An oddball, crackpot, Woo Woo or kook, yes its i the dictionary, is someone who has a position on reality/science/society/individuals that is humorous and, most importantly, completely ridiculous.

They usually hold some belief which the vast majority of his contemporaries would consider counterfactual,
clings to this belief in the face of all counterarguments or evidence presented to him.

Here is a checklist intended to diagnose the Crank before they, you, get borderline.


1.Cranks vastly overestimate their own knowledge and ability, and vastly underestimate that of acknowledged experts.

2.Cranks insist that their alleged discoveries are urgently important.

3.Cranks rarely if ever acknowledge any error, no matter how trivial.

4.Cranks love to talk about their own beliefs, often in inappropriate social situations, but they tend to be very, very bad listeners, and often appear to be utterly uninterested in anyone else's experience or opinions.


Seems familiar ?

OK ! How many do you believe in?

Top 10 Wackiest Conspiracy Theories.
http://www.2spare.com/item_43133.aspx

how many do you believe hazzard?....is this meant to be serious?...

Yes, this is serious.

Believe it or not, there are people out there that believe in one, or God forbid two or more, of these silly theories.

So would it be fair to say you don't believe any of the 10 theories presented has any merit?

I'd say so.

I like the one about KFC making black men impotent. It's nice to see a conspiracy theory that isn't trying to hide its hard-core racism.

--Jaylemurph

Yes, all these CT are silly.

I agree. I'm also a little bewildered that JFK, the death of Lady Diana and absurd notion that God exists don't rank amongst the top ten wacky conspiracy theories.

I agree that all of these theories are ridiculous.

Did n't we actually have some threads about the reptilian overlords?

JFK and LD sure is up there on 11 or 12. As far as God exists or not, well, that is FAITH talking. Not science.

When science has shown these cranky 9/11 CTs to be wrong time and time again, it's blind faith that keeps them wedded to their delusions. Similarly, the absence of any evidence supporting the preposterous notion that God exists, forces believers to wave their hands in the air and talk about faith in order to justify their weakmindedness.

I think most conspiracies are the bunk but the JFK assassination (and Bobby Kennedy alike) there is mounds of evidence which suggests that Oswald was not the lone gunman.

I KNEW IT.

I totally belive in all of them. I was just waiting for someone to see it my way. lol

((Jk)) =P

those 911 conspiracy theories are pretty wacky. I've viewed alot of those obviously edited clips where they messed with the footage a bit and those crazy websites run by guys that live in their parents basement. Did anyone watch that episode of Southpark where they make fun of 911 conspiracy theorists? it was a classic episode.

I read the first post.. this caught my eye..

you are describing CT's? ..do you not see how the same standards you describe can also be applied to 'Diehard Skeptics'
..if i said to you 'the best lie is a half-truth' and asked you to take a quick glance at the present state of the world.. would you say things are not as they seem, or merely as they ARE?!?


i stopped taking it serious at this stage.. eg: Unlimited > "how many do you believe hazzard?....is this meant to be serious?..."

..what's your axe to grind, hazzard?
If it's all (CT) nonsense then please educate us impotent unwashed KFC eating masses, stop posting crank material and delve into something substantial.. or are you unable?

They are not just out there, they post to this board.

The bit about overestimating their abilities has a name in metacognitive theory - the Dunning-Kruger effect:
http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp7761121.pdf

oh so in other words, theyre not as smart as they think they are? Yeah i know people like that!

Seems a bit of a broad-brush approach to describe them all as "wacky". "Aliens at Area 51", surely, is pretty mainstream, to say nothing of all the very very many 9/11 theories.

Nah, 'wacky' sounds about right. As I said earlier: 9/11, KFC, JFK, Lady Diana, and the existence of God - all 'wacky' theories, which could only possibly reside in 'wacky' minds.

The world is pretty much how we're told it is. There's very little we don't know.

He is pointing out the sillines with most CT's.

Finally you agree with the rest of us.

