Stop spreading garbage online conspiracy theories

[oxmixmudd]

pix - that just isn't the truth. There is a massive amount of hostility here on this site toward my posts, (e.g. I get flamed for just posting the raw data about COVID-19) there is literally nothing I can do to stop it, and very little that I do that actually provokes it. It's just a perpetual anger that seethes here and will likely never leave.

So I know you will not admit this to be true, but in the majority I respond to individuals that attack me, I don't attack individuals specifically. This thread is not an attack on specific people, but is an attack on a trend that is common to internet forums like this and there are people here that are doing exactly what I'm talking about. And clearly some of those people took it personally.

I was angry at what was happening to this woman and her family. So that anger can be seen in the tone of my OP. But my appeal is to those of you that tend to do this to look at what is does to people, look at what it is doing to the woman in the story. And to please stop letting yourselves get drawn into this sort of thing. The accusatory demonization of others, it's a very destructive thing. But you are mistaking my anger at that for an attack on specific people here.

[oxmixmudd]

Well, you did it under the banner "Stop spreading garbage online conspiracy theories", so....

I guess your philosophy is "kick them in the teeth to get their attention, then try a little kindness"?

No, the OP reflects my anger at what is happening to this women and her family. But you are right I might have been more successful if ... well not really. There isn't any way I could have brought this issue up here and not been flamed for it. Which is why I didn't try very hard to soften it up.

[Mountain Man]

CP - I didn't continue to address them. MM POSTED after he was told to leave. And I replied ONCE to MM's first violation as a warning, then reported him on his second violation of my request and have not replied to him since.

Much easier to silence me than take take one moment to think about and reflect on what I've said, isn't it? Isn't that what you're demanding of others? Yet your opening post and subsequent posts have all had the air of someone who thinks himself above the behavior he is describing. But ask yourself how different this thread could have been if you had taken a moment to honestly assess yourself and realized that you deserve to be painted with the same broad brush that you are casually applying to everybody else.

[Cow Poke]

No, the OP reflects my anger

I've been saying all along you've become an angry old fart, Jim. What good does it do to respond out of anger? Does "this woman and her family" benefit?

at what is happening to this women and her family. But you are right I might have been more successful if ... well not really.

So, what the heck, go for the anger!

There isn't any way I could have brought this issue up here and not been flamed for it.

If that's true, then it justifies what I've been saying about your attitude. You have earned yourself a reputation of being an angry old fart who's always lashing out.

Which is why I didn't try very hard to soften it up.

You didn't try at all. You're like the road rage guy who blames everybody else for his own conduct.

[KingsGambit]

I've been saying all along you've become an angry old fart, Jim. What good does it do to respond out of anger? Does "this woman and her family" benefit?

I read an article about this story earlier before logging on here and while I didn't physically react with anger, I don't see what's wrong with being angry. Jesus reacted with anger at times, and the anger seems especially justifiable in this case given that the man who's largely responsible for this rumor being spread has been openly operating spreading nonsense for years. Presumably something could be done about him having access to such an open platform to libel others (or slander, I get the two confused).

[lilpixieofterror]

pix - that just isn't the truth. There is a massive amount of hostility here on this site toward my posts, (e.g. I get flamed for just posting the raw data about COVID-19) there is literally nothing I can do to stop it, and very little that I do that actually provokes it. It's just a perpetual anger that seethes here and will likely never leave.

So I know you will not admit this to be true, but in the majority I respond to individuals that attack me, I don't attack individuals specifically. This thread is not an attack on specific people, but is an attack on a trend that is common to internet forums like this and there are people here that are doing exactly what I'm talking about. And clearly some of those people took it personally.

People have been talking about conspiracy theories, long before the internet existed. Look at the ones that exist about the moon landings, the Kennedy assassination, or really any major historical event. People took it personally because that is what they have come to expect from you.

I was angry at what was happening to this woman and her family. So that anger can be seen in the tone of my OP. But my appeal is to those of you that tend to do this to look at what is does to people, look at what it is doing to the woman in the story. And to please stop letting yourselves get drawn into this sort of thing. The accusatory demonization of others, it's a very destructive thing. But you are mistaking my anger at that for an attack on specific people here.

[Cow Poke]

I read an article about this story earlier before logging on here and while I didn't physically react with anger, I don't see what's wrong with being angry. Jesus reacted with anger at times,

We justify that by calling it "Righteous Indignation" , but, in my book, He always gets a pass because of His overall attitude and conduct. It was unusual circumstances, not his daily conduct, and it was offset, in my opinion, by His overwhelming compassion for the lost, the down-and-outters, the downtrodden, His own sinlessness....

and the anger seems especially justifiable in this case given that the man who's largely responsible for this rumor being spread has been openly operating spreading nonsense for years. Presumably something could be done about him having access to such an open platform to libel others (or slander, I get the two confused).

