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Should the government ban conspiracy theorizing?

Should the government ban conspiracy theorizing?

  • Yes

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • No

    Votes: 52 100.0%

  • Maybe

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Don't know

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    52
sangha said:
Hmmm, a republican conspiracy to undermine a Presidents negotiations with a foriegn nation. Why does that sound familiar? :shrug:
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I know it, almost amazing.
 
MildSteel said:
Here's some background on Cass Sunstein



In addition, Mr Sunstein has been under consideration by the Obama administration as a possible Supreme Court Justice.

Sunstein co-authored a book that suggested the following



Cass Sunstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazing! Tax people who put forward conspiracy theories!

Any rate, that aside, what do you think? Should the government ban conspiracy theorizing?
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Idiotic. Transparency cures all conspiracy theories.
 
MildSteel said:
Oh really? Here's the one that you conveniently neglected to post, or perhaps did not read
We could imagine circumstances in which a conspiracy theory became so pervasive, and so dangerous, that censorship would be thinkable.
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And that's Why Cass Sunstien has no business being considered for the bench of any court.
 
MildSteel said:
Absolutely!
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The actual suggestions from the paper in question:

Here we suggest two concrete ideas for government officials attempting to fashion a response to such theories.

First, responding to more rather than fewer conspiracy theories has a kind of synergy benefit: it reduces the legitimating effect of responding to any one of them, because it dilutes the contrast with unrebutted theories.

Second, we suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of those who subscribe to such theories. They do so by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity.​

:shrug:





“The hardcore conspiracy theorists are totally committed. They’d have to repudiate much of their life identity in order not to accept some of that stuff.​
~Zelikow quoted in the paper in question
 
Simon W. Moon said:
The actual suggestions from the paper in question:

Here we suggest two concrete ideas for government officials attempting to fashion a response to such theories.

First, responding to more rather than fewer conspiracy theories has a kind of synergy benefit: it reduces the legitimating effect of responding to any one of them, because it dilutes the contrast with unrebutted theories.

Second, we suggest a distinctive tactic for breaking up the hard core of extremists who supply conspiracy theories: cognitive infiltration of extremist groups, whereby government agents or their allies (acting either virtually or in real space, and either openly or anonymously) will undermine the crippled epistemology of those who subscribe to such theories. They do so by planting doubts about the theories and stylized facts that circulate within such groups, thereby introducing beneficial cognitive diversity.​
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I don't dispute that. What I am talking about is this:

We could imagine circumstances in which a conspiracy theory became so pervasive, and so dangerous, that censorship would be thinkable.
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Here Sunstein clearly expresses the notion that he can conceive of a scenario where the government might indeed feel compelled to consider a ban. You can try to run interference for Sunstein if you want, but there is no place for him to hide. It is there in black and white.
 
Simon W. Moon said:
I am in on The Conspiracy too now?
Sweet!

I am They.
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I don't know what you are. Actually you may be. But whatever you are, you are certainly running interference for Sunstein. There is no doubt, he clearly said he can conceive of a scenario in which the government might feel compelled to ban CT. No doubt about it. You can try to smudge over that if you want, but it's not going to work.
 
MildSteel said:
I don't know what you are. Actually you may be. But whatever you are, you are certainly running interference for Sunstein. There is no doubt, he clearly said he can conceive of a scenario in which the government might feel compelled to ban CT. No doubt about it. You can try to smudge over that if you want, but it's not going to work.
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How is what I am doing different from pointing out issues with the basis of your assertions?


What criteria did you use to rule out the seemingly simpler explanation that I just find your argument faulty?
 
Simon W. Moon said:
How is what I am doing different from pointing out issues with the basis of your assertions?
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What is different is that you are not merely pointing out issues with what I have put forward. You are trying smear the whole notion that Sunstein's view, that the government might think of banning CT in certain cases, is troubling. It is one thing to point out issues, it is another thing to create a smear.

Simon W. Moon said:
What criteria did you use to rule out the seemingly simpler explanation that I just find your argument faulty?
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The notion that you want to put forward is that Sunstein was merely imagining a hypothetical that could be conceived by the human mind and not something that could be realistically considered. While it is true that he was creating a hypothetical, what is troubling is that his thought process led him to come to the conclusion that the government could in certain circumstances consider banning a CT. To see the problem with this, if we were to merely consider what could be conceived by the human mind, one could imagine that the government could cut out the tongues of people who engaged in a CT under such circumstances. However, there is no need to consider such a notion because it is simply not one of the options the government would realistically consider. One the other hand, Mr Sunstein's thought process leads him to believe, that the government could actually consider a ban on a CT. Therefore he has used the word, "thinkable." That Mr Sunstein could rationalize such a ban on the government's part is troubling, particularly if he were to be on the Supreme Court.
 
