The average “newbie” conspiracy theorist, someone that hasn’t yet figured out the grift laden material on social media and qualifies at least to some extent as a “true believer”, has a pretty good idea that they are not in fact a member of some ill defined evil empire. Again (and again, and again, and…) these are not brand new to the 20th and 21st century battle of wills on the social media field of conflict. Going back to what I read of philosophy decades ago. Nichomachean Ethics, Leviathan, The Critique of Pure Reason, etc…. What I got out of these works - your confirmation bias has a wide array of information to latch on to. Whether you think it’s a dog eat dog world where only the strong survive, you think there is a moral imperative built into the fiber of our being, or some mix in between, your personal brain will fixate on the bits and pieces that resonate with you most. And the practical value gained from this is getting drunk in your dorm room and arguing with the collection of misfits you hang with about it while wondering why you need to take a badminton gym credit for you criminal justice degree.
What you should find is that everybody that isn’t you is not you. Not you has a distinct set of beliefs, probably from a different genetic make up and peculiar set of life experiences. Maybe we’re in a simulation and that’s the way not you is programmed in comparison to you? I don’t know. My isn’t that fun. Even sans booze and the collection of misfits to debate with.
Maybe I need to force my beliefs on the not me’s of the world. Good luck with that. Not Me outnumbers me significantly. Best find some allies among the not me’s. At least I’ll have some back up. But how do I identify the worthwhile not me’s from the group?
Just like every bullshit gematria celebrity death story, finding a scapegoat is the key. All scapegoats are not equal, and historically some get more attention than others. But gematria has helped the crank magnetism movement significantly, bringing to the table a self delusional aspect missing from other conspiracy content.
Sure they might have talked about the Freemasons (with minor degrees in Illuminati and badminton), then arbitrarily switched to the Jesuits (with a dual major with criminal injustice), but they simply can’t help taking a stab at the Jews occasionally. And before I start ranting about that in particular let’s be completely clear about the point -
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who the scapegoat is. The goal of gematria is beginner training for a cognitively damaged mind to “do its own research” and let your bigotry take you where it will. Subliminal scapegoating. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like negroes, white people, Jews, gays, people from Madagascar, Neapolitan ice cream, Democrats, Republicans, or pink paper clips. If it’s a noun that can be hated a gematria narrative can be created* for it.
So every time there’s beginner content being posted it’s a signal that a fresh wave of subliminal scapegoating is being fed. “A=1, B=2, C=3…”. A new video posted with the intro, “Today’s date is…” as if the viewer is too stupid to see the date on YouTube and needs to be reminded that non-actual gematria date numerology is being incorporated. If a long time gematria knucklehead is saying these things it means the previous crop of cult initiates has gotten frustrated with the constant incorrect predictions or graduated to where their hatred has taken them. Or even both. Because the evolution of confirmation bias now allows those without critical thinking skills to accept being wrong in return for the never received in real life attaboy they crave.
There are other non gematria scapegoating dog whistles. Hand signals - it’s virtually impossible to hold your hand in any position without being accused of it meaning something other than what it was. Every color “means” something evil. The most trivial things get elevated to instant scapegoat status and merged into a broader us vs. them narrative that started as an internalized me vs. not me narrative.
Consider for a long moment that the reason Hubbard’s books have been dirt cheap or even free (I got his first book free at the cost of 15 minutes of my life creating a sock puppet account) may just be the starting point of
conspiracy theory light and he doesn’t mind being wrong all the time. Modern conspiracy thinking has normalized being wrong.I wonder what Hobbes, Kant, Calvin, Aristotle etc… would think about this and badminton.
* This would be a lovely rhyming line delivered by Johnny Cochran in the summation of an Alex Jones bankruptcy trial.
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