Why is ATS called a "Conspiracy" web site when we mainly conjecture about facts?

I very much enjoy ATS and I sometimes want to tell me friends about it. The problem that I run into is that when I try to tell a friend about it and they hear "conspiracy" I lose some social points. Why is there such a negative connotation associated with the word "conspiracy"?

I wanted to take a stab at it because I think that it is one of the main root causes for why talking about these issues is not as socially acceptable as MTV "reality" shows. Having a background in advertising I know that most people's actions are controlled by one of the two following choices.

1. To avoid pain
2. To gain pleasure

These are the two most common motivators in your life and I could write an entire book about how true this is so please take a second to think about it. I will give you one example that helps explain it to most people. When I smoked I smoked to gain pleasure. When I quit smoking it was to avoid pain (possible death). Many motivational speakers will tell you that these are the root causes of all behavior.

So in keeping this in mind I realized that the reason most people do not want to talk about "conspiracy" subjects is because of a double whammy of "to avoid pain" and a side of "to gain pleasure". Let me explain.

Most of the subjects that we cover on ATS are basically horrible and painful to learn about. (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

Everyone wants to have a good social standing and we risk losing that if we talk about "conspiracy" (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

I can watch a comedy show (Reason 2)- to gain pleasure

If your social life is going good then why take any time to learn about things that will bring you pain? Evolution taught us that avoiding pain and gaining pleasure are both going to give us the best chance of survival and that is why we follow them so closely. Ironically, it may be our demise if we are not careful.

Beyond all of that we have the perception that people who are on sites like this are low in "social standing" and therefore angry because of it.

I guess what is frustrating about this is that most conversations on here are centered around facts and conjecture of possible dangers and ramifications to society. To me, as long as it is talked about without any anger or hate, it is important to be on a site like this. Besides toning down the anger, how can we change the masses perception of what a "Conspiracy site" really is? Or should we just change the name "Conspiracy" to something else that does not have such a negative connotation associated with it?

Well, what can we say? Us conspiracy theorists are masochists. We are gluttons for punishment.

Jokes aside, in actuality, conspiracy theorists are LONG TERM pleasure seekers and pain avoiders. We see the things going on now as pain, and we want to expose the causes of that pain so that in the future we can gain happiness.

People who avoid conspiracy investigation are SHORT TERM pleasure seekers/pain avoiders. They care more for their immediate gratification.

I think our society is lost. Many live in a mindset so out of reality that when someone points out reality they are unable to handle it. I agree people do not wish to discuss many of the issues here because they are hard to accept. For many it is easier to live in a world of shopping, mtv, and self aggrandizement. That is not a bad thing for them it is just where they are. What many do not see is that what they think is good is actually the opposite. People do not understand why they are unhappy, their marriage will not work, or that they never can get enough money to be happy. It is because they have been raised without access to information that there are other ways to live. Many do not wish to address issues on this site because it would involve not only a challenge to their mindset, but could challenge how they live. I think it is painful to live in ignorance, but I can see how ignorance is bliss for many. It is not for us to judge, but only to give a helping hand to those who are wondering why they are unhappy.

reply to post by ProfATS


Because the government makes it so by presenting us with the side that has to disagree with the evidence, especially evidence that can't be debunked. That's the governments way of making disbelievers call the believers crazy, furthermore making all of the population think whoever is into conspiracies is crazy. I've been called crazy and insane on another forum called HaloCharts.com in the Off-Topics section of the Halo video game website for saying UFOs are real and that there is an ET presence already among us ever since the 50's for sure. But of course I get called crazy when I had presented countless evidence of UFOs that continues to baffle scientists and debunkers to this day. I was told that aliens aren't real and UFOs are ALL ours and that we have never been visited EVER. Even the Ancient Alien theory didn't help me wake people up. It's all just down to the day when a UFO invasion happens or the people ripping on me actually experience a UFO doing things our advanced technology of aviation can't even do yet.

I hate this world the government has set up.

I often say this same exact thing. Most of the discussions here are no longer conspiracy. Alot of things are just facts or "hidden in plain sight". There is a wealth of information out there, scientific papers, drug studies, declassified government documents. Often times the conspiracies discussed on here are no longer conspiracies, they may be denied or ignored by the general populace but there is a plethora of information to back-up these theories. A few examples; Big-Pharma, Lobbyists and Corporate corruption, Military weapons/ testing/ human testing. It's all out there for anyone with the mind to go looking for it. Granted there are some out there theories, Time slips, Alien abduction etc which cannot really be proven either way and some wild speculations. As a general rule though, I don't feel that many of the topics here are conspiracy at all, it's a good place to come to discuss said topics openly without ridicule or the mental block that seems to occur in most people when these out of the box subjects come up!

because.... i dont know

reply to post by ProfATS

Most of the subjects that we cover on ATS are basically horrible and painful to learn about. (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

Oh come on now, I read about conspiracies because the unknown and mysterious is more interesting than anything else in my mind (pleasure). Like the possibility of Aliens visiting Earth. Some people are scared of that idea, but I'm drawn to things like that, I find it utterly fascinating. I want to know as much about this reality as I possibly can, whether than means pain or pleasure. Information is my fuel.

