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[akira28]

I would commit a number of conspiracies to get my hands on a well done steak this late at night.

 

[Who]

You and me both

 

[Aureon]

If the majority of Americans believe that the people they elect to office are the ones that hold the power, and it turns out that its instead people whom we don't even know the names of that do...then yeah it seems pretty secretive to me.

Turn on any of the major news network and they will rarely, if ever, place blame to the specific special interests or lobbyists that actually influenced the policies, law, whatever, but rather the politicians that voted them into law.

Because that's how it works.

A politician still has the actual power. Special interests have influence over those who have power, which is a kind of power, but not exactly the same thing.

 

[Skyzard]

Governments still act in their own interests. That'd make for a pretty unhappy president otherwise.

A puppetmaster controlling the world sounds like it'd be too expensive and dangerous...you'd have to control presidents and secret service.


I'm open to the odd conspiracy theory now and then, they are pretty fun (in small amounts) but unless damning evidence comes out it's hard not to be a bit skeptical even when one sounds quite plausible.

 

[infinit777]

I would commit a number of conspiracies to get my hands on a well done steak this late at night.

10/10 Agree

 

[Oersted]

I'm inclined to believe that a world-controlling group doesn't exist. Certain industries? Perhaps.

I just want to say with utter disgust that I'm sick of special interest groups and lobbyists in politics. I think voting for a politician is meaningless when these outside parties are influencing laws and policies.

Not "only" influencing at this point

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/11/11/243973620/when-lobbyists-literally-write-the-bill

 

[BBboy20]

The 1% surely does.

 

[Poimandres]

The biggest conspiracy is money itself. You don't need all these secret societies. The money does all the work and people follow it. When the Pope says we worship the God of Money, he is right on the money.

I would recommend a read through of the book The Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins. It was certainly an eye-opener for me on the topic of money!

 

[Who]

Because that's how it works.

A politician still has the actual power. Special interests have influence over those who have power, which is a kind of power, but not exactly the same thing.

I know what you're trying to say but my point is that going after politicians doesn't seem to have proven itself very effective and continuing to do so is almost like going after a red herring. 'm not claiming to know what will work but true investigative journalism into these matters would be a start.

 

[Screaming Meat]

The comfort from believing an explanation is when it aligns with your views.

Not necessarily. Look at it this way: do you think people are born believing in specific religions?

But there is a serious fallacy in dismissing those theories based solely off that concept.

All the scientific and philosophical progress we have ever made are based off of ideas that were once only believed by romantic outcasts. Its not an effective argument to dissuade "conspiracy theorists". To do that you have to actually counter their reasoning and clearly make your own case, not just group them all together as romantics and dismiss them as such.

That particular part of the post was in specific reference to the possible appeal/psychological reward/benefits that believing in 'conspiracy theories' or similar can bring.

Without wanting to run myself out of the thread (I do find this stuff absolutely fascinating), I'm not sure there is a reasoned argument to be made here, is there? Like, your OP is thoughtful and well written, but... I dunno, this isn't something you can verify or debunk with any hard facts, is it? Even if there are, people are often very selective of which ones they choose to believe (see 9/11). That's why I think it's a very intellectually safe position to take. It's geopolitical fan fiction.

In many ways it's not dissimilar to trying to argue that God doesn't exist. How can I prove beyond a reasonable doubt something that is beyond the parameters of being provable; that is, immeasurable? A united global conspiracy is just as elusive.

If folk want to add complicated, imaginary, and unsolvable problems in the guise of some secret truth to the list of very real and very immediate ones people across the world face on a daily basis, then they are more than welcome to; whatever gets you through the day, I say. I love reading about it and I love popping a comment or two down about it to distract myself from the real horrors too.

 

[Who]

Not necessarily. Look at it this way: do you think people are born believing in specific religions?



That particular part of the post was in specific reference to the possible appeal/psychological reward/benefits that believing in 'conspiracy theories' or similar can bring.

Without wanting to run myself out of the thread (I do find this stuff absolutely fascinating), I'm not sure there is a reasoned argument to be made here, is there? Like, your OP is thoughtful and well written, but... I dunno, this isn't something you can verify or debunk with any hard facts, is it? Even if there are, people are often very selective of which ones they choose to believe (see 9/11). That's why I think it's a very intellectually safe position to take. It's geopolitical fan fiction.

In many ways it's not dissimilar to trying to argue that God doesn't exist. How can I prove beyond a reasonable doubt something that is beyond the parameters of being provable; that is, immeasurable? A united global conspiracy is just as elusive.

If folk want to add complicated, imaginary, and unsolvable problems in the guise of some secret truth to the list of very real and very immediate ones people across the world face on a daily basis, then they are more than welcome to; whatever gets you through the day, I say. I love reading about it and I love popping a comment or two down about it to distract myself from the real horrors too.

Oh boy. Well thankd for stopping by

 

[Lazyslob]

my homies the annunaki run shit. be nice to me and ill put in a good word

 

[Marvel]

Taste like crab, talks like people.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

People in general are not good people, that includes a lot of powerful rich people with influence over some pretty big decisions about military operations and whatnot.
Power corrupts people. A lot of powerful people may not care about the working class other than what they can use them for to further their own agendas, whatever it is.
Politicians will lie to the public to cause wars and people support it because of propaganda and shit. People put too much faith in their leaders. We have been ruled by Kings and Queens and Senates ect since the dawn of civilization.
Has every ruler been benevolent? No. Lots of shit heads in power have wanted to rule the world for thousands and thousands of years. Did they always discuss their plans with the public? I dont think so.

Basically I think its possible that decisions are made in secret about our futures without us knowing but I'm not saying there is some secret cabal out there trying to kill us either.

 

[Nyx]

I always believed that in fact it's the Spaghetti Monster that calls the shots.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Oh boy. Well thankd for stopping by

Haha! Don't be like that, I wasn't trying to offend, dismiss or end the discussion. I was stipulating why I don't believe in a united global conspiracy and why I think engaging in an attempt to sway you to my way of thinking with a well-reasoned and logical debate about it is ultimately a futile gesture. We aren't going to convince each other of jack; I imagine we both made up our minds a long time ago.

That doesn't mean I'm not interested in discussing it or hearing what you have to say. I wouldn't have read through the OP or even posted here otherwise. I find this endlessly fascinating and my last post contained an honest question: How does one go about proving the existence of something as ineffable as an all-powerful, super secret, global cabal with unlimited resources and reach...?

 

[The_Poet]

I know a couple of Free Masons and they say they don't rule the world.

But they would say that wouldn't they.....

 

[yogloo]

Take it as you will, when I play civilization I always researched masonry and I always win.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

Pretty sure they exist - there's at least a few of the 1% in the world who are virtually untouchable. Particularly those in the banking industry and those who have enough influence to enact law through lobbying to protect their financial "prowess".

 

[Madness]

It's funny but I just saw Syriana again a few days ago, and it's something I'm thinking of right now. Because we don't know, we tend to make up things like secret societies, nameless companies, boogeymen to explain why things happen. But in a movie like that, it shows how things are all connected, how certain areas of government, certain corporations, individuals, lobbyists and other groups all work together to achieve certain goals.

 

[striferser]

Maybe. No one knows for sure. All those info leaking? Yeah, i bet it's them who leak it to distract us from the real LA LI LU LE LO.
They manipulate us, play us like a damn fiddle

 

[mclem]

They don't rule the world, as such. They just control the British crown and keep the metric system down; they keep Atlantis off the maps and the Martians under wraps. Hold back the electric car, made Steve Gutenberg a star. Rob cavefish of their sight and rig every Oscar night.

 

[Screaming Meat]

They don't rule the world, as such. They just control the British crown and keep the metric system down; they keep Atlantis off the maps and the Martians under wraps. Hold back the electric car, made Steve Gutenberg a star. Rob cavefish of their sight and rig every Oscar night.

They do. They do.

 

[Tesseract]

possibly

 

[Dice]

I see no reason to believe that this is the case, unless their grip is really loose and they are really dumb. But if they do have a strong grip and are smart, I wish they would hurry up and take over the world before we finish destroying the environment. That would actually be our greatest hope.

 

[yamaneko]

My friend tell me is all about aliens conspiracy together with bilderberg club, so many families living right now in outer space, mars and moon and another orbital stations, sub aliens want dominate earth, and another hi aliens don care a shit for everything. We are only a garden for experiments, he told me.

 

[Blunoise]

yes I do believe there are groups who do have much control over society, if they have connections and documents all the way from ancient times or in there early bloodlines that they have kept from the public. i dont see why not that these people can have control over us. i think hollywood is one of them


but then again im nor an assassin or a Templar

 

[nortonff]

Yes, we do. Subscription is open right now. Wanna join ?

 

[Who]

Haha! Don't be like that, I wasn't trying to offend, dismiss or end the discussion. I was stipulating why I don't believe in a united global conspiracy and why I think engaging in an attempt to sway you to my way of thinking with a well-reasoned and logical debate about it is ultimately a futile gesture. We aren't going to convince each other of jack; I imagine we both made up our minds a long time ago.

That doesn't mean I'm not interested in discussing it or hearing what you have to say. I wouldn't have read through the OP or even posted here otherwise. I find this endlessly fascinating and my last post contained an honest question: How does one go about proving the existence of something as ineffable as an all-powerful, super secret, global cabal with unlimited resources and reach...?

I can't prove it but my objective in the OP was to address what I see as the most commonly brought up counter agruments to the theory. ie. How could they keep such a large secret? Im not trying to prove that they exist, but rather prove that such a thing could be possible. I understand many see this theory as having many falllacies, so if you have any specific ones you could think of I would love to keep talking about it.