Skeptic Project

Hello all. I am no longer an active member of this community, and as most of you know, I'm retired permanently from conspiracy debunking. I'm not coming back. By deliberate design I haven't posted here in many months, though I do occasionally click on to see what's happening here. I've noticed that a couple of my old articles have been going back up, mainly posted by Clock, who I have never met, and who I understand had begun to reconstruct my old blog from posts he found on Internet Archive.

I also notice that there has been some speculation about why I retired and why I took down the Muertos Blog and withdrew from the debunking community in the first place. I unwittingly fueled this speculation by remaining quiet. Perhaps remaining silent was the wrong thing to do. Therefore I want to set the record straight and that's the reason I'm making this post.

The reasons for my departure are complicated. I don't expect you to agree with them or that anyone here would make the same choices under the circumstances. I'm also going to say things here that some of you may sharply disagree with and perhaps maybe even be offended by. Rest assured it's not personal. Nevertheless, however much you may personally disagree, I do ask that all of you respect the choices I made, and respect my choices regarding the body of work that I left behind.

My relationship with debunking has been complex and, at times, painful. I did it for 7 years, from 2005 to 2012, and although I can't say I didn't enjoy it and think it worthwhile for most of that time, toward the end it became more of a net negative in my life than a net positive. I don't regret doing it, but I believe I would have regretted continuing to do it. Here's why.

First--family. Some of you know that I got married last summer. It would be a cop-out to say I quit debunking to spend more time with my spouse and family, though clearly that is part of it. My family's feelings toward my debunking efforts were always pretty ambivalent. Not long after my marriage I was talking to a member of my family and the subject came up of threats I've received from conspiracy theorists, of which there have been many. A member of my family, who was deeply disturbed (and rightfully so) by the murder spree in Tucson by conspiracy theorist Jared Loughner, asked me, "How do you benefit from doing this? What do you get out of this that justifies taking risks like that? These risks aren't personal to you, you know. They affect us too." I had to admit that the benefit I got out of debunking was, in fact, pretty marginal. Yes, there clearly are people that debunkers have helped and I've had messages from people thanking me for doing what I did. But the satisfaction I got from seeing those kind of results, which are admittedly rare, could not translate into any benefit to my family or my new spouse, whom I was asking to essentially share the risk that some nut behind a computer screen wasn't the next Jared Loughner. How do you quantify a risk like that in trying to reassure a loved one? You can't. If it's just you, you can rationalize it away pretty easily. If there are other people involved it gets a lot more complicated. I'm not suggesting everyone with a family would or should react this way, but this is how I saw it.

Second--the declining utility of debunking. I wrote a blog in February 2012 about how the world of conspiracy theories is changing. It is evolving into a faith-based system, a religion so to speak which is essentially invulnerable to attack on the basis of factual criticism. Debunkers deal in facts and logic. You know as well as I do how alien those values are to the twisted world of conspiracy theorists. What's changing now, however, is the pretense that conspiracy theories are intended to be factual. CT'ers believe that 9/11 was an inside job and the New World Order is coming not as matters of fact, but as articles of faith, and they're increasingly coming to recognize this and in fact flaunt it as a virtue. It's no longer about facts, it's about what ideology the conspiracy theories themselves are being used to advance. A world where facts have no further currency is a world, unfortunately, where debunkers are obsolete. Conspiracy theories are rapidly becoming an ideological belief system. To argue against that turns you into a preacher, not a debunker. I'm not a very good preacher.

Third--disillusionment with the debunking community. This is where my stance may ruffle some feathers. Toward the end I became increasingly uncomfortable at being identified, by CT'ers and also by the public at large, with positions I did not agree with, motivations I did not share, and actions I had nothing to do with. One example is the militant atheism of most of the skeptical community. I used to be an atheist but am not any longer, and I was tired of being mistaken for a strongly anti-religious zealot on the one hand (by believers), or having to defend my own religious beliefs to fellow skeptics (on the other). Another example would be what I perceived as the obsessive focus on particular individuals and groups, long after their lack of credibility had been amply demonstrated. After a certain point I stopped doing any significant debunking material on the Zeitgeist Movement, which has been dead for nearly 2 years now, and later similarly I stopped doing any Desteni material because it seemed there was nothing worthwhile to add. But people out there continued to hassle and argue with me--wrongly, mistakenly, to be sure--as if I was still attacking these groups constantly, because others were. It's because they saw no difference between me, my blogs and my statements, and statements and materials put up by others who were continuing a battle that I had already withdrawn from and felt was already over and done with. Having already realized that debunking was becoming an activity that, for me, had diminishing returns, trying to sharpen distinctions between me and those debunkers I disagreed with seemed an exercise in futility. Everyone who engages conspiracy nuttery has his or her own reasons for doing so, and that's fine; I felt it was better to simply get out of the game than to be perceived as trying to change the rules to fit my own notions of propriety, which I have no right to force anyone else to abide by.

