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Friday, February 25, 2011

Mwa, mwa-mwa, mwa

Remember the way Charlie Brown and his friends heard the voices of adults? That nasally mwa, mwa, mwa that seemed to suggest that adult voices don't always penetrate the world of childhood?

Often, when trying to talk with someone about conspiracy history, I find myself looking into glazed eyes and realize that what I am saying sounds so foreign and unreal to my listener, that I may as well be saying, "Mwa, mwa-mwa, mwa mwa."

Conspiracy history is no less a subject of study than mathematics, world government or religion. As it takes years of study, precept on precept, to learn and understand the processes of arithmetic, so it takes years of study to learn and understand all the intrigues of conspiracy history.

Each discipline has its own vocabulary. In fact, if you master the vocabulary, you are well on your way to understanding the subject being studied. And we all know too well that the only way to really learn and master a subject is through memorization and repetition. It isn't enough to just read the facts once, and perhaps take notes, or even write a paper. This is cursory learning at best. To become conversant about a topic, you must master the material.

Conspiracy history is not normally part of one's formative education. Typically, one gets inaugurated as a young adult; perhaps while still in college or soon after one turns voting age and gets interested in politics. Conspiracy history is what one learns in their spare time between making an income and having a life. And there is no one tell-all text book for conspiracy history like there is for American history or biology. Publishers are not eager to market books on conspiracy history. Authors of conspiracy history are often humiliated and scorned. Students of conspiracy history are stymied at every turn and must be diligent in their search for knowledge.

Conspiracy history is not learned in a day, a week, or even a year. To learn conspiracy history means to unlearn as much as your are learning. It will change the way you view the world. And this unlearning and change do not happen all at once, nor easily. It is not easy to give up foundational beliefs and have your conventional thinking stood on its head. It takes time for beliefs to change; to learn a new way to think using a new vocabulary and ideas. It is hard to be understood by others because what you are saying can hardly be understood by you until you have lived with the ideas for a while and absolutely accept them as truth. You will convince no one of the truth of conspiracy history until you are totally convinced and believe what you are saying.

My point is that students of conspiracy history should resist the urge to engage others in a lengthy discussion, or especially a debate, of conspiracy theories until they have a good understanding of all of the over-arching facts. While it is necessary to the learning process that you do rehearse these new ideas, in bits, by speaking them, be wise in picking your target audience and share only as long as they are willing. Don't insist and don't argue. You will know when you are being understood: you will see by the expression on the listener's face that what is being heard is not, "Mwa, mwa-mwa, mwa mwa".

1 comment:

Niki Raapana said...

Very well put.

Trying to talk to everyone we know about what we have learned is the most common mistake made by those who stumble upon the conspiracy. Personally I went even further.. wrote letters to the newspapers and printed flyers to pass out at public events, all very useless endeavors and humiliating to say the least.

My awakening to the plan was too sudden and unexpected, and I reacted as if I had been punched in the gut. I've also found it's healthy to step back and digest what we learn, another mistake I made was reading day and night until I looked and felt like I'd been hit by a train.