Indeed, we Americans DO labor under a conspiracy and it is one that I have come to detest with my entire being. When Al Gore advocated for the INTERNET I doubt he anticipated the pedestrian and purient depths that service could fall to. Rather than assist in improving the quality of my life, I am only assailed by increasing amount of marketing, dis-information, mis-information and sensationalism leaving me to shovel through the offal looking for the occasional pony. My time on the INTERNET is now spent seeking out "bandaids (see: "Weaponized", "Ryan McBeth") in the hopes of securing a counter-balance to RUSSIA TODAY schemes and Q-anon ignorance.
That the release of the Epstein Record reveals ANYTHING in its heavily redacted pages affirms to me that this sensationalism is driven more by the advocates for the legal action......Palm Beach Media.......than any supposed search for Truth. IMHO I suspect that the individuals representing themselves as conspiracy theorists are most probably shills for the Media seeking to build subscriptions.
This is, no doubt, a business model for some. While I do think there are some true believers out there who earnestly buy into the conspiracy theories they promote, there is also clearly a sizable number of people who know that what they are selling is bullshit, but are willing to peddle it as long as someone will bite (and pay). There have been times when I have (jokingly) said that I wish I did not have moral convictions or a belief in personal responsibility because it would be so easy to use my knowledge of psychology, communication, and technology to get rich selling people the lies that they want to hear. I could practically write a formula for it at this point.
Indeed, we Americans DO labor under a conspiracy and it is one that I have come to detest with my entire being. When Al Gore advocated for the INTERNET I doubt he anticipated the pedestrian and purient depths that service could fall to. Rather than assist in improving the quality of my life, I am only assailed by increasing amount of marketing, dis-information, mis-information and sensationalism leaving me to shovel through the offal looking for the occasional pony. My time on the INTERNET is now spent seeking out "bandaids (see: "Weaponized", "Ryan McBeth") in the hopes of securing a counter-balance to RUSSIA TODAY schemes and Q-anon ignorance.
That the release of the Epstein Record reveals ANYTHING in its heavily redacted pages affirms to me that this sensationalism is driven more by the advocates for the legal action......Palm Beach Media.......than any supposed search for Truth. IMHO I suspect that the individuals representing themselves as conspiracy theorists are most probably shills for the Media seeking to build subscriptions.
FWIW.
This is, no doubt, a business model for some. While I do think there are some true believers out there who earnestly buy into the conspiracy theories they promote, there is also clearly a sizable number of people who know that what they are selling is bullshit, but are willing to peddle it as long as someone will bite (and pay). There have been times when I have (jokingly) said that I wish I did not have moral convictions or a belief in personal responsibility because it would be so easy to use my knowledge of psychology, communication, and technology to get rich selling people the lies that they want to hear. I could practically write a formula for it at this point.