introduction
I was inspired to make the request followning this little interaction
I like hexbear and I like the community here, most of the time. Generally. I guess I like it too much, because I'm on here a lot.
I just enjoy the fact that I do not need to hold my tongue here, I don't get odd glances when I say it's funny a bunch of redditors volunteering in Ukraine got hit with missiles because they couldn't log off. I don't have to condemn hamas, I don't have to pretend like genocide is nuanced, I don't have to constantly deprogram people from obvious propaganda.
One thing I don't really find I discuss on here is conspiracy theories though. It's not that the site is unwelcoming for it, they show up from time to time, but there's no dedicated place for it. I think it would be nice to have that. Sometimes I go through old posts and it's wild to me how much suspicious stuff we find, but never really compile. Once in a while we compile things like this about the Uyghur genocide but they tend to disappear too. Same goes for individual users efforts like @emizeko@hexbear.nets great little comment compiling a few articles about the US drug trade disappear too, either because they are forgotten or because the user deletes their comments. I know @robinn@hexbear.net has had several accounts doing immense amounts of work debunking "common knowledge" and I've seen him get called a conspiracy theorist plenty of times.
My motivation for it being specifically a conspiracy comm
I'd like to have a comm that's dedicated to discussing and compiling these things, so it's not just something that shows up once in a while in a comment chain and is then gone and forgotten. I'd like for it to be a resource we can all use and maybe also something that forces us to investigate our own beliefs from time to time. I know at least one user has made some effortposts about 9/11 that made me question my own worldview.
The comm would be a place to discuss and ask about things that are treated as conspiracies, actual conspiracies and things users find suspicious in general (for example the POC man who got lynched this year)
What's important to me about making a dedicated comm is that on all other websites communities dedicated to these kinds of discussions end up being incredibly reactionairy. Everywhere else conspiracy communities inevitably (and almost immediately) decend into discussions about lemuria, planet x and all bad things are blamed on DA JOOS. That sucks.
I'd like to be able to talk about actual conspiracies too, the ones we might not agree on. Things like the Brabrant killers, ISIS' connections to the US, MK Ultra, Operation Gladio today, Adrian Zenz, Jeffrey Epstein and actual possible pedophile rings, Bohemian Grove and, yes, the deep state (here I'm thinking of things like the son of one of the orchestrators of The Business Plot becoming US President).
for you who think believing/caring about conspiracies is silly
If you're against the idea of conspiracy theories, consider the following: The idea that political activists are disappeared is seen as a conspiracy despite things like ferguson leaders dying. The "Uyghur genocide" being cooked up by the US state department is seen as a conspiracy . Think of all the coups that were called conspiracies. not killing himself is a joke.
The Nord Stream Pipeline being blown up by the US is a conspiracy. People being tortured at a black site by Chicago PD was a conspiracy until it wasn't. Hell, Ukraine being full of nazis and corrupt is treated like a conspiracy.
for you who thinks this just sounds like regular discussions
If you're thinking "well that just sounds like the news comm, you're just discussing world events" I'd say I can see where you're coming from, since you're a strawman I've built with my own words, but I also disagree. The purpose of the comm is not to discuss current events, but to compile all the many news reports that are then forgotten. We like to say libs have a memory of about 2 years, the purpose of this comm would be to draw on the large memory of our brave powerposters... I dunno, I had good words in my brain but they disappeared at the keyboard.
I'd like to mod it and I'd like help to mod it as well. I can imagine there would be a demand of certain subjects being off limits and I'd be fine with that within reason. I don't really wanna have a flat earth society showing up either and I don't think chemtrails would be welcome either, though that one is closer to being founded in someone being critical of the government at least.
Tl;dr I think it would be useful and good. We all individually have to run around with our own bookmarks debunking various claims that are treated as conspiracies. This could function as a compiler. We all still have a bunch of stuff we consider common knowledge that is actually just propaganda/psy-ops. It would be healthy for us to have a place to get challenged on that common knowledge. A conspiracy community on hexbear would also function as a safe space that could invite in new users that are interested in conspiracies, but don't wanna hear racists reactionairy drivel or talk about flat earth.
I love conspiracy shit, but I really want to make sure there are firm rules around tinfoil hat content.