That's right. It's 2015, and that is a true statement. Is this real life? Unfortunately, yes.
This topic comes to me from fellow LaSalle High alum Erik Anderson. Thanks for the topic, Erik! I'm just sorry that it is one.
I've talked recently about the denial of climate change, but aside from the people denying that, there are other people--sometimes the same people--that root their ideas in conspiracy theories. It's kind of funny, actually, that most of the people who I have seen that do not believe in climate change are also the people that believe in all these ridiculous and baseless conspiracy theories, but I digress...
Science and mathematics denial is a different kind of crazy. No, I'm not talking about 1+1 = 2. Thankfully there aren't a lot of people that disagree with that. But when equations start having radicals, exponents, and variables that they've never seen before, some people start to look elsewhere for information. So, first off, we need to examine why people do this, before I explain why it's no good.
There are plenty of psychological explanations for certain behaviors. The internet breads a new variety of human through fear. In fact, it's a lot like brainwashing.
When we were in school--ya know, that place where we went to learn things and obtain knowledge--we were constantly taught from the beginning of internet usage to cite .edu, .org, and .gov. Not all of these domains automatically means that the information on these cites is 100% undeniably true. But, what it does mean is that it's not being funded by commercial entities. Yes, I admit that .gov is sort of a commercial entity, and I can definitely see anyone's skepticism in constantly using a .gov when our own congress/senate/etc. is trying to hide things from us all the time. However, what I can tell you is that more often than not, these domains are considerably better than .coms. Dot coms are funded by commercial entities of all kinds. Like Burger King. Are you seriously going to believe a site funded by Burger King?
I'm not going to completely deny the possibility of aliens. I don't know if they are real. I also don't know if they're not real. This is an open-minded train of thinking. The unknown should create a kind of skepticism that searches for the undeniable truth. With that said, if I found a .com that talked about aliens invading us from all parts of the world, I would first look outside. Here's what I wouldn't do: Automatically make an aluminum hat and go hide in a bomb shelter.
See the difference?
Side note: even if I saw aliens outside, I would first check to make sure that I am void of any diseases that breed hallucinations like Alzheimer's, etc. I know that a lot of people are not so quick to believe that their ridiculous point of view is a problem. No matter how ridiculous their proposed "solution," they swear it's the only way to solve a problem. These people need to be avoided, because these people are closed minded. Even in math, there is no such thing as "1 way or nothing." For example, I can get to "2" a few different ways: 1+1, 2+0, 4-2, 4/2, 1*2, I don't need to keep going, do I?
The old adage "seeing is believing" has some root in science. People did this thing called the Scientific Method where a set of steps are taken beginning with a hypothesis and ending with a conclusion based on certain experiments. The experimenters or scientists make conclusions off of what they see from the experiments. They log their information, and then send the same test to different scientists. If those scientists come up with the same result using the same measurements, quantities, etc., then the conclusion of those experiments are given this term that we hear a lot: Fact. Therefore, "facts" are born from science in a lot of ways.
Fear breeds ignorance. Businesses know this. People who like manipulating facts along with other people also know this. There are people who justify their points of view with YouTube videos as opposed to peer reviewed journals. These YouTube videos that lead people to believe that there are certain "facts" are clandestine. In other words, "kept secret from us." These videos and articles make people believe that the government and other special forces are keeping this information from us so we don't go berserk. As far as the alien thing goes, who the hell knows? It could be true? Maybe our government and other governments are secret little shits that don't want us to believe that aliens are real? Again, that's an open-minded perspective. I'm NOT saying that I watched a video and automatically believed that aliens are real. Again, see the difference?
Along with science and mathematics deniers, the conspiracy theorists are the worst. These people I can NOT stand. The people who believe that the U.S. govt. had something to do with 9/11, the Boston Bombings, and the facts are not good enough for them. These are the people that can't live without being in fear, so they find articles and faux information to make them more fearful based on their own preconceived biases/ideas/understandings. Action movies corrupt the malleable mind. Those movies that hint on conspiracies like in National Treasure about the Illuminati. The Illuminati were a real group of people that did real things, just not the things that people believe they did--like creating some grand puzzle to find some grand treasure. It is hard for these kinds of people to separate fact from fiction. Side note: skepticism is a great thing to have. Skepticism keeps everyone in check, and there are A LOT of things to be skeptical about. However, here's a brief analogy of the kind of WRONG skepticism that I'm seeing more of:
You can't see the other part of the conversation, and actually this is not mine, this came directly from Erik and people that he has been running into that are denying science and using "conspiracy" and "truth" to mean the same thing, but I think I can take a guess how it went approximately:
Erik: 1+1 = 2
Conspiracy theorist: No, it's 7 *link to YouTube video defining 1+1 equaling 7*
Erik: Uhh, no. That doesn't make any sense. 1+1 has always equaled 2. *link to peer reviewed educational article explaining that 1+1=2*
CT: Oh, yeah? Then how come they say 4-2 equals 2? Huh? Explain that!Erik: Well, uhh, math. Math explains that. School. If you went to grade school, grade school teachers explain that.
CT: You just don't understand! How can you believe what these crazy people tell you! They're hiding the truth! 1+1 equals SEVEEEEENNN!!! Also, aliens.
Now, if I heard that aliens are real from a well-known Astronomer such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, then my ears would perk up, and I'd say, "Whaaaaaa?!?!" Because if HE'S saying it, then it most surely is true. At the very least, I'd be considerably more inclined to believe him than anyone else on the matter. Scientists are these people that want to tell EVERYONE about their new discoveries. We would have heard about new findings--and we actually do hear about new findings each day about new species being discovered, potential life on a moon of Saturn, etc.--if any of these accusations were true.
I encourage all of you to use science and mathematics to your favor! Be skeptical! Skeptical is good. Skeptical allowed Jack Andraka--that super smart boy genius I wrote about in a previous post--to create a simple, fast, and inexpensive way to detect certain cancers. But he used previously known facts about math and science to create a different perspective. He didn't just go, "Gee, whiz, I'm pretty sure this thingy will work."
Ultimately, it's good to be skeptical, but don't deny scientific and mathematical facts, please? Also, stop thinking that the world is out to get you. That's how these ridiculous conspiracy theories are created. Until I see something creditable, i.e. Eric Snowden debunking a slew of govt secrets, then I'm not going to believe these strange conspiracies. Speaking of which, for all the "the media is hiding things from you because the govt told them to" people, why would have we even heard about Snowden, Chelsea Manning, etc. over the years?
- PatInTheHat
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