Conspiracy theories grow when everybody’s lying all the time

There are some issues where it’s understood that people will lie. If you’re having a surprise birthday party, you might have to lie, and nobody thinks you’re a bad person for it.

Unfortunately, the scope of things we expect people to lie about is getting broader and broader. We’ve essentially given up on expecting politicians to tell the truth, and it looks like the news is next. There are also certain issues about which you can never believe anything.

Does hydroxy-whatever work? How could you know, one way or the other? People who say it works are accused of being Trump supporters, and people who hate Trump insist it doesn’t work.

Do the police disproportionately target blacks? How can you know? If you say that they don’t (as Heather MacDonald says) you get blacklisted.

Are children better off at home with mom or in daycare? Who’s willing to tell the truth and make the feminists mad?

Did Trump approve of a supporter calling Obama a monkey? Who’s to say? Some say yes, some say no.

This is, IMO, precisely why conspiracy theories grow. We all know perfectly well that there are lots of topics where people won’t tell the truth. It’s a small step from “they won’t tell the truth about [race / sex / Obama / Trump / the protests]” to “they won’t tell the truth about [Pizzagate / the “real” agenda with COVID / ….].”

If you don’t think there’s a liberal bias in most of the news media …

… you need to have your head examined.

Some pro-life demonstrators were outside an abortion clinic. A man pulled a handgun on them.

The Associated Press originally reported this as “Delaware police arrest man with gun at Planned Parenthood.”

They have since corrected the headline to “Delaware man charged with pulling gun on abortion opponents.”

Eco Religion – Shellenberger and Shermer

P&C review Pastryarchy #12 — Belgian Waffle Cone flavored Imperial Brown Ale from Du Claw brewery — then discuss the connections between environmentalism and religion.

The boys recently listened to a Michael Shermer interview of Michael Shellenberger re: his book, Apocalypse Never.

Shellenberger is an environmentalist, but of a different stripe. He’s not a catastrophist.

He also raises the legit question, has environmentalism taken the place of God in modern culture?

Religion and environmentalism hold this in common: As a result of man’s actions there’s judgment coming to us all and we need salvation. But is that from Jesus, or from recycling?