increased in-group cohesion by proclaiming themselves as "the only people in the world who know what's 'really' going on." ...when the truth is that they couldn't possibly be any further off the mark.

I'm glad some people have stuck around. Although those that I started to critique have conveniently left and cut me out of their lives for the most part. I had not banned anyone, but they realized their fantasy was threatened by those to started speaking commonsense to their nonsense. I know we all don't have to agree with everything, but I know that those who have remained understanding the reasoning for this forum's changed of direction and see it as a change for the better.

We can still talk about anything, just as before. And don't be afraid to talk about anything. But just expect their to be more scrutiny and analysis for unfounded claims. I feel I'd be doing myself and the members here a disservice by not approaching things in this manner.