(no subject)

[camwyn]

Dear conspiracy theorists:

Thank you for tipping your hand. After seeing one of you comment on some of the photo analysis done of the Marathon finish line area last night, I finally realized why I hate you so much.

Because you just can't stand for something to not be about you.

It was the person who claimed to be working for some agency or other, 'but I can't post this under my real name or even my usual online alias, I can't even use the picture I took myself in case they figure out the source, I'll lose my job if they connect this to me'. He said 'This is a false flag. They're going to find a guy. they're going to say he was deranged. They're going to use him as an excuse to take away OUR FREEDOMS. They're going to do MORE BAD THINGS TO US'.

And that's all you care about, you miserable bastards, isn't it? You.

It has to be a false flag operation in your minds, because otherwise the idea exists that someone might have cared about somebody other than you. Somebody might have had a goal in life other than 'how can I affect the guy sitting in the chair at his computer, safely out of sight'. Somebody might have wanted to pay attention to someone who wasn't the writer. Even if it was negative attention, it's still attention going elsewhere. It's still somebody saying that you, Mister Supposedly Important Person Who Knows Things, are not the most important person in the world. And you just can't stand that. It has to be about you, doesn't it? The Marathon bombing wasn't about trying to scare people and cause pain, confusion, and chaos. It was about terrible people in government who dislike you and everyone like you, personally, trying to rally the WHOLE CITY OF BOSTON to do things that would affect you.

Sandy Hook wasn't about a man with problems doing terrible things that he shouldn't be able to do, either, according to your kind. It was about terrible people in government who just can't stand that the white man has guns, so they deliberately killed a bunch of children in order to rally their weeping mommies to take away what you, personally, think makes you, personally, special and powerful and dangerous. Don't lie- I've seen your conspiracy spam, and it's sexist and racist as hell. You specifically blame the government for killing those children and the principal in order to specifically inflame the emotions of women and minorities. Because you're not a woman. Because you're not a minority.

You want to be at the center of attention, forever. And when someone hurts people who aren't you, it takes attention away from you and your sense of entitlement, and you just can't stand that. So it has to have been the government arranging the whole thing.

To hurt you.

Because you're just the specialest people to ever special and they just can't stand that so they have to hurt you for being special.

It's all, always, about you, and everyone else doesn't matter, as far as your little theories go. It only counts when it has to do with you.

You're disgusting excuses for human beings, conspiracy theorists. I hope you die alone.

Comments

[silveraspen]

Preach it, lady.

I am so sick of this "false flag" BS that I could SCREAM.

[vivien]

Well said. Thank you for expressing this.

[leeshajoy]

Of course, the sort of person who invents these theories isn't special or notable in any way, hence the need to make up bullshit to explain why "the man" is keeping them down. (See also: men's rights activists, white supremacists, "oppressed" American Christians, et cetera.)

[attractivegeekery]

Thank you for having not only the best words, but the awesome ability to knit them together.

[newredshoes]

So... I'm not sure how to talk about this myself. My sister is huge in the conspiracy theory community, and the things she says and does hurt more than I know how to say. But in large part, I believe, it's because she's sick, and she won't get help, because she believes she's seen the light and is telling the truth.

I'm not sure where else to go with this comment. I agree that the conspiracy theories are terrible and awful and hurtful. But... nope, don't know where else to go with this. A lot of people are assholes, but some people are sick.

[camwyn]

You have my apologies. I never intended to insult your sister or people who have genuine issues.

Most of this was fueled by a long-simmering loathing of the person who emailed me under blatantly fake names with paragraphs about how Sandy Hook was a deliberate attempt to make women cry so that they'd want to take away men's guns. When I saw the post yesterday among the photo analysis, among all that work by people who were trying so hard to find someone who might be responsible, saying "but it might cost MY job if they found out it was ME who posted this" (emphasis mine), I kind of lost it.

[lemon_badgeress]

I agree with you mostly, but I think you're intrinsically linking two things that aren't indivisible.

Do I believe the conspiracy theories? Hell no. Do I believe my government is going to panic, flail about, and work on extending things like the Patriot Act and mangle more of our current rights? Well, yes. But that's not a conpiracy, or a cause. It's stupidity, inertia, and a reaction.

[camwyn]

I'm mostly linking them because the people who honked me off did the linking first. As far as they're concerned, the deaths, the injuries, the pain, all of it- that's all completely secondary. What really matters, to the people I'm talking about, is that somebody else did something, they don't really especially care what, and now THEY, the people writing these theories, are going to be made to suffer because of it.

I don't like the way the Patriot Act was handled, I don't like our rights being mangled, I don't like any of it. I write to my Washington representatives and to newspapers and the like on a regular basis about this, and I contribute to the causes I support that stand up to this kind of thing. But I don't go so far as to say "yes, yes, people are bleeding and dying but WHAT ABOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEEE. These strangers were hurt so that other people would have an excuse to hurt MEEEEEEEEEEE."

[hellkitty]

I saw a number of these false-flag theories and I don't hunt for them, nor am I in Boston, so the stuff is just everywhere in people's faces and you're right. It's absolutely all about either the entitlement and the government is against that person OR it's 'look how clever *I* am that I've figured this out' or...combo platter.

One of my students said he'd heard a story that the woman who was killed, her boyfriend was going to propose to her that day. As he's telling us this story, you could see him starting to choke up. Because of someone else's pain and loss and hurt. So while there are some people who are using this event to bolster themselves, I can tell you there are many others who are finding their hearts softened by this. For whatever that's worth.

[camwyn]

So while there are some people who are using this event to bolster themselves, I can tell you there are many others who are finding their hearts softened by this. For whatever that's worth.

And I appreciate that part. I really do. Thank you.

[batyatoon]

TESTIFY, SISTER.

[leeshajoy]

Is it okay if I quote/link this on the Straight Dope Message Board? There's a discussion going on about the mindset behind conspiracy theorists, and I think your post here is pretty much on the nose.

[camwyn]

Sure, go ahead. Let me know how it goes.