This is pettier than the usual dunk tank post, but this sub is like a microcosm of propaganda. These people are convinced there's multiple species of aliens on earth already because some moths have flown across security cameras at night and Vegas lights reflect in the clouds sometimes.
I guess I can bring it back to how America is bad, since this is exactly what the CIA wants.
This particular brainworm can be weaponised at any time. You can turn it into "there are spies everywhere". You can turn it into "watch out for the reds under the bed". You can turn it into "everyone is secretly trans". Etc etc.
I am actually starting to lean towards the idea that conspiracy theories are secretly fed into american society as a means of creating and maintaining these brainworms within society so that they can be easily transitioned into necessary tools of the state if/when required. It's like pre-loading the textures of your propaganda, it makes the real propaganda sink in much more smoothly when you need to do it. A conspiracy about conspiracy theory brainworms.
Serious people in suits say that every good economic thing destroys jobs, that Iraq has WMDs, and Venezuela is going to invade your country.
The news constantly reports that scientists have cured cancer, proven chocolate and wine are good for you, and that string theory makes sense.
"Rationalist" refers to a collection of dweebs who believe in robot satan.
I can completely understand how people have lost faith in rational, scientific, reason-based epistemology.
I'm pretty sure it's known that the CIA did exactly what you describe with UFOs to provide cover for the very real crimes they do every day
It 100% is. The other component is muddling the waters over independent investigators uncovering actual government conspiracies against the people. The net result is you have society divided into two groups: one that uncritically swallows the US government's official narrative and another that believes in unhinged shit like how the Earth is actually hollow. So when you have an actual conspiracy like the US blowing up a pipeline, the first group can smugly say, "what are you, a conspiracy theorist?" This is how Seymour Hersh gets lumped in with people who think the Moon landing was fake.
This is kinda just natural. You can even see hints of it on the left with how many people are labeled "CIA assets".
It's just a much simpler and more convenient explanation to ascribe bad things to a single nefarious and mysterious organization pulling the strings in the background. It's an easy to trap to fall into and one we have to consciously remind ourselves to avoid. Don't get me wrong, I know that the CIA has verifiably done insane shit, but I still see the term "CIA asset"/"CIA puppet" used concerningly often.
It's less a conspiracy in itself as much as it is our natural brainworms that cause conspiratorial thinking.
You say that but here in the UK we've had so many orgs that were infiltrated with as few as 5 members when they were literally just book reading clubs then go on to have huge spy scandals about fucking cops having sex with and making kids with the people they're fucking spying on.
Like, when they're infiltrating us when groups are that fucking small I have a really hard time not seeing potential feds everywhere.
For example, the reason we call Robert Evans a fed is because he literally takes money from Bellingcat who are a news outlet that is basically exclusively funded to make the claim that the U.S. government and empire is good for progressive causes. That the only realistic alternative is American ISIS (as if protestant christo-fascists would ever be able to ally themselves together enough to pull something like that off, they literally can't go three months without snitching on each other, and also forgetting that the U.S. was one of the primary funders of ISIS and was trying to pit it against Syria).
And given the fact that they are allied with "Data for Progress" and the billionaires that funded the massive progressive-libertarian wet-fart that was Occupy, we have to make the assumption that even if the feds are not in control of those movements, they are not actually threats to capitalist order (which if you know any historical theory or praxis, of course they are not), which is why they are allowed to take root in the American zeitgeist.
Just like how we know that the OG BLM members from 2014 are not the same people that got prime-time media interviews and then squandered the money on a mansion, because the OG members were dead from 'gang-related killings'. Even if they weren't feds (which they probably were, remember the weird armed BP larpers who then advocated for 'respecting the police'), the alternative is with allies like these, who needs feds?
Look, I know I genuinely sound crazy sometimes, but to me it is far more insane that all of this information has been completely glossed over and memory holed and no-one ever brings it up. Not Chapo, not True-Anon, no one questions the veracity and authenticity of these movements.
Wheres the lie :the-pigs: :pigmask-off:
I mean, the CIA was created with the sole intention of stopping the spread of socialism. So if some leftists are paranoid that a fed is undercover in an org, I can’t blame them
I think people just generate these kinds of stories in the absence of any larger narrative framework. If there was a conspiracy, I think it's a step removed -- people are purposefully not given the tools and insight needed to understand the world, and this 'modern mythologizing' is a natural consequence of it.