I just can't believe that there are people that are unaware of the fact that all governments conspire, and, that people think that all conspiracies are theories. What percentage of human beings are morons? Apparently more than we once thought!
 
Montecresto said:
I just can't believe that there are people that are unaware of the fact that all governments conspire, and, that people think that all conspiracies are theories. What percentage of human beings are morons? Apparently more than we once thought!
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Again, some of it is that people are scared. If you dare say the government is conspiring to do anything, they will smear you as a weird conspiracy theorist. That is how they keep such notions down. They have learned the art of suppression in that way.
 
MildSteel said:
Again, some of it is that people are scared. If you dare say the government is conspiring to do anything, they will smear you as a weird conspiracy theorist. That is how they keep such notions down. They have learned the art of suppression in that way.
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Well, we shall not be scared.
 
Ban freedom of thought and freedom of speech? And what if it turns out they were right?

"Oh c'mon, there's no way the government of the greatest country on earth...

- conducted secret tests on black people to see what the long term effects of syphilis are.
- overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile and installed homocidal dictator Augusto Pinnichet.
- ordered the assassination of Martin Luther King. (See http://www.australiansforliberty.or...-the-us-governemnt-for-mlk-assassination.html)
- collected the private emails of millions of innocent Americans without warrants
- spied on Fox News Channel's Brit Hume and his entire family
- allowed the president of the United States schedule to be reviewed by a psychic fortune teller
 
Smeagol said:
Ban freedom of thought and freedom of speech? And what if it turns out they were right?

"Oh c'mon, there's no way the government of the greatest country on earth...

- conducted secret tests on black people to see what the long term effects of syphilis are.
- overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile and installed homocidal dictator Augusto Pinnichet.
- ordered the assassination of Martin Luther King. (See http://www.australiansforliberty.or...-the-us-governemnt-for-mlk-assassination.html)
- collected the private emails of millions of innocent Americans without warrants
- spied on Fox News Channel's Brit Hume and his entire family
- allowed the president of the United States schedule to be reviewed by a psychic fortune teller
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You make good posts. I don't know if you are conservative or not, but if you are, I wish there were more like you.
 
Smeagol said:
Ban freedom of thought and freedom of speech? And what if it turns out they were right?

"Oh c'mon, there's no way the government of the greatest country on earth...

- conducted secret tests on black people to see what the long term effects of syphilis are.
- overthrew the democratically elected government of Chile and installed homocidal dictator Augusto Pinnichet.
- ordered the assassination of Martin Luther King. (See http://www.australiansforliberty.or...-the-us-governemnt-for-mlk-assassination.html)
- collected the private emails of millions of innocent Americans without warrants
- spied on Fox News Channel's Brit Hume and his entire family
- allowed the president of the United States schedule to be reviewed by a psychic fortune teller
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And that's just the short list.
 
MildSteel said:
You make good posts. I don't know if you are conservative or not, but if you are, I wish there were more like you.
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Thanks. I consider myself conservative but since 2008 it seems the GOP has lost its mind. Most of my friends think I've lost mine. :)
 
Smeagol said:
Thanks. I consider myself conservative but since 2008 it seems the GOP has lost its mind. Most of my friends think I've lost mine. :)
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You are very welcome. To be honest with you, there is some merit to conservative ideology. I just can't get with its current manifestation in practical terms.
 
1. Sunstein should never be allowed anywhere near power. He is far too fond of it.

2. The government, far from banning conspiracy theorizing, should covertly sponsor it. That way, whenever you show up for the CT theorists meetings the government is already tracking you, because you are showing up to a government meeting. :mrgreen:
 
Government should never ban free speech.
 
Josie said:
Government should never ban free speech.
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Amazing how far down the country has gone where there are people eager to push to take away all the things that made it great.
 
MildSteel said:
Here's some background on Cass Sunstein



In addition, Mr Sunstein has been under consideration by the Obama administration as a possible Supreme Court Justice.

Sunstein co-authored a book that suggested the following



Cass Sunstein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazing! Tax people who put forward conspiracy theories!

Any rate, that aside, what do you think? Should the government ban conspiracy theorizing?
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What if a person gets taxed for thinking about a conspiracy, but then it is later proven to be true? Does that person get his money back?
 
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