9/11 Free Fall 7/18/13: Dr. deHaven-Smith and "conspiracy theory"

[William Seger]

1. The sad thing about this interview...

... is that it demonstrates that conspiracists aren't just out of touch with the reality of historical events, they are out of touch with the reality of their own circumstances. For example, I've never seen the "conspiracy theorist" label applied to anyone for simply "questioning the official account of events." No, the definition of "conspiracy theorist" -- as derived from their own behavior, not a CIA plot -- is someone who asserts highly implausible and speculative conspiracy theories as absolute facts, for what prove to be unsubstantiated and highly dubious reasons. Furthermore, since the JFK assassination, modern conspiracy theories are also theories about huge and elaborate hoaxes, which the modern conspiracy theorist apparently believes releases them from the constraints of evidence-based reasoning: In their world view, all the evidence that supports the official story must be fake and all the evidence that would conclusively prove the conspiracy theory must have been covered up, so neither evidence nor lack of evidence makes the slightest bit of difference to them. They simply pretend to care about evidence when they combine half-truths with abject bullshit to try to induce new members into the cult, when it's quite clear that the half-truths and bullshit can't really be the reason that they believe what they believe. And finally, whining about the "conspiracy theorist" label being used to dismiss the theories out-of-hand and avoid discussing them is a transparent attempt to avoid the harsh reality that the real bane of their existence is not people who dismiss the theories but rather the people who deconstruct their arguments and evidence and show how far short they fall of proving their implausible claims. Neither one of these guys can face the reality of how poorly conspiracists fare in meaningful debate, so they delude themselves into thinking they are in possession of superior knowledge of "the truth" and dismiss anyone who says otherwise as being willfully ignorant. Just like all other cultists.

The second really depressing thing this interview shows is how hopeless it is to think that reason might eventually penetrate the fortress of delusions. That does happen on very rare occasions, but so does spontaneous human combustion. Or so they say.