In years past I used to take sadistic delight in engaging Moonies and Scientologists and other cultists in their pitches.

I would let them go and go to a peak pretending to agree with them and then expose their circular logic and poke holes in it and yank the carpet under them and take them back to peg one.

Then they would launch into their reinforcement doctrine and I would pretend to agree with it until they reached another peak and then I would yank it all away from them again by asking questions their circular logic couldn't answer and exposing the failed thinking they were under.

My personal best record was with a 20 something female Moonie in Bryant Park in N.Y.C. one afternoon I kept her going for 5 hours before she finally burst into tears and accused me of being the anti-Christ and fled on the run.

Any Masons want to play laugh out loud?

It's easy to gain a person's confidence with what appears to be an insiders privileged information.

People are constantly looking for answers to things they don't understand and not just conspiracy theorists.

Whether you are an insider or posing as an insider or telling them the truth or telling them a lie the fact that it's not common knowledge gives it more appeal and value, just as the fact that you aren't a common person but an insider in their eyes as you impart it.

Taking sadistic pleasure in that is just that Skyfloating...taking sadistic pleasure in that.

It proves nothing about the Masons just your own propensity for mental sadism.

I empathize I suffer from the same mirthful propensity for mischief my self!

Conversely it disproves nothing about the Masons.

The important thing friend is if you are happy in your participation in a brotherhood or secret society.

If you feel it enhances the quality of your life then all the more power to you.

You should require no external validation or accolades to enjoy that. Conversely you shouldn't be surprised that people would find something to fear in a secret society as people routinely fear the unknown and since the societies and their activities are a secret that would make them unknown to people not in the society or brotherhood.

Personally I think wanting to make people look silly for that is a silly form of sadism. But hey if you have five hours to kill and delight in screwing with other people's minds all the more power to you friend!




[edit on 1/11/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

I think some folks are missing the point.
Instead of this being solely about the OP or about Masons, Skyfloating is instead pointing out how easy it is to get people to believe fairly ridiculous things. Most of the time these people claim to be hard to fool.

I once "cold read" an ATS member and spooked him quite a bit before pointing out the obvious...

An ATS member was insistent that he was being gang-stalked by Masons. He even believed that any Mason might have access to a dossier on him. Unfortunately for his own paranoia, he'd shared quite a few personal details in other threads on ATS. It was easy to cull from his post list his ethnic origin, occupation, religious beliefs and the town he lived in among other details. Who needs a secret stalking dossier when people are posting their life histories here on ATS?

I made a post in response to one of his stating a hypothetical, but listing all of his personal details in one place. To him, it nailed home the idea that he WAS in fact being stalked. I then quickly pointed to all of the threads he'd posted where I'd gained that information, pointing out that he'd created his own fear.

Months later, he sent me a U2U apologizing for accusing the Masons of harassing him. He still believed someone was, but he admitted he'd been mistaken about who.

Obama is a shapeshifiting grey alien that came to Earth as a fallen Angel of the Lord God. He is now manipulating us and feeding off of our souls via a mass culling on Americans injecting them with swineflu vaccine that contains element 128 (this element attaches to the soul turning the soul into a food source for Obama). Those doing the injecting are machines, look them in the eye and you will see a slight double iris. This was all relayed to me by a man named Gars who is from the year 2042. Gars communicates with me through email using a temporal internet hinged by a multi-dimensional entangled dark matter singularity. There will also be a major attack on a Us city in approximately 5 days so move your family out of Wisconsin asap, get supplies. I've said to much already, God knows what I have just done to the time line but nothing is for certain.

My great grandfather, grandfather, and father are all Freemasons... they always said it was a social club for discussing ideas and eatng alot of egg/chicken salad sandwiches... basically a bunch of old men talking about nothing... kind of like a VFW.

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You know despite his lizard speeches he did play a mean game of soccer.

And honestly, it just sucks when you hear all these things he's saying that can be backed by documents or at least inferred by watching the move towards globalization and then BAM! LIZARD PEOPLE! THE LIZARD PEOPLE DID IT!

I've never had the pleasure of seeing him on the pitch. But it's good to know that not everything he does is as bad as his lizard men ramblings.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
One added thought:

Its strange how those the most afraid of being manipulated are the easiest to manipulate...

Maybe thats because the individuals are aware of how easy it is for them to be manipulated and their own fear of their limitations is what drives them to paranoia. Makes sense really, If you know you cant swim its highly unlike that your going to take up diving or surfing.

Either way i feel for them because at the end of the day they just want something to believe in. If anything i think we as a society need to help them as much as possible. I myself have an open mind to most things but i rarely take things at face value. I am sometimes flabbergasted as to how ready some people are to believe fantastic stories of time travel or alien abduction. Starring and Flagging obviously Hoax threads. Im not saying these topics or ideas are impossible but i require quite a bit of evidence before i commit any belief to the poster claiming these things.

