Conspiracy theorists

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet and speak with the proprietor of a small Youtube channel. Her goal is to awaken people as to the true nature of reality, and the steps that powerful entities have taken to endanger us. Among those dangers is the COVID jab. So far, so good.

Among the powerful entities are the Bolshevists. No, no, this does not mean all the Jews; rather, she explained, it refers only to the Jews who wear the funny little hats and wear the funny sidecurls. I regret not thinking quickly enough to pull out my funny little hat and asking her if she thought that I was a Bolshevist. She probably does not know that the little-hat people are actually the most anti-Bolshevist.

As a brief aside, I’ve always been fascinated by the way it has always been possible to find anti-Semitism at the apparently opposite extremes: the far left and the kook right; religious fanatics and secular fanatics; capitalist fanatics and communist fanatics.

You may think that my interlocutor had a point and should be heard out. She informed me of the following details of reality.

• The earth is not round. Neither is it completely flat; rather, it is bulb-shaped.

• The sky is a hologram.

• The sun is a hologram.

• The moon has turned upside down within recorded history (but only she noticed it?).

• We are all gods.

• Nevertheless, we are trapped in a simulation created by malevolent beings.

All my studies of logic and philosophy failed me, as I listened to this oracle. Never did I ask the question: how do you know what you claim to know? The answer was clear, however. She explained on one of her videos that people who ask such questions are “haters”. This, despite her condemnation of Anthony Fauci dogmatically imposing his own views.

I generally tend to favor Occam’s razor (properly, Ockham’s razor): do not multiply entities or hypotheses without cause. This should not be carried to an extreme of reductionist materialism. However, the scientific assertions to which most of us give credit can be justified by observation and reason. For example, the earth’s globular shape was realized over 2000 years ago. It can be observed today by anyone standing on a beach watching a ship sail away over the horizon, or by anyone seeing the earth’s uniformly circular shadow cast upon the moon during a lunar eclipse.

In contrast, the oracle’s pronouncements were dogmatic, similar to those found in many religious scriptures. Believe me, or you shall perish.

Another feature we expect in scientific assertions is falsifiability. That is, it must be possible to conduct an experiment, at least in theory, that can support or refute the hypothesis. If the hypothesis cannot be supported or refuted, it is theology and not science.

I felt sad at the end of our discussion, sad to see the profound gulf that lay between people who should be allies. Once you start quoting anti-Semites, that becomes the end of the discussion for me.

My identity is strongly entwined with my desire to learn more, even when those teachings go beyond those of the tradition with which I was raised. At all times, I insist upon my right to ask questions, whether I am questioning Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or any other religion, including atheism; Democrats or Republicans; capitalists or socialists; scientists or oracles. If you tell me that you must not be questioned, that is a red flag for me.

I insist on an examined life based on a combination of faith, reason, and experience.