What do truthers do for a living?

[aggle-rithm]

Many times on these fora we have joked about truthers living in their parents' garage and never having done anything worthwhile in their lives. However, I know for a fact that there are truthers who are gainfully employed, even in professional positions requiring a great deal of skill.

So, I was wondering what sort of mix of careers we have with our truthers here.

I'll be honest: I think that truthers are delusional in their beliefs about political and social realities. However, very few careers require people to be realistic in these specific areas.

Also, I have no desire to humiliate any of you or use knowledge of your occupation against you in any arguments outside this thread. A person's career is irrelevent to the quality of his arguments, good or bad. I am just interested in knowing more about the mindset of conspiracy theorists.

So how about it?

(PS -- I won't ask any of you not to lie or exaggerate about what you do for a living, because I'm sure that's unnecessary!)

[vanillabear]

My sister is a truther, albeit a recent one. She works for a large oil company (irony?) in IT. She has been roped into all the standard paranoid conspiracy theorist woo (NWO/Illuminati, Chemtrails, Flouride conspiracies, Anti vax...there really isn't much that she *won’t* believe!)

[TheDoLittle]

I only personally know two truthers... one of whom is gainfully employed as a part-time janitor and part-time pizza delivery. The other owns his own business as a piano tuner and organ restorer (he actually makes quite a nice paycheck out of it).

OTOH, I think he might be coming towards to light about 9/11. Instead of thinking Bush and the Illumanati were behind the attacks, he thinks it was all singularly Dick Cheney's plan and implementation.

[Foolmewunz]

I think most of them are with the NSA, Navy Seals, Special Forces, and hush-hush think tanks.

[Alareth]

My observation, and I've mentioned it be fore, is that a large (apparent) number of them seem to be involved with music.

Ace is obvious, but many bill themselves as DJ's.

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?

[Horatius]

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?



Have you ever watched the mass tryout episodes of shows like American Idol?

[aggle-rithm]

My observation, and I've mentioned it be fore, is that a large (apparent) number of them seem to be involved with music.

Ace is obvious, but many bill themselves as DJ's.

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?

When I majored in music, I got the impression that musicians were the most "normal" of the Fine Arts majors. Art majors seemed a little weird to me, and don't even get me started on the Drama people.

[Cuddles]

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?

I think it's the other way around - the delusional mindset contributes to people's beliefs that they are musical or artistic. Seriously people, if you're genuinely tone deaf, we'll believe you. You don't need to be broadcast on national TV to prove it to us.

[vanillabear]

When I majored in music, I got the impression that musicians were the most "normal" of the Fine Arts majors. Art majors seemed a little weird to me, and don't even get me started on the Drama people.

I don't think we are talking about the kind of musicians who have majored in music :)

[TheDoLittle]

Have you ever watched the mass tryout episodes of shows like American Idol?

I miss Sex (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g49cVjOZkPE).

[dudalb]

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?

Yeah,and the most common delusion is that one has musical or artistic talent when one does not.

[G-K-4]

So, I was wondering what sort of mix of careers we have with our truthers here.
I'm not a truther, but I know one person who is getting deeper into 9/11 conspiracism despite my best efforts. He's an electrical engineer. (He also likes music, but then who doesn't?)

I know someone else whom I nudged away from 9/11 conspiracism, and who now works at a homeless shelter. (He's not homeless himself, he just works there.) That's not as well-paying as electrical engineering, so there you have one data point against the idea that middle-class (or potentially middle-class) white collar professionals would reject conspiracism and vice versa. It's more complicated than that. Don't forget the idea that many "smart" people believe they're too smart to be fooled, a phenomenon that seems to happen in certain demographic groups with regard to vaccines.

There are also a couple of students of my acquaintance who are into Alex Jones. I don't know if they have jobs outside of school, or what their majors are.

[Redtail]

When I majored in music, I got the impression that musicians were the most "normal" of the Fine Arts majors. Art majors seemed a little weird to me, and don't even get me started on the Drama people.


One of myy favorite parts of grad school was messing with the music majors about "Suzuki Technique".:D

As for a drama/truther connections, I remember one young lady who was into it but I chalked it up to her extreme hatred of Bush... At least I haven't received any "OMGZ LOOK @ THIS!!! INSIDE JOB!!!!" emails since last Nov.

[Eddie Dane]

I miss Sex (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g49cVjOZkPE).

Gee, thanks for that.

Do you have any tips on how I can erase that from my neocortex without using a shotgun?

[Eddie Dane]

Many times on these fora we have joked about truthers living in their parents' garage and never having done anything worthwhile in their lives. However, I know for a fact that there are truthers who are gainfully employed, even in professional positions requiring a great deal of skill.

So, I was wondering what sort of mix of careers we have with our truthers here.

I'll be honest: I think that truthers are delusional in their beliefs about political and social realities. However, very few careers require people to be realistic in these specific areas.

Also, I have no desire to humiliate any of you or use knowledge of your occupation against you in any arguments outside this thread. A person's career is irrelevent to the quality of his arguments, good or bad. I am just interested in knowing more about the mindset of conspiracy theorists.