Originally posted by Skyfloating

Originally posted by star in a jar
Why try to trick them and help disinformation or misinformation by misleading them, even if you only did it jokingly.

Yes, its heartless. But it happens, you know. It happens.

A good example is that of musicians deliberately using occult symbols in order to appear mysterious to the public. Often its not like they are members of any secret society or anything, its just cynically used as a marketing-tool.

Do you know this for a fact or is this simply your opinion? If it is a fact could you kindly direct me to said information. Perhaps a secret recorded conversation between studio execs and entertainer detailing the plot to pretend to belong to a secret society to appear more mysterious to their audience. Or even a document detailing the idea?

Just as a side note most kids these days are barely able to tie their shoe laces and would not know esoteric symbology if it slapped them in the face. So artists doing this to appear more mysterious seems almost redundant. BUT thats just my opinion. If anything they would be doing it to impress other artists and business moguls who MIGHT know of such things.

Do you know this for a fact or is this simply your opinion? If it is a fact could you kindly direct me to said information. Perhaps a secret recorded conversation between studio execs and entertainer detailing the plot to pretend to belong to a secret society to appear more mysterious to their audience. Or even a document detailing the idea?

Just as a side note most kids these days are barely able to tie their shoe laces and would not know esoteric symbology if it slapped them in the face. So artists doing this to appear more mysterious seems almost redundant. BUT thats just my opinion. If anything they would be doing it to impress other artists and business moguls who MIGHT know of such things.

Jimmy page practiced paganism and all that hocus pocus witchcraft stuff. Led Zeppelin albums were filled with it, not because they wanted to seem magical or cool, but because they thought it was cool.... I mean hell, didn't Robert Plant write lyrics to a song about a hobbit? I suppose its just things they felt were interesting to write about, practice, or display as art.... and let us not forget all those tales of the bluesmen and the devil. Magic / Myth go hand in hand with the early days of rock n' roll / blues. Blame it on the drugs, blame it on the marketing (that may be a stretch) but yes there is proof, go pick up a Led Zeppelin or (later) Beatles album. Its not nearly as prominent today but the same could be said for satan. Slayer, the metal band who wrote the song, "God Hates Us All" aren't even remotely satanic. Its an image they front to sell records, and that's on record from a VH1 interview. And then look at the Nordic death metal bands who actually take it to heart... they burned down some ancient church that was a historic monument and a singer in one band actually ate someone.... Yes.... ate someone, as in cannibalism. The point of this little ramble is that yes, the occult is used to sell records and yes musicians do it either because that's what they believe or they think is cool OR because they think it will sell records.

Originally posted by RuneSpider
I think some folks are missing the point.
Instead of this being solely about the OP or about Masons, Skyfloating is instead pointing out how easy it is to get people to believe fairly ridiculous things. Most of the time these people claim to be hard to fool.

I do feel the point is mostly missed. It was actually meant to be helpful, to develop a critical eye.

Originally posted by TiM3LoRd
Do you know this for a fact or is this simply your opinion? If it is a fact could you kindly direct me to said information. Perhaps a secret recorded conversation between studio execs and entertainer detailing the plot to pretend to belong to a secret society to appear more mysterious to their audience. Or even a document detailing the idea?

Sorry, no, that was extrapolation on my part. I do know for a fact that many are not as mysterious as they try to appear to be.

I know for a fact that some use certain logos in their company name in the mistaken believe that those symbols have some kind of power in and of themselves.

And Ive seen some do it in the mistaken belief that the "powers that be" will notice and "discover" them, to impress what they think TBTB are like.

Just as a side note most kids these days are barely able to tie their shoe laces and would not know esoteric symbology if it slapped them in the face.

Conspiracy-Theory is already part of pop-culture. Check out the rankings of this website for example. Last I saw its among the 2000 most viewed websites around. Considering there are BILLIONS of websites out there, thats pretty popular.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
In years past I used to take sadistic delight in engaging Moonies and Scientologists and other cultists in their pitches.

Scientologists are fun to tease, I can confirm that. I guess this goes for anyone who takes themselves too seriously. Taking oneself too seriously creates vulnerability...

[edit on 2-11-2009 by Skyfloating]

Thank you for your thread Skyfloating.

See, the thing is, is that I am daily receiving indications that, despite my pain, have taken the moral high road in life. Pain is good when you know you're doing the right thing. Soon it ceases to hurt, then transmutes to ecstacy.

I will leave deceit to the aspiring demons. They will find their way sooner or later, realizing the place for they strove through sacrifice was merely a lie sold to them for their willingness to provide nutrition. In the end they get nothing but used and used up. Only then can they really climb the ladder.

To answer your inquiries:

• Suckering paranoids requires no deliberate action; they sucker themselves. So, I cannot say for sure if I have not. I can say I haven't exerted willful effort.
  
• I am far too paranoid to take anything too seriously, beyond a "try it before you buy it" period.