The very idea of control is largely an illusion; one that many people need just to function in everyday life.
IMO, the only thing a person has any real control over is his or her reaction behavior in response to any circumstance or situation.
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And in other news, people who feel in control of their lives are more likely to be dupes of conspiracies.
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Which reminds me of one of my favorite cartoons:
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Or just @OtherMichaelâs twisted imaginationâŠ
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Ya, that effing 
and his tendency to make the variables vary too much
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And therein is the problem⊠the basic research is pretty shaky. The authors are claiming substantial changes in behaviour and perception from asking their changes to âremember a situation when you felt in / out of controlâ. That sort of priming methodology being the source of half the retractions and fake data currently polluting the world of psych research.
Without confirmation bias, the study would be ignored. Because of confirmation bias, itâs worthless.
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The original Whitson-Galinsky study (and Ed Yongâs report on it) was from 2008, too early for PubPeer or RetractionWatch. But it is featured in a 2014 review of âExcess Success for Psychology Articles in the Journal Scienceâ, as part of a general indictment of junk science:
null findings have been suppressed, that the experiments or analyses were inappropriate, or that the theory does not properly follow from the data [âŠ] a systematic pattern of excess success among psychology articles in the journal Science.
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No idea what the LDS does or doesnât do. They seem like nice people.
In 1996 I met a weirdo in a hostel in SLC who said he couldnât find a proper place to rent or a decent job because the Mormons had it in for him. That experience came to mind when I was trying to think of a loser with a conspiracy theory, but I adapted it so that super-short cutoffs played a less prominent role.
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Is this really ânewâ though?
People who are poor are more likely to fall for scams too. Is it due to their lack of sophistication and knowledge of the scams⊠or is it because they believe someone is in control of the financial system and they can âget inâ on it?
Do people who feel out of control also turn to religion? In order to believe that someone is secretly controlling things behind the scenes?
Speak for yourself. I mind my own beeswax, plus youâre not that interesting. 
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Reactions are automatic, by definition. Responses are what we have control over.
This is why people who act it out because they cant talk it out are Toxic As Fuck. Theyây go around getting reactions, and then invariably complain that nobody else seems very thoughtful.
We have control over our actions, go for responses, not reactions.
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This work was published in 2008⊠http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95296627
My favourite conspiracy theory is the Fomenko Chronology.
Because that guy really really hated medieval times!
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Iâve made the Illuminutty NWO chemtrail UFO mind control videos a bit of a hobby. I havenât seen one that even comes close to making sense except for a meta-conspiracy theory: that says that the overwhelming majority of the thousands of channels on the above fringe topics are originated mainly but not exclusively by Russian troll farms.
And no, the Russians didnât originate birtherism. Certain information is assumed. Barack Obama was the 1st President born outside the continental US. The T-Party took care of the rest. Most of it is likely willful ignorance. It is likely Trump didnât actually believe any of the birther crap he spouted. IOW, drumroll, he lied. Can I prove it? No. It was disinformation.
A few months ago Eric Schmidt made a statement mentioning Russian troll farms jamming up the Internet and social media. Probably too diplomatic to say that YT is their main focus. He ran Google and YT.
The reason for making so many of these videos seems to go like this: through shear volume and numbers you can make enough BS videos and comments with a common theme which, despite their shear lunacy, are able to reenforce and multiply existent beliefs and distrust in government and sneak it into the larger culture for big effect. The videos in question are big on CIA MKULTRA COINTELPRO FBI programs which means the videos cherry pick and manipulate paranoia which is mainly aimed at the US.
And to confuse things even more you have an American NSA contractor named Snowden currently living in Russia.
Which means troll teams have enough money to manufacture doubt about everything, distrust in facts, reason and objective reality. While substituting their own when convenient. Also, every good lie has a hint of truth about it. A common formula is to combine lunacy with reasonableness. A common feature with Glenn Beck and right wing preachers on RWW who, for example, read scripture about killing gays but then claim to be too high minded compassionate to advocate doing so outright. Fear and doom coming and going.
You have media friendly psychiatrists who actually get away with saying these videos are by and for ppl with delusional and or paranoia. That sounds reasonable on its surface. Some are. And which therapeutic professional is going to risk saying that most are by ppl who are very sane? By people either imitating psychosis, or very officious with a full bookshelf behind them or with MD scrubbs on Alex Jones talk shows. Are they all working for the Russians? No, theyâre selling books and DVDâs. Theyâre selling disinformation and know it. IOW, lots of ppl are lying. There are ppl who are true believers in false information, ppl who are insane, but IMO 95% of the ppl Iâm talking about are sane liars.
Looking for patterns in lifeâs data is a natural and healthy response.
Unfortunately many people are taking in low quality data from untrustworthy sources and failing to assess the relative relevance of each datum.
- We should be trying to put the pieces together, but we shouldnât be letting Trump Industries or Faux Noise operate the jigsaw.
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Since weâre getting into the semantics of âreactionâ vs. âresponse,â the latter supposedly being what we have control over:
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Are David Icke and Alex Jones relatively crazy, sane or compulsive liars? A little bit of each? Both, unfortunately are probably the opposite of insane. Does saying that say more about me than them? Not at all. Icke was supposed to be psychotic. IMO, that was an act. He does disinformation for a living.
I see what you did there, judgy.
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itâs not at all semantics; people take the effect and make it the cause ALL THE TIME.
