Conspiracy Theory Debate

[Tjm86]

It was meant to be a joke.

I actually got it, and normally these things fly over my head. I bet those others feel pretty goofy now. This entire threads gone off the deep end - it's daffy.

See, this is what I was talking about .... following the clues ....  Looney Tunes and Hannah Barbara dominated Western Civilisation for years but where are they now?  It's all the House of Mouse! 

I'm telling you, it's a conspiracy but no-one was watching!

[Rara Avis]

One of my favorite bits of Stalin-lore is that his name was actually Ioseb Besarionis dzе Jughashvili, and he changed it to "Joe Steel" (because Stalin just means steel). He gave himself a superhero name.

The Man of Steel sounds like something someone who looks like Hipster Stalin would call himself to seduce young female Bolsheviks ..

[Tjm86]

"Sta ... Sta ... Sta .. Sta lin!  Russia's Greatest love machine!"

So those were the Boney M lyric's the first time then!

[The Legendary Shark]

So, "James Corbett, Century of Enslavement" (?)was the first thing you typed in to Google at the start of your five second search? Never having seen an episode, you just happened to turn your spotlight upon such a specific search term? Are you sure it wasn't something like, "is James Corbett a Nazi?"

You know what, forget it. If I remember that episode right it's a history of the Federal Reserve - for you, who have never listened to it but somehow knew its title, it's about something else entirely.

I think I'll keep on risking missing the point, if you don't mind, because your five seconds of research and refusal to share the data supporting your baffling conclusions somehow isn't cutting it for me.

[Funt Solo]

I love that you're all "question everything" and "examine x", but as soon as someone brings up some negative points about your beloved conspiracy guru you go all attack dog and start laying about with the ad homs. Shouldn't you be questioning the validity of his points, given that there's no expert consensus to back up his nonsense-scape?

[The Legendary Shark]

And shouldn't you be specific in your allegations and willing to support them - and willing to consider counter-arguments?

As I've already said, I'm willing to explore the possibility that I am wrong about James Corbett. Are you?

[Funt Solo]

So, what - he doesn't make videos about faked 9/11 attacks? He doesn't downplay the effects of Covid? He doesn't suggest that WWII was staged by a global banking cartel?

Because, yes, if I imagined all of that then I'm willing to concede that it's me that's insane and not him.

[Funt Solo]

Shark, this is us, now, for several pages:

[The Legendary Shark]

Well, there you have taken three very complex issues, removed all context, and boiled them down to short, twisted absurdities that support your original view. Without listening to a single episode.

I suggest you pick an episode, we'll both listen to it and then discuss it (discuss, mind, not attack/defend) - no rush, say up to a week, and when we're both ready we can start.

I further suggest the LHO one, as we can consider the historical and popular nature of the JFK thing a "safe" conspiracy theory, as it were, about which you are already knowledgeable, giving you at least one metric from which to judge.

[The Legendary Shark]

Feels more like

[Funt Solo]

I suggest you pick an episode, we'll both listen to it and then discuss it (discuss, mind, not attack/defend) - no rush, say up to a week, and when we're both ready we can start.

This is a perfectly reasonable offer - except for what I said a few posts ago about having no interest whatsoever in listening to any (more) JFK conspiracy theories, because (over the course of my life) I've had my fill of 'em.

And, if you were to pick any of his other videos, it would be like saying to me "come and listen to this lecture by Trump - I know you think he's a c*nt, but just hear him out - what have you got to lose", and I'd immediately think of thousands of other ways I could spend my time and not be filled with rage and hate.

So - like I say - perfectly reasonable offer. No thanks, though. There's no value in it, because he's one guy who says he's an expert on everything but has no expert consensus to back any of it up. If he really was exposing grand secrets about our world then other people would know, and I'd be the edge-case loony in this discussion. But that's not what's happening.

I get your argument: if you're not willing to listen to something then you're not allowed to criticize it - but you've missed the point made several times on the thread that one is actually allowed to form an opinion on something without examining its minutia. The burden of proof of outlandish claims is not on me - it's on the purveyor of the outlandish claims.

I don't listen much to religious preachers either, and I don't need to read their religious books or dissect their sermons to know that their beliefs are (kindly) just beliefs, with no basis in fact.

[IndigoPrime]

"I don't need to go to the Arctic to know it's cold."

[The Legendary Shark]

And where did you hear him say, "I am an expert on everything"?

Again, offer me one shred of evidence to support your accusations, one link, one attributable quote (he's written tons, there should be at least a sentence or two you can use to hang him) - or should we just chuck him in the pond and see if he floats?

I have no idea what you get out of these exchanges. You've side-stepped the issue so many times tonight that you must be typing on next door's computer.

[Funt Solo]

I have no idea what you get out of these exchanges.

I'm just reacting. It's a forum - so we're open to respond to whatever takes our fancy.

Again, offer me one shred of evidence to support your accusations, one link, one attributable quote

I don't see what I'd be getting out of it. I'd be willing to do it for a negotiated hourly rate, though. Let's say ... $75 an hour.

[JayzusB.Christ]

That Josef 'Keanu Depp' Stalin has really let himself go.

Would definitely like to be more than comrades with this guy!

One of my favorite bits of Stalin-lore is that his name was actually Ioseb Besarionis dzе Jughashvili, and he changed it to "Joe Steel" (because Stalin just means steel). He gave himself a superhero name.

I only learned that recently myself. I just wonder if when a Russian hears the name, does it sound something like 'Joe, Man of Steel'? It's still hard to wrap my head around the fact that a Spanish speaker hears 'Zorro' as 'Fox' (and 'Lobo' as 'Wolf', for that matter).