Skeptic Project

On these forums the question was asked, “do conspiracy theories ruin lives?” This was a question I unequivocally had to respond “yes” to because of how the Zeitgeist films had compounded existing problems in my personal life and caused me so much anxiety. I had to answer yes because I see how people live their lives in fear of specters that supposedly populate this world. And these are not the specters of international terrorism or the problems of climate change and resurging diseases, but specters generated from an insecure vision of reality. Lives are ruined by fiction sold as truth. In answering yes, I reaffirmed what I personally believe websites like this should be about- ensuring that no lie, half truth, or slickly made documentary exposing the non-existent New World Order goes unchallenged. This isn’t about changing the true believers- sadly those people will always populate Internet forums and protest water fluoridation regardless of the illuminated errors in their world view. For me, this is about having a standard of accountability and helping all those who have yet to realize what critical thought can do for them. I came to this website to contribute to this endeavor, to help create a place where people can see the lies spun by Jones, Merola, Ike, and the likes.

But I wonder if maybe I’ve lost my way. You see, somehow these Zeitgeist movies spun out into a movement that supports a world that can’t be. My problems with RBE are rather well documented- lack of a political component, devoid of an understanding of long standing errors in the founding logic, an increasingly growing sense of self-preserving paranoia, and an oversimplified view of both cultural and scientific phenomena. And I, as much if not more than anyone, have spent so much time arguing against such a haphazard and poorly constructed “movement” because of its offensively outrageous errors. Yet, as I stop to think about it, in engaging the RBE ideology, I have drifted from what I had always intended my purpose to be. See, RBE itself isn’t a conspiracy, it’s just a very poor idea that will never amount to anything. I really shouldn’t have to deal with RBE itself since simply talking about the complexities of our shared world exposes how remarkably futile the philosophy is. But I digress.
Too much time is wasted on talking about (or even mocking) a movement as marginal as RBE. I wonder if maybe we discuss it so much that we have lost sight of the original issues at hand- the conspiracies. There is no doubt, TZM was founded in films that espoused outrageous CTs, no matter how much Zeitgeist members argue to the contrary. The two are simply inseparable. Even TVP has passages in its official “literature” that rings of conspiratorial happenings in its world view. But then, so did Marxism. And yet, I can’t help but be bothered by how much time I feel I have spent debating a movement that is really undoing itself instead of challenging really destructive CT proliferation. Have I stopped challenging conspiracy theories to instead focus on a movement that really hasn’t done anything, good or bad?

And of course, it bothers me to some extent that people like VTV become involved in this sort of thing because, quite frankly, I couldn’t care less about the guy one way or the other. I had a remarkably “civil” exchange with him, even if it didn’t result in any productive outcome whatsoever. But VTV hasn’t affected my life in a meaningful way, and I have actually never met a Zeitgeist adherent in my daily life outside of the Internet. So why do I care about the movement at all? I have met people who believe in 9/11 conspiracies, the New World Order, and so on. I’ve seen how twisted these theories make people, and I know that there is value in checking their facts so that those “on the fence” may be turned, and so that the scared kid who watches the vitriol that is Zeitgeist or reads some nonsense by Acharya S can go out and see that their “facts” really aren’t facts at all.

What I am getting at is the following: Have somehow lost our way? Have we stopped being a consortium of skeptics who wish to challenge the willful lies and destructive mindsets that engender paranoid world views? I disagree with TVP and TZM solely on its woefully incorrect apprehension of basic logic, historical analysis, and socio-political phenomena. But then again, I disagree with communism, Libertarianism, Fascism, and “radical activism” based upon narrow minded leftism. The difference is, the movements I just mentioned have actually accomplished something and have actually developed core philosophical principles that can be dealt with. TZM hasn’t even done this, so why even bother? The movement will fade on its own accord, but something tells me CTs will be around a lot longer. So, have we gone wrong, or is the focus on RBE merited?

I don't think we've lost our way. Conspiracy theories are a moving target. Right now it seems the two biggest purveyors of conspiracy theories out there are Alex Jones and Zeitgeist. They're fads that will rise and fall, and I think our criticism has to be directed toward the most prominent targets at any given time.

Criticism of RBE, in a vacuum, is meaningless and would be outside our scope here if that was the end of the story. However, because of the somewhat awkward marriage of RBE ideology to conspiracy theories via Zeitgeist, the implicit assumption made by the Zeitgeist Movement is that it's OK to push conspiracy theories, even if they are false, in the service of a "greater good" such as an RBE. As long as they make that argument, I think we're well justified in criticizing the movement on two fronts, first that it's not OK to push conspiracy theories for a "greater good," and second that an RBE isn't a good in the first place.

TZM will fade and subside on its own. When that happens I'm sure we'll still be here talking about Alex Jones, NWO, Icketilians, Birthers, JFK conspiracies and the like. TZM is a fad. They have also identified us as the enemy, which itself is bizarre. Alex Jones hasn't done that, nor has any other conspiracy group. That alone makes TZM highly relevant to our discussions.

Well our latest two articles are about subjects entirely unrelated to TZM (Codex and Chemtrails). I don't think we've "lost our way" at all. Sure, our largest threads are about TZM, but that's usually because some TZM member shows up in them and people have to repeatedly hammer in the same points to said TZM member again and again. So the thread becomes 10 pages long when in reality, it should have been 2.

In other words, we might just focus on TZM more since we have more direct interaction with them then say, Alex Jones fans. I don't have the data on this or anything, but I imagine that most people come here for the articles and not the forum posts either way.

Not that I've contributed anything worth a damn yet, but I think we do well. What's the problem?