So how about it?

(PS -- I won't ask any of you not to lie or exaggerate about what you do for a living, because I'm sure that's unnecessary!)

I had been thinking about starting a thread just like this, but with a slightly different angle.

Last year I made a catalogue for fashion items. I did this with the company that produces the items, a graphic designer and a printer.

Although making such an item seems pretty straightforward, we encountered numerous problems. Lots of little details like the changing laws, changes in collection, changing article numbers etc etc. etc. (It is a very successful project BTW)

halfway through I started to wonder: 'do truthers have jobs?' as in, do they ever have to get a bunch of complicated stuff done by a certain deadline?

And for arguments sake I'm leaving the whole secrecy thing out of the equation.

If getting 2000 books with pictures and numbers to 2000 shops is this much work and has so many hurldes, what would it take to pull off a 9--11 inside job?

I suspect very few truthers do anything in the way of management.

[vanillabear]

If getting 2000 books with pictures and numbers to 2000 shops is this much work and has so many hurldes, what would it take to pull off a 9--11 inside job?

I suspect very few truthers do anything in the way of management.

I couldn't agree more. The sheer logistics of an operation like many of the conspiracy theories makes the mind boggle.

[TheDoLittle]

Gee, thanks for that.

Do you have any tips on how I can erase that from my neocortex without using a shotgun?

Yes, but it would require a howitzer.

[TheDoLittle]

I suspect very few truthers do anything in the way of management.

No, because once you're in management, you automatically become a shill for the Illumnati, Freemasons, Zionists, etc.

[Thunder]

I only know one semi-truther. He is unemployed and has a huge fetish for Oriental women. Lives in his mother's basement in St. Louis. He really has no plan for his life.

[Justin39640]

I know a few
the best one is a bunch of my friends had a band
if you've been in a band you know how hard it is to find a singer that fits

so along comes this guy
hes like a rap/rock guy and he sounds good with band

so before anyone realized (cause they were way too stoned) he had transformed them into a conspiracy band

the guy got really involved in the truth movement and it was a downward spiral from there

heres a sampling: http://www.purevolume.com/clarityny

they got a review once that said they had a lot of potential musically but the lyrical content killed any chance of mainstream success

[Justin39640]

o and just a few weeks ago
I found out that one of my long time buddies that I play poker with almost every week is a "truther"
my other friend was on the fence who brought it up (they work together and I hadn't seen the other guy in a while)
the on the fence guy goes "I'm not sure about 911 after all the stuff L.. tells us about at work"
im like what stuff
"like the pentagon stuff that there wanst a 757"

I whip out my blackberry punch up aerospaceweb and hand it to him
2 minutes later he hands it back and goes
"OK, L.. you're ....ing crazy that was a 757"

my conspiracy friend makes a decent living
lives alone
not exactly what you would call a lady killer lol :gasp:

[JihadJane]

I am the Prime Minister of France.

[aggle-rithm]

I am the Prime Minister of France.

Explains a lot.

[Solus]

They work at the same place I do... :covereyes

[Whiplash]

I've mentioned a few times now a friend of mine who is falling deeper and deeper into 9-11 nutjob stuff. He is fairly much a "truther" now. He doesn't believe anything I tell him or show him. Yet he accepts Alex Jones videos at face value, without hesitation. It's clearly a case of someone who is willing to suspend disbelief when it comes to things that fit into his idea of what the world really is, but only for those areas. Anything else is suspect.

But to answer the OP's question, he drives a truck. 6 days a week, long shifts. Night time. So ya, you can guess the next part. Lots of Coast to Coast AM (although lately he's been saying more about Michael Savage). He is in his late 30's, and single, living with his sister. For his age, he's still a big kid. Spends all his free time on XBOX Live. He doesn't web browse much at all. He just watches these videos that other friends send him. That's his main source of "truth". Alex Jones videos.

Edit: Removed alot that is not important, may end up getting back to him or help identify him to some. Frankly, I'm just carrying my personal grudge with him into the forums. I shouldn't.

[Klimax]

I only know one semi-truther. He is unemployed and has a huge fetish for Oriental women. Lives in his mother's basement in St. Louis. He really has no plan for his life.

This is almost archetype of truther!

Explains a lot.

We are fortunately not close to them...

As for truther I knwo, he is software developer and owner of small company and student of physics.Libertarian.

[antennafarm]

this quote comes to mind:

"MOM... where's my OATMEAL?!"

[Elizabeth I]

My observation, and I've mentioned it be fore, is that a large (apparent) number of them seem to be involved with music.

Ace is obvious, but many bill themselves as DJ's.

Is there something in the musical/artistic mindset that contributes to delusional beliefs?

Being a "DJ" is a lot like being a "writer". You can say you're a writer without ever writing anything. You can be a DJ waiting for gigs without ever having to plug in the turntable.