So, I like to ask "what's the object of this exercise". If the object is spewing forth anger, Ox has done a fine job. If the object is actually appealing to people to change their conduct - not so much.

[Cow Poke]

Once I get my old stuff downloaded in this new fangled computer I'll see if I have anything suitable

WELCOME BACK!!!!!

I was just axin about you!!!!

[rogue06]

The Propensity for many on this site to accept and cling to unsubstantiated rumor and hate filled garbage floating around the internet is palpable.

This thread is a plea to those of you whose internal leanings make you inclined to believe and propagate this stuff to please, stop. Unless there is real and solid confirmation from multiple mainstream university research or multiple legitimate journalistic sources, just file it under TBD (To be Determined) and wait before you hurt peoples lives.

This story was on CNN today, about a woman arbitrarily singled out as a 'source' for COVID 19. Here and in China rabid internet conspiracy junkies are lapping this up and pushing it on to friends and acquaintances, putting this women and her family in danger. She has never tested positive, never experience symptoms, but the same sorts of irresponsible behavior we see here every day has put her life in danger.

My wife gets stuff like this every day on her facebook feed and some of you bring the same sort of unsubstantiated rumor here and post it as fact.

Please - just stop.


https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/tech/...ory/index.html

Asking folks to quit spreading garbage and then turning immediately to CNN seems awfully contradictory

[Mountain Man]

I read an article about this story earlier before logging on here and while I didn't physically react with anger, I don't see what's wrong with being angry. Jesus reacted with anger at times, and the anger seems especially justifiable in this case given that the man who's largely responsible for this rumor being spread has been openly operating spreading nonsense for years. Presumably something could be done about him having access to such an open platform to libel others (or slander, I get the two confused).

Jesus would become angry, yes, but he never used that anger to condemn other people for something he himself was guilty of. That was what the pharisees did, heaping rules on people that they themselves had no intent of following.

Moderated By: DesertBerean

Mountain Man, the OP has requested you to leave the thread. Please do so.

***If you wish to take issue with this notice DO NOT do so in this thread.***
Contact the forum moderator or an administrator in Private Message or email instead. If you feel you must publicly complain or whine, please take it to the Padded Room unless told otherwise.

[oxmixmudd]

True - but we can avoid being an instrument of it's foolishness. We can reduce its impact by not participating, by not spreading it.

But to do that we need some way of figuring out whether or not such information is bogus or not - yes?

[oxmixmudd]

Asking folks to quit spreading garbage and then turning immediately to CNN seems awfully contradictory

Actually, it's not rogue. CNN is a legitimate news outlet. It has its issues with bias - yes. But its news feed is generally a legitimate source of news and information, which of course it can be checked against other legitimate news sources from around the world. There is a difference between that and information that comes from who knows what, or from sources that exists specifically and for little other reason than to promote a specific ideology - such as Breitbart, or Answers in Genesis, or WattsUp.

Getting at how we distinguish sources whose primary goal is information vs ideology can be tricky, I will admit. And I had hoped to find some decent discussion on that very topic in this thread, for absolutely we can't avoid promoting nutcase theories if we don't have a good method of at least reducing the probability that the article that has caught our eye is just nuttery.

A good and general education is one such mechanism. Many times its nuttery because we know enough about the world to know it is nuttery - e.g. Answers in Genesis.

But for a lot of social 'news' and 'nuttery', it is not that simple.

[oxmixmudd]

I've been saying all along you've become an angry old fart, Jim. What good does it do to respond out of anger? Does "this woman and her family" benefit?

Do you ever have anything positive to say to me CP?


You will not allow for the brow beating I take here each and every day.

You will not acknowledge the number of times I ignore those attacks and try to respond thoughtfully in spite of the insults.

You sit in judgement of me each and every day, often when I have responded more thoughtfully and less angrily than you yourself do when someone delivers to you something similar.


What exactly is you beef CP? Do you not have the capacity to even try to 'bury the hatchet' as it were, or are the times I've managed to cross you sufficient that you will never under any circumstances ever allow there to be a decent conversation between us ever again?

[Cow Poke]

Do you ever have anything positive to say to me CP?

You're a very intelligent man capable of reasonable discussion.

[oxmixmudd]

You're a very intelligent man capable of reasonable discussion.

Thanks, but that is true only when the fellow or gal on the other end will allow it.