t;"dr This thread is motivated by many of the pathetic politards around here who want to build a straw man out of everyone who is skeptical of the government.
I will start by saying I am very far from someone who the average person would consider a conspiracy theorist. I find the vast majority of conspiracy theories I hear absurd and will be the first to reject them. I do believe in a dramatically smaller role of the central government in the US and I will be the first to say that there are plenty of people with whom I agree a lot on public policy who can be a bit cultish and prone to conspiracy theories. I have no issues rejecting what I consider to be the absurd or step away when I feel too much of a group think environment is occurring. The reality is, within all political affiliations you will find people married to their crew like it is a religion and you will find others who are more reasonable.
With all of that said, I would argue the people attacking every small government person as a conspirtard or whatever other pathetic and hollow attack they like to use are the truly naive fools on here. While I agree next to never on the vast majority of the conspiracy theories I read among the people with whom I share a similar political affiliation, I do have a respect and understanding for the psychology that brought them to this place. The reality is that you have to be a complete idiot to actually trust the government. To openly accept what politicians say as fact and to blindly believe that they act on the same principles they preach is just crazy. When presented with the historical reality, to not be highly skeptical of what the hell is really going on is to be totally ignorant.
I have watched the political discourse for my entire adult life (I am no spring chicken). To oversimplify, I have watched election after election as the Republicans espouse the word freedom and free markets and claimed the standing as the party of fiscal responsibility. I have watched over and over as Democrats preach the virtues of civil liberties and preach to the anti-war voters that make up a large percent of their base.
So how does their rhetoric match up to their actions? Time after time the D's are the anti civil liberty war part and the R's act like the party of fiscal insanity. These are just the more general examples of what is common in so many ways. Further, the more 'independent' parts of the government also paint a very unrealistic picture to the average citizen who simply browses their conclusions. The BLS reports on unemployment and tells us what the unemployment rate is nationwide. But it is totally non controversial among those who actually study economics to accept that their statistics grossly under report the 'real' unemployment rate (and by real I mean what logically makes sense to most people). They have so many different criteria that have been developed over the years to make the number look lower and lower.
The same is true with government reported inflation and a whole host of other issues. Projections of costs on various programs like Medicare have been shown to be so far off the reality when looking back at them over the decades that it is a combination of laughable and tragic. I am not interested in a debate over how much these things are distorted and with what level of intention, but no reasonable person can argue that it would not be wise to be highly cautious and skeptical of what a politician or government agency tells the public.
The reality is that in a climate like the American political scene that I have lived through, you should have a much greater level of understanding as to why it can be such a breeding ground for the conspiracy theorists. Of course those who align themselves with a policy stance that is most against the present government and two parties will be those most skeptical of it. Do they go too far quite often with their fears and theories? Sure. Can you understand why they are so damn skeptical? History should give you some tolerance and respect for it.
I might come off as a bit pathetic here but so be it. It is really weak and annoying to watch as so many people blindly assume that because some people in the small government contingency act a bit cultish and espouse some over the top theories that any time anyone questions the government, they must be some nut job. I started a thread about the current role the US plays in Iraq (
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/41...-iraq-1243511/) and made it very clear that all I was doing was looking for some objective responses and hard facts about the troop withdrawal. I did not hide the fact that I was coming from a place of skepticism when I hear politicians claiming we left Iraq and all I wanted to do was find out to what extent that was really true. Because I am a realist and not an ignorant fool, I don't blindly accept what I hear the blowhards say. I have no dog in the fight other than simply wanting to know the truth and I was looking for credible sources that could give me the facts I was looking for. I was actually hoping the sources would be papers like the NYT because while I may not like the slant of the paper, they are a solid news reporting source.
So the long story short, give it a rest on trying to demean every person that shows some skepticism of the government as some kind of tin foil hat fool. Meanwhile, try looking at the less controversial facts of the last few decades and be a little open minded to the idea that the story the government pitches is not always an accurate portrayal of reality or even rarely is. I know this is a forum, people are here for fun, etc etc, but it is amazing how many frequent posters in here just seem to get off to trolling the beliefs of the people they disagree with. Rather than trying to paint someone you disagree with as a moron, try actually showing some respect and trying to persuade them with your superior logic or knowledge. From when I first started lurking here until now, the discourse has gotten noticeably more immature and lame and has made reading this forum so much less enjoyable (for me) than it used to be.
So that's my plea, and I am sure I will be trolled for it, but c'est la vie.
Last edited by insidemanpoker; 09-07-2012 at 12:58 PM.