[aggle-rithm]

Being a "DJ" is a lot like being a "writer". You can say you're a writer without ever writing anything. You can be a DJ waiting for gigs without ever having to plug in the turntable.


The same works for "producer", "director", "actor"...

[aggle-rithm]

I'm a little disappointed that no truthers are forthcoming about their occupations. Probably has something to do with their suspicious nature.

One thing I've noticed is that truthers often identify with what they "used to do" for a living. "I used to be an architect", "I used to be an electrical engineer", are some of the claims I've heard. Strangely, they are describing careers, not occupations. To say that one is a "former architect" seems to imply that he has lost the training he once had.

Which probably explains why he was unable to demonstrate a single engineering calculation.

[Mr.D]

Being a "DJ" is a lot like being a "writer". You can say you're a writer without ever writing anything. You can be a DJ waiting for gigs without ever having to plug in the turntable.

To be fair, I've known a few people who call themselves DJs. At least two make a good living doing it as part of their business (Music shop owner and Entertainment manager respectively)

But the "full time" DJ's always seem to be traveling from city to city sleeping on someone's couch and have nothing but free time during the day.

[siddhigyrl]

My mom's a truther. She's an RN. Cannot be convinced that the DVC is a work of fiction. Another person very close to me is, I'd say, a 3/4 truther, and he works for a branch of the military -- handling billions of $$ daily.

This is my first foray into the CT threads. I'm fearful...

[Sabrina]

I miss Sex (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g49cVjOZkPE).

They actually let him try the choreography this year, because Nigel was tired of telling him he couldn't dance over and over again and hoped that might wake him up a bit.

Didn't work, far as I can tell.

[Dog Town]

Another person very close to me is, I'd say, a 3/4 truther, and he works for a branch of the military -- handling billions of $$ daily.


Considering the entire Pentagon budget is less than 800 billion, that would be quite a feat on a daily basis, for a person in one branch of service. Care to elaborate?

[JihadJane]

Considering the entire Pentagon budget is less than 800 billion, ...

...not counting the odd trillion that may go astray from time to time.

[Dog Town]

...not counting the odd trillion that may go astray from time to time.

You can't really be ignorant of this, you are just perpetrating a lie, at this point. So sad!

[dudalb]

I think a lot of truthers have a job that involves saying "Would you like Fries with that? " a lot.

[JihadJane]

I think a lot of truthers have a job that involves saying "Would you like Fries with that? " a lot.

Thanks for your thought. Is it related to the real world in any way?

[jakesteele]

Since there are Truthers on both sides of the fence I would say that the entire spectrum of livelihoods is pretty much covered.

Truthers on the skeptic side are absolutely positive they know the truth, so therefore they are as much a Truther as a conspiracy inclined person who is positive they know the truth. It's like they are sides of the same coin.

[aggle-rithm]

Thanks for your thought. Is it related to the real world in any way?

Maybe not, but at least it's on topic, which is more than I can say for you.

[aggle-rithm]

Since there are Truthers on both sides of the fence I would say that the entire spectrum of livelihoods is pretty much covered.

Truthers on the skeptic side are absolutely positive they know the truth, so therefore they are as much a Truther as a conspiracy inclined person who is positive they know the truth. It's like they are sides of the same coin.

Well, then we need to define our terms. "Truther" is the extremely ironic name that 9/11 conspiracy theorists use to describe themselves. I am very grateful that they gave themselves a catchy moniker, because it gets old saying "conspiracy theorist" all the time.

And it doesn't help to say "CT", because that could stand for either "conspiracy theorist" or "conspiracy theory" or even "catfish talisman".

[Cl1mh4224rd]

Since there are Truthers on both sides of the fence I would say that the entire spectrum of livelihoods is pretty much covered.

Truthers on the skeptic side are absolutely positive they know the truth, so therefore they are as much a Truther as a conspiracy inclined person who is positive they know the truth. It's like they are sides of the same coin.


Huh... I guess it must be a simple misunderstanding, then, that when you search for the word "truther" on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truther), it takes you to the "9/11 Truth Movement" article.

Also that the top 3 entries for "truther" on Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=truther) refer to the 9/11 Truth Movement.

And it doesn't help to say "CT", because that could stand for either "conspiracy theorist" or "conspiracy theory" or even "catfish talisman".


Or Connecticut.

[Whiplash]

Or Complete Tools.

[Klimax]

Or Complete Tools.

That does apply as well ,doesn't it.

[jakesteele]

Huh... I guess it must be a simple misunderstanding, then, that when you search for the word "truther" on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truther), it takes you to the "9/11 Truth Movement" article.

[QUOTE]Also that the top 3 entries for "truther" on Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=truther) refer to the 9/11 Truth Movement.


Yeah, my mistake. Replace 'truther' with "true believer".

[JihadJane]

Or Cognitive Therapists.

[jakesteele]

crazy twits

[TheWhitePhoenix]

I know a truther who claims to be married to a freemason. They are always arguing because she is uncontrollable. On a family picnic she saw two crosslines in the sky and said "oh my god..chemtrails" she packed up the picnic, told the kids we