It seems like about once a month or so that someone resorts to posting this sort of equative argument rather than something of substance. The op is a thinly disgused attempt to discredit alternative 911 theories by equating them to tainted buckets of fried chicken. Its about as clever as refuting the existance of chickens with the the logic that a chicken cannot exist with out an egg, and an egg cannot exist without a chicken.

Conspiracies exist, its a historical fact. To assume every conspiracy have been exposed or accepted into public knowledge is very nieve.

Btw, there are some "wacky" CTs that put most on that list to shame.

Well the one conspiracy that I believe is not on the list.

The idea of a global shadow government never made the list, I suspect this is likely due to the large amount of evidence supporting the existence of one.

This being said 9/11, KFC impotence, NAzi moon bases etc are pretty silly. It's amazing how people can twist circumstantial evidence and turn it into a full blown conspiracy.

Some conspiracy theories do in way make sense and some have been proven true over the years for example CIA mind control and Watergate.

And all those that are now known to be true would have been on a similar list before being being outed.

Still, you're right, 9/11 conspiracies and Area 51, as well as those that inexplicably didn't make the list, such as JFK and the most ridiculous of all, the existence of God - all crackpot theories, without foundation. The product of undiluted weakmindedness for sure.

A few years back I became interested in various conspiracy theories when a colleague of mine was talking about them at the university.

The NWO conspiracy theory is supported by political scientists and other scholars as well.

What makes this conspiracy valid is the documentation that these secretive groups release, their plans are public and they hide in plain sight. After a few years of endless reading I have concluded that there is only one possible logical conclusion. This conspiracy didn't make the list as I said due to the evidence available.

The world really does work like a pyramid, we are at the bottom and they are at the top... Politicians sit at about mid level, corporate titans just above them and international banks are situated at the top.

By hiding in plain sight while at the same time manipulating people to laugh at the mere mention of the word 'conspiracy' they will remain hidden from the general public.

I will be starting a thread soon describing their inner working to give people a better idea of how the plan for global domination is not only working but how they are making it work.

KFC makes Blackmen impotent?First I've heard of this conspiracy!
Man, that is racist and stereotypical.. It's just utterly ridiculous. Does anyone believe this crap?
Judging by the recent increase in the Afro-American population, I'd say it must make them more potent...

Are you serious? If so, I'd be interested in that thread.

could have sworn i posted a response yesterday.. about that Dunning-Kruger effect, i went to the link but did not need to read everything to agree that people who lack in some area usually try to 'talk it up'

you don't see people here at UM bragging about how they can open the fridge and pour themselves a glass of milk, do you?

Well, yes there have been small-time, one-event conspiracies like the one to murder Julius Ceasar, but has there ever been /proven/ a multi-generational, multi-national, super-powerful one of the likes that gets thrown around here all the time? And no, the Freemasons, Knights Templar, Bilderbergers and Illuminati don't count.

--Jaylemurph

Here ya go......

love that avatar, girty


Bavarian Illuminati?
i posted a link to president Kennedy's speech about "SECRET SOCIETIES" if you are interested?
it's probably a page or two back..

what? Do you not know that Brutus, in his successive manifestations, is the power that's been behind every conspiracy up to and including JFK, princess Diana and 9/11??
Take a look at any picture of a gathering of the Bilderberg group, or Bohemian Grove... he's the one wearing the laurel wreaths and toga at the back.

et tu, 747?

Haz...you are something else...!
Your perceptiveness, and to-the-point analysis is certainly meritorious!

I had no idea that some people actually think Charlemagne never existed.
The bar codes being used to control people is rather unusual too...and that KFC bit about black male impotence...


Wow...It's amazing the extent which the uneducated will go to be heard!

every once in a while soemone does this as a self affirmation of thier own percieved genius. Its plainly an attempt to call people with an open thought process stupid without coming right out and saying it. Which is a real indication of the OPs mindset and tactics. Having nothing of value or substance to add he substitutes with insultsa and derision. But, I can have my mind changed and he can never because he has chosen an all or nothing angle while I enjoy the freedom of educating myself about the errors I make. I can live in the certainty that if the world ran by the rules he seems to cherish he and I would still be pooping in the woods and wiping with leaves.

Intense, and defensive.

Own perceived genius?
C'mon...

.

No it's not. Further, there is no implication that CTs have open thought processes. It implies, and somewhat correctly, that most of them don't.

It's a manner of pointing out the obvious. It doesn't address anybody in particular. It addresses ideas which are based upon superstition and lack of knowledge. There's a profound difference between that and a personal insult.

Perhaps because it's not PC you are offended?





Sour grapes, which smacks of a tacit admission.


.


When a mind has been educated based upon rational and critical thought processes, it thinks for itself, and sees the obvious, where many, not so possessed, do not. The results are sometimes comical.

The thought process, and rules of critical and rational thought that the OP employs is the reason that most humans do not poop in the woods and wipe with leaves (aahhh, the irritation!)!


It's the ideas, not the people.

Which one of the 10 wackiest theories do you believe in?

Watching people try to mix these together is really interesting. I am king of reminded of the "Illuminati" card game by Steve Jackson. A typical game would go like: the Post Office is controlled by the Pod People, who are controlled by the Boy Scouts, who are controlled by the Trilateral Commission, etc...

Let's keep this discussion civil and constructive please. Personal insults and flame-baiting will not be tolerated, simply keep to the topic at hand and not one another.

looks like mids starting another one of his flame wars... but on topic; noone else thinks the queen or gw bush are reptillian bluebloods?....

Oh, I'm sure there are people who believe in David Icke's Reptilian Overlords. However, the supporting evidence for such claims is profoundly lacking (ie, *zero*, *zip*, *nada*, *ain't any*).

I won't say what I believe so it can give you another easy pot shot at someone you consider stupid MID.

I started a little replied to thread a while back here. I was interested in how so many of these "ct's" can be reconciled, since so many of them negate each other, or one makes no sense if the other is really true. All too often, one has to be adjusted to make room for the others. All too often, that just makes NO sense at all.

I am curious what brought you the conclusion that an "educated mind based upon rational and critical thought processes" is a qualification or merit of "seeing the obvious"?

I am curious because by definition something which is "obvious" wouldn't require specific knowledge or a specialized thought process to perceive. Its almost as if your argument negates your own position.

oh, but believers in some of the more imaginative ones do have very open thought processes... so open that the thoughts go right in one side and out the other without any intermediate processing.

(before anyone starts, I do think there are degrees of wackyness, and some theories may have some merits... but really, some of those quoted are , you must admit.)

this not a serious attempt to discuss anything it is merely a bait and trap for the skeptics to get free shots and pat each other on the back for standing on the shoulders of other people's genius. If it was seriuos and not merely an amateurish attempt to bait it wouldn't have the word wackiest in the title. Using words like this is an attempt to equate the word with the subject. Its pretty typical and not that hard to figure out, but thanks anyway.

"Ah, if there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say."

Winston Zeddemore

There is a 'wacky' theory circulating, which claims that 19 Arab men managed to evade all security measures to hijack four commercial aircraft one morning; outmanoeuvre US air defense efforts to track and intercept them; and then crash three of them with unerring precision into three buildings.

Some of these guys, according to this 'wacky' theory, actually learned how to fly commerical aircraft in the US, whilst being monitored by both US intelligence and Israeli intelligence.

It's further claimed that one of the hijackers - the lead hijacker no less - was good enough to leave a bag lying around, which contained the names of all the hijackers involved in the plot, together with his own passport and will.

Well come on now coughymachine, there is motive for that one, I mean they did hate our freedoms and all.

and after living among us im sure they hated them even more, I'll bet they were yearning for their closed of life in a rigid country yeah thats it.

I kinda sorta beleive in one (moon). And sometimes consider another, although not in such a radical kill the goverment type of way (911)