I love talking conspiracy stuff. Granted, if you've ready any of my posts on the subject, I don't tend to take them seriously. However, I do keep an open mind about it. One of my friends has gotten deep into the conspiracy lore. He's so deep, he can't see anything but conspiracies. I'd love to talk about it with him but I can't, nobody can, because he's developed a sort of righteousness usually seen in the fundamentally religious. In point of fact, he is fundamentally religious. His religion is conspiracy.
The problem is that he continually wants to discuss his views. The discussion wouldn't be a problem if it were actually a discussion. What it is, in reality, is sermonizing. If anyone disagrees, he condemns not just their point-of-view but the person stating them, committing the classic ad-hominem fallacy in the process.
To me, this is a severe problem. I'm all for discussing, arguing, verbally battling, the whole nine-yards but the contest should never spill over into attacks on the combatants. It crosses the line.
So what's happened? Our resident preacher of doom posts yet another indictment of the world at large. No one responds because he has made it so fruitless to do so. He then attacks everyone for not posting responses. Let's see: we're all ignorant, delusional, blind, etc. etc. He, of course, is the great educator, come to save us, to show us the light. He's just so wonderful, you see, we just can't see it. Or something.
I guess what I'm talking around and around is this: we all believe some things that are our own, some "normal" by societal standards, some not. I'm not trying to judge the quality of his beliefs. However, he is. And given the nature of his beliefs, he has an incredible lack of empathy for those of us who choose not to join him on his run down the rabbit hole. He expects us to follow him for no other reason then, ultimately, because he says so. For someone who claims to be enlightened, it's not a very enlightened or mature attitude.
I love talking. I love arguing. I love discussing. But they all require multiple players. Our man in the dark side prefers to play alone. That's a one way street I do not prefer to follow him down. Judging from everyone else's responses (or lack thereof), no one else seems keen to follow him either.
|