Everyone wants to have a good social standing and we risk losing that if we talk about "conspiracy" (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

Pffft, everyone you say? I could care less about my social standing anymore, I'm already a conspiracy freak with few friends that understand me. If they can't appreciate who I am, I don't have the time or will to build some sort of illusionary social standing. But I do want to avoid pain, and that's probably one of the reasons I read about conspiracies. It's a way to find out about potential dangers that most people will be completely oblivious to.

The art of the conspiracy theorist can be marketed when you understand the true beauty of it...or we could just change the name...that always works, people are that simple minded.

Originally posted by WhizPhiz
reply to post by ProfATS

 

Most of the subjects that we cover on ATS are basically horrible and painful to learn about. (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

Oh come on now, I read about conspiracies because the unknown and mysterious is more interesting than anything else in my mind (pleasure). Like the possibility of Aliens visiting Earth. Some people are scared of that idea, but I'm drawn to things like that, I find it utterly fascinating. I want to know as much about this reality as I possibly can, whether than means pain or pleasure. Information is my fuel.

Everyone wants to have a good social standing and we risk losing that if we talk about "conspiracy" (Reason 1)- to avoid pain

Pffft, everyone you say? I could care less about my social standing anymore, I'm already a conspiracy freak with few friends that understand me. If they can't appreciate who I am, I don't have the time or will to build some sort of illusionary social standing. But I do want to avoid pain, and that's probably one of the reasons I read about conspiracies. It's a way to find out about potential dangers that most people will be completely oblivious to.

The art of the conspiracy theorist can be marketed when you understand the true beauty of it...or we could just change the name...that always works, people are that simple minded.

edit on 21-2-2011 by WhizPhiz because: (no reason given)

Thanks for your input WhizPhiz. I agree with you that part of the reason I came on here originally was because of the exciting topics and mystical issues etc. But we are the exception and not the rule. In other words ATS members are the exception and the people that think we are crazy are the rule. You say that you do not care about your social standing and I respect you for that. But most people do care about it and that is where we have a problem. We are never going to beat the social beliefs that people have been taught their entire life, but we can change the perception for them which might be enough to get them to see for themselves what is really going on. The root cause of the problem is what I was trying to get to. I want ATS to be socially acceptable because if that happens the world will be a better place. Would you not agree with me on that?

reply to post by ProfATS

I want ATS to be socially acceptable because if that happens the world will be a better place. Would you not agree with me on that?

Yep, I agree with basically everything you said. But sadly, as you said, we aren't the rule. And a site like ATS will never be socially acceptable until a major shift in global consciousness takes place - which I doubt we really happen any time too soon. Hopefully 2012 will unleash some sort of super-enlightenment event or something...but that's just relying on unlikely possibilities. If people want to step around these important topics due to pain or pleasure, there's not much anyone can do. But I do think more and more people are "waking up" lately.

reply to post by Skate


i think some times other people are right because some times we do not have any proof of what we say

and some time we act like science is not for our enlightenment.

we should analyze whether ' what we are going to say is acceptable by common sense or not.

this is not right to think that every thing issued and discussed in this site is right.

we should refer to our logic. we should not be far from our society and give them the right to

accept or not.

reply to post by mutantgenius


here in this site some fundamentals of conspiracy are discussed

may be some issues are fact from your point of view but others know nothing about that

remember this is international web site and as you see people from different part

of the world are members now.

i think this website has found it's way to go through in comprehensive issue specially

conspiracy theory.

'conspiracy theory' is a propaganda sound byte to STOP certain of the population thinking. Obviously not all cause we are here. So what kind of people does that term affect? I am speculating--I think the ones who will cow tow to authority, and shallow people who just like the instant gratification that the entertainments industry feeds them.

You talke of pain> I was hesitant to watch this video the other day--because I knew it would give me pain (and it did). I wasn't avoiding it because I want to believe this doesn't exist--it is just like looking at mistreatment of animals, of children, of babies DNA damaged by the military use of depleted uranium is VERY painful to see
www.youtube.com... (about TEXACO and their filthy toxic evil doings to babies, adults, all species and nature)

Why is it painful? Well not only the awful experiences that the people and children go through, but the understanding that the 'humans' that DO it CAN do this!! I am SO ashamed that humans can become so dehumanized. But they do. And we have to face it, because they are destroying everything!

So all these people who want it safe and 'painless' better wake the # up, because what happens to these others by this dehumanized mindset is happening to them, and this will become closer to home(it already is)--so WAKE UP!!!

In popular, contemporary usage, the meaning of conspiracy has changed. In linguistics, we call this "semantic shift", where the meaning of a word takes on specified or general aspects of its usage. In history, this has happened more times than can be innumerated here.

For example:

silly - used to mean religious
deer - used to refer to any animal

In this case, the non-conjectural meaning of conspiracy still exists as a technical, higher register word (meaning a word that is not day-to-day, but rather specialized).

The etymology of the word, from Latin, is "breathing (spirare) together (con)", which of course is metaphorical for the idea that a conspiracy requires at least two people "breathing" (which could also be considered as "hoping") together towards the same ends.

So, while we deal with some facts here and some conjecture, a conspiracy is neither naturally false or based on lies nor true or based on fact. Either is possible, it depends on the veracity of the theory and evidence that support it.