I took down the Muertos blog and shut down the Muertos Twitter because to leave them up was to advertise to the world that I was still open for business and still obligated to defend what was written there to all comers (CT'ers, of course) who might choose to give battle. The fact that I was retired would make no difference to them. Don't get me wrong--I'm not in the least retracting the substance of what was in those articles. But letting my blog comments and email continue to fill up with "NO! YOU'RE WRONG! YOU'RE A PAID DISINFORMATION AGENT, AREN'T YOU?" messages, month after month, long after I gave up the chase and was unwilling to continue the argument seemed silly. Thrive Debunked, of course, was more collaborative, and I didn't feel like I could pull the plug on the hard work done by contributors like SlayerX3 just because I had made a personal decision to retire. The Muertos Blog and Twitter, though, were all mine, and I decided they should go away, for the sake of making a clean break. I realize that people, including some of you, thought this was a bad decision or couldn't understand why I did it. The disappearance of the blog was not a "victory" for CT'ers in any way. It was a victory for me, for my family and for my peace of mind.

Ironically, since my retirement I continued to be hassled and stalked by conspiracy theorists as if I was still posting articles every day. I routinely get emails from people who want to argue, or people who are phishing for personal details so they can research whether I am a "paid disinformation agent," or for some other reason. I had one fellow insist that he had researched my life and was certain I was an initiate of the Church of Satan. These emails go unanswered. I have also received threats, and I have reason to believe some of them are credible. Thus even a retired debunker evidently remains a live target. I stopped playing but they haven't, and probably never will.

I was aware, shortly after it went up, that this fellow Clock had started running the "Muertos Revival" blog. I didn't object, because the articles were old and cold and he made it clear--or at least he tried--that he was not the author of the blogs. I understand he took down the blog because people kept assuming he WAS the author of those articles, and started arguing with him as if he were me. Probably a wise decision. I don't have any problem with the restoration of the blogs I originally wrote for this site back in 2010 and 2011, so long as it's made clear when they were originally posted.

As I was disengaging from debunking I wrote the "Confessions of a Disinformation Agent" series as sort of a retrospective. Four or five of the chapters did go up on my blog, the last one days before I decided to take it down. Privately, a few of my friends have read the full thing including the concluding chapters where I explain my reasons for getting out, and many of the sentiments I expressed here today. Be clear, I do not name names or call anyone out, either here or there. I don't wish to create conflict with anyone in the debunking community, nor do I wish to be perceived as "giving aid or comfort to the enemy," though I personally can't see how anyone could get that impression. I can make the last few chapters--which never went up publicly on the web--available to Clock to post, if he wishes and there is agreement, but understand that my "Confessions" series is not an uncritical validation of the debunking community. If he does wish to continue to put these articles up on SP, I would appreciate there being a disclaimer stating that I am no longer a contributor to this site, that the articles were written 6 to 8 months ago, and that while I don't object to them being up (for now), I did not ask that they be posted.

Sorry for the length of this post. I wish all of you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

I just have a script I copy and paste that tells Zeitards that I'm not interested in discussing it anymore, it's dead, and link them to what science actually says about tabula rasa and high modernist schemes. If they have a problem with it, they can take it out with the authors. I disabled comments on all my Zeitgeist related videos. I've learned the thing that crazy people love most is being taken seriously, so I just don't give them that.

If something new comes up, I'll provide the evidence against their claims and move on. But it's hard to take people seriously who believe in reptile people, god robots, holocaust denial, or 9/11 twoof. It's so silly.

Debunking
While agree that the conspiracy community has become a religion. They're dogmatic and refuse to consider contrary evidence..etc. However, the debunkers aren't there to convert the crazy and the fanatical CTers, but the smart people who are entertaining them because they haven't heard opposing viewpoints yet.

When I was into CTer, I was always researching. It was the debunkers who got me to look at everything again.

Violent CTers.
In 2005, not as many people internets. Now every moron has access so the crazier ones are starting to have more of a voice, including the Laughners. It's worrying, but at the same time it's not given how inept they are. Probably kill the wrong person. I dunno. I think I'd have more to worry about if I was going after white supremacists or Patriot Movement/Sovereign Citizens. I'll let the SPLC deal with that. I do worry about my anti-Bill Cooper video attracting violent nutters, but whatever. I'll be fine.

Atheistkult.
I'm really sick of the tone of the atheist community keyboard warriors. The whole "If you're religious; you're stupid." shit is annoying, counter productive, and just downright arrogant. One of the side benefits of my name is people automatically assume I'm a Jesus freak. They'll dismiss me for being a christian, but it's funny to slap them with the fact I'm an atheist. Kenneth Miller has done more for the atheist community by testifying against intelligent design on Kitzmiller v. Dover and the guy is a hard line Catholic. There's really smart christians and downright idiotic atheists. No group is infinitely wise.

Contacted by CTers.
I can see how hard it can be to ignore the torrent of crazy that came into my e-mail box. I tried to get the comments to go directly into my archive and skip my inbox for months and couldn't get it to work. I think Google put in filter exceptions for YouTube. It was the reason I entertained their comments for a while. Disabling comments was the best way to go. I only get about 1-2 PMs a month instead of 5-6 comments a day. I just send them a copypasta that gives them links debunking it and that I'm not interested in entertaining their "movement" anymore because it's not a serious movement. I rarely hear back after that. It's really nice.

Well good luck with your zombie books, they seem to be well received. I have a copy but yet to find time to dig in. Best of luck to you and your family too :D

Quote from Muertos

Anti, BK & JJ: thanks for your comments and the support. The fondest testament to solidarity is the example of support despite differences. Good luck to all of you as you go forward in life. Cheers!

I agree with that, if you can't get along with people with different views, or you have individual/s in the group who are jerks, the group will not function at it's most optimal level. Solidarity mixed in with criticism is a good recipe for success from my experience.

Thank you for wishing us luck, though as far as luck goes I am not a lucky person, I'm not even a good gambler, if I relied on luck I wouldn't be at the spot I am today as luck can only take you so far. I had to rely on persistently working hard to get to where I'm at today. Even so thank you, and best of luck to you as well.

I'm not sure if you caught my Motel six line but SP.com is like a Motel Six for rational thought as people come and people go, but as they say at Motel Six we'll keep the light on for you.


@JimJesus, what's this about a zombie book?

Quote from Muertos

First--family. Some of you know that I got married last summer. It would be a cop-out to say I quit debunking to spend more time with my spouse and family, though clearly that is part of it.

Congrats! Making sacrifices for the people you love is a lucky problem to have. I'm sure everyone can understand your shift of preferences, especially in regard to the lack of influence TZM and other conspiracy circles exert.

I've enjoyed our few interactions, especially the central planning challenge (even though I remained hopeful at least one ZMer would at least skim Scott's book and take you up on it) and hope you'll succeed at whatever takes the place of your disinformation job.

<font color="white">Also, God isn't real</font>

Muertos,

You and I communicated many times via Conspiracy Science (now Skeptic Project) around 2010. I always respected your writing for its maturity and overall critical value. In general, I empathize with your plight and understand why you've retired. After having taken a long break myself, I am returning with a renewed interest in what we call "debunking." The renewed interest comes from a specific change in my skeptical approach. Rather than engaging in the soundness of arguments - that is, the truth-value of claims - I'm now focusing primarily on validity. As you point out, conspiracy theories have become a faith-based issue, ruling out any attempt to falsify them. What we can still do, however, is point out this fact and highlight any fallacies and thus poor validity in their arguments. This won't necessarily persuade a conspiracy theorist, but it does expose their flow of logic for others to consider. It really is about the science of the conspiracy rather than trying to prove it true or untrue.

Debating truth-value is draining, unnecessary, and a sign that we've already fallen for the troll. Perhaps some day you'll find renewed interest and focus on validity as I have.

Yeah I had a nutbag post my fathers information online once and all kinds of stupid claims about me, problem is I come from a fucking crazy family so if a conspiracy theorist turned up at any of my families homes they would go home horizontal.