Lying to save the planet

For the last week or so, I’ve been wrestling with an idea.  There are a lot of idiots out there.  People who think the Earth is flat, the Holocaust didn’t happen, or that Trump was a good President.  Many of these same people also think that climate change is some nefarious scheme by “Them.” So I wondered if one could come up with a lie these idiots would believe which would lead them to be more environmentally conscious.  My idea was to start the idea that gasoline additives are the same things as chemtrails.  That’s why They are so against electric cars, because they don’t have the delivery system for their … sheep gas, or whatever. 

I write – what I like to think are – plausible stories of aliens and time travel, so I’d hope that if I put some time into it I could come up with a plausible story these idiots would believe.  The moral quandary is that on one hand I want everyone to live in the real world, but on the other hand I know that there are those who will fight tooth and nail to keep their delusions.  So is it “better” to try to move them to – hopefully – less harmful delusions?  Sort of moving towards reality in small steps instead of one big jump. 

Conspiratorial misunderstandings

A couple years ago, I was on a site I don’t think is around anymore where you could post articles and have discussions with the other members.  I posted a few articles about space exploration – which I’m a big supporter of – and there was this one lady – who wasn’t a supporter – made some comments.  We went back and forth a few times and at one point she said that she knew a guy who had worked for NASA and he had told her their dark secret, but it had been told in confidence and she couldn’t repeat it. 

Not having any evidence, I wondered what could be an explanation for this “dark secret.” Was her friend fired for being drunk on the job and he was just angry and made something up?  Did he have dementia?  Or, since this lady didn’t have any interest in space and wouldn’t know an STS from an SLS (Space Transportation System, or the Space Shuttle and the Space Launch System, the big rocket NASA is currently building) is it possible that she just misunderstood whatever non-dark secret thing he told her?  Without any evidence one way or the other, why should I just take her word that there’s a dark, NASA conspiracy?

Recent events reminded me of this, and it got me wondering what percentage of conspiracy theories exist because of a simple misunderstanding?  My first thought was maybe 90%, but the more I thought about it the more complex it became.  Years ago I saw a video of a woman standing on a hill outside of London videotaping UFOs flying around Heathrow.  A UFO debunker pointed out that these UFOs had anti-collision lights as well as the faint rumble of jet engines.  Should this woman’s conspiracy theory about why the British government said nothing about these “UFOs” fit in the misunderstanding category?  Also, with the recent 9-11 anniversary, I saw an article about how some people were posing as conspiracy theorists on websites to pass on these complete bullshit stories which the real conspiracy theorists accepted as truth.  Should that be counted as a misunderstanding?

Given the bazillion conspiracy theories coming from the conspiracy theory cottage industry of the internet, you have to wonder how many are serious.  How many result from simple misunderstandings, how many are pranks gotten out of control, how many are malicious for whatever reason, etc.

Accidental evil?

Yesterday, before getting in my car I leaned in to set some things on the passenger seat.  This simple act turned out to be rather painful, because I rammed that button on the top of my hat right into the top of the door.  This led to the two things that happen whenever you do that of One: feeling like an idiot, and Two: wondering why they put the buttons there in the first place.

As I was driving home, rubbing the sore spot on my head, I started to wonder where the hat button ranks on the list of Most Evil Inventions.  Of course, it wasn't intentionally evil, just accidentally evil.  Or was it?

The climate change “conspiracy”

It’s very easy to cry conspiracy.  I mean, it was probably less than an hour after the news broke that Justice Scalia died that I saw a tweet demanding an independent autopsy.  Because, well, I only ever saw him in his robes, but I always thought he had the face of someone who was a bit hefty.  And a hefty guy a month away from turning 80 dying of a heart attack is “suspicious.” Of course, that’s what they want you to think.

Anyway, one of the biggest conspiracy claims online is that climate change isn’t real.  Because tens of thousands of scientists working in various fields for decades in scores of countries are all “in” on whatever the conspiracy theorist is against.  Thousands of nefarious doers who never have a change of heart and blow the whistle.  Yeah, because that’s how conspiracies really work.  Have you ever heard the saying, “Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead?”