Seriously though you see so many ânormalâ people doing them that itâs amazing. Facebook is infested with it.
I donât believe theyâre all spies, but the tactics do look pretty obvious when pointed out, because itâs stuff weâve all seen.
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Mate, I am so sorry to hear that. When I could be arsed taking the flak, I just got it from a group of mostly four people on a Saints forum. I could switch that off, at least.
For me, the contents of your own head are the only true freedom anyoneâs got. That is why it always amazed me that so many people were enraged that Iâd think anything different.
My experience was pretty bad but it did help to separate those with an open mind with those that are completely closed and despite being mobbed, I never lost my ability to speak back.
That sounds fucking awful. Once again, gutted you had to go through it.
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Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. Thereâs not alot of winning outside of âthe majorityâ and as you rightly point out, your mind is the only true freedoom.
The best I can can describe it is itâs like Kenau Reeves in Dracula when heâs being laid low by the female vampires in a hazy fog. Just not as much fun nor with any sex
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The old maxim is:-
Itâs easier to fool someone than convince them theyâve been fooled.
Itâs even truer today.
Thatâs because convincing someone theyâve been fooled involves getting them to acknowledge they were wrong in the first place.
And in an age where everybody has to be right, how hard is that?
And thatâs the failure of society. You can almost argue that we have been directed by a group of interested parties to act, think and repeat a specific set of values in some sort of echo chamber. Individually we have to come to a conclusion if this is ok.
I literall have less than zero time for anyone who opening line of a counter argument contains an attempt to stifle them with a âtermâ
I have been a crap forum debater for many years and I donât intend to change any time soon!
When I think back to my âgeneral educationâ, it wasnât very general. Donât get me wrong, one of the best times of my life, but if the aim of school is to prepare you for life, it does a shit job.
Unless youâre doing a specific course, you get none of the information you need to make financial decisions and none of the information you need to make full agency of the political system.
I only found out how voting actually worked during A level Politics. No-one ever taught me about financial stuff, something that still isnât addressed now.
If reading wasnât so essential to performing work tasks and paying those financial costs you were never taught about, I doubt weâd be taught it.
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The simplest, most astonishing change in becoming an expat was seeing âThe Newsâ from completely different sources.
A prime example was an American -Office based - Rhode Island. Great lad.
Came to Dubai read the local paper reporting on âsome sh1tâ that had happened in Palestine.
And he was astonished that had happened. He truly had never read anything other than Pro-Israeli US News.
So I am no conspiracy theorist, I just am just sceptical of âthe factsâ as @Sadoldgit restates them.
On this thread he has (and this is no criticism) actually proven to be the perfect example of a âLittle Englanderâ as I label them (or âMy Mumâ). He has his opinion. That is fine. But equally he simply fails to even see ANY possible gap in that opinion.
This isnât about changing minds, it is simply about accepting more than you read and âhaving an open mindâ
I quoted Lord Stevens enquiry simply because we have all seen the WMD/Iraq inquiry, we have all seen the Dr David Kelly inquiry and we will all see the PPE inquiry. Noneof that makes me go round INSISTING to everyone that Diana was silenced. It makes me go round THINKING she probably was.
And no, it did not need to be a perfect âHitâ. It could have been a moment of opportunity. It didnât need to be âorderedâ by âThe Palaceâ - ANYONE who thinks that has never watched a movie FFS or even some old Shakespeare plays âwho will rid me of this despairâ type stuff.
Living in a world of cemented opnions is everyonesâ right. But to then disparage everyone elseâs opinions to make them the same as your own. Thatâs just sad.
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Agree Phil, though have this slant on it.
If you take an opionion two individuals can be polar opposites on it.
The open minded would enourage people into the grey where you can talk, debate and vent but in the end you should be able to return to your opionion with at least points that challenge your core beliefs.
The next stage is where we find the name calling, defensiveness and vindictiveness.
If you return to your corner having just attacked the opinion for no other reason than not working through the new information screaming âNut caseâ or âConspiricy Theoristâ, they are in my opinion well trapped without true freedom.
As @pap said, true freedom is not found in numbers, true freedom is piece of mind and thankfully, that I have
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And again no ACTUAL criticism of Little Englanders by me. I know how lucky I have been to be able to see more.
I come back to my Epiphany in Pakistan. 1 partner all glass offices & fountains & flags. Other partner paying his IT sales guys $100 a month.
Glass offices taking me to Salt n Pepper restaurant in Lahore where they asked me to sign their guest book right under Diana. The other guy taking me to a Soup kitchen in Lahore for homeless heroin addicts.
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Sliding doors hey.
Moments in life are all cherishable if you let them be.
One dayâs theorist could be tommorows prophet if we all could just quiet our minds and actively listen
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I donât see the word theorist as perjorative. We have the Big Bang Theory, the Theory of Evolution. The only difference between fact and theory is that one is tried, tested and proven.
I could have sworn evolution was something more substantiated than just a theory by now. Creationists aside of course.
I donât think I have presented anything as a fact where it hasnât been established as such? I have expressed opinions about things that have been presented as facts. For example Al Fayed presented a number of things as factual when they have not been proven and there is little to substantiate his claims, often the opposite. The inquest did not conclude that Diana was murdered. It laid the blame on Henri Paul being drunk and driving dangerously and the harassment from the paps. This version of events has been supported by some subsequent independent investigations. Perhaps it is all a big cover up and perhaps she was murdered, but I havenât seen anything to substantiate that so I canât post anything supporting that position.
Perhaps they should stop calling it a theory then?
Lol.
IF you knew the full AL Fayed story (Dubai World Trade Centre) you would NEVER confuse him with stating facts! 
My point exactly!
Circular argument.
That you actually help to bring back to front. When expressing doubt in the âfactsâ you look at every possible angle. You donât need to make them some corner stone of a belief, just think hmmm.
Al Fayed is a person that âinterestsâ would have wanted to âkeep downâ. I am not stating âDiana WAS silencedâ because of him, simply it is yet another possibility to add into a mix of unknown facts.
Perhaps but they also interchangeably just call it evolution.
I reckon a lot more critical analysis has gone in to and documented evidence been unearthed (fossil pun intended) about evolution than some of these closed case, donât dare debate them, world events.
So perhaps whilst there exists any degree of doubt we should refer to everything as just theories. Like the âOfficial Theory of Princess Dianaâs deathâ?
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