Old guy here. This sort of idiocy was super rare before the internet. You were mostly limited to talking with family, friends and coworkers. And those people would ridicule idiot ideas, make the idiot take a step back and consider. Humiliation and humiliation avoidance are powerful motivators.
Now idiots can group up and reinforce each other. It’s been rather horrifying watching this roll out over the last 30-years.
I very vividly recall sometime in mid 1996 or so when the worldwide web was first becoming a thing and e-commerce was in its infancy. I thought how much better the world was going to be because people would have access to all the ideas. They’d no longer be isolated in their little tribes where they could be racist and hateful.
Wow, did humanity ever prove me wrong with its ability to generate protective bubbles around itself.
Rare, but not super rare. You are misremembering the large amount of pamphlets, direct mail and newspaper/magazine ads that fed a propensity for stupid people to try and get rich or circumvent rules. There were no doubt regional differences, but e.g. in the Netherlands there were a few people with large tax trick companies/movements that gained a lot of traction and money before they eventually got stopped by the courts. Talking late 70s/80s. here.
People have always believed in outlandish conspiracies. For example The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was debunked over 100 years ago but still went on to influence the Nazis after that as well as countless other antisemitic groups and conspiracy theories to this day.
Convincing people of something they don’t believe with evidence is almost impossible, as anyone who’s spent time on the internet knows.
So how are these conspiracy groups convincing people without evidence? Simple, they’re not. They’re providing validation for the ideas and general misgivings that certain people already had, as fringe groups have done for generations. It’s just that in the past it happened privately, now it’s taking place in public forums.
Maybe the internet allows dumb ideas to spread faster. But it also lets criticism of those ideas and evidence against them spread at the same speed. The problem is the people who need to hear it will never listen.
TL:DR - Some people have always been stupid and looked for validation of their beliefs, now they do it online instead of IRL as with everything else in life.
Actually think of sovcit kids. They are “home schooled” which means they don’t get an education, they don’t have birth certificates or social insurance numbers, and they don’t get vaccinated. It’s quite dangerous for them.
Old guy here. This sort of idiocy was super rare before the internet. You were mostly limited to talking with family, friends and coworkers. And those people would ridicule idiot ideas, make the idiot take a step back and consider. Humiliation and humiliation avoidance are powerful motivators.
Now idiots can group up and reinforce each other. It’s been rather horrifying watching this roll out over the last 30-years.
I very vividly recall sometime in mid 1996 or so when the worldwide web was first becoming a thing and e-commerce was in its infancy. I thought how much better the world was going to be because people would have access to all the ideas. They’d no longer be isolated in their little tribes where they could be racist and hateful.
Wow, did humanity ever prove me wrong with its ability to generate protective bubbles around itself.
Rare, but not super rare. You are misremembering the large amount of pamphlets, direct mail and newspaper/magazine ads that fed a propensity for stupid people to try and get rich or circumvent rules. There were no doubt regional differences, but e.g. in the Netherlands there were a few people with large tax trick companies/movements that gained a lot of traction and money before they eventually got stopped by the courts. Talking late 70s/80s. here.
People have always believed in outlandish conspiracies. For example The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was debunked over 100 years ago but still went on to influence the Nazis after that as well as countless other antisemitic groups and conspiracy theories to this day.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/index.php/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion
Convincing people of something they don’t believe with evidence is almost impossible, as anyone who’s spent time on the internet knows.
So how are these conspiracy groups convincing people without evidence? Simple, they’re not. They’re providing validation for the ideas and general misgivings that certain people already had, as fringe groups have done for generations. It’s just that in the past it happened privately, now it’s taking place in public forums.
Maybe the internet allows dumb ideas to spread faster. But it also lets criticism of those ideas and evidence against them spread at the same speed. The problem is the people who need to hear it will never listen.
TL:DR - Some people have always been stupid and looked for validation of their beliefs, now they do it online instead of IRL as with everything else in life.
It happens faster with the Internet. But I mean Scientology started before the Internet…
Thats a funny way to spell “christianity”
Note, though, that it was principally always Hollywood elite who was involved. That is its own sort of bubble.
I agree it is horrific. Sovereign citizens to me are really dangerous.
I think so. They don’t limit their crazy to just licenses and taxes.
Not really. What is this guy doing that could hurt anyone? He’s only hurting himself here.
Now far right militias, those are scary.
They are hurting us by not paying taxes and potentially not maintaining their vehicle or driving safely.
Wait until you learn about corporations like Amazon. Hundreds of these people couldn’t do the damage Amazon does every day.
Whataboutism is not a defense.
Infecting more people with their mental virus.
Actually think of sovcit kids. They are “home schooled” which means they don’t get an education, they don’t have birth certificates or social insurance numbers, and they don’t get vaccinated. It’s quite dangerous for them.
social
insurancesecurity numbersThe US has no real social insurance unless you want to include Medicaid/Medicare.
Sovcit stuff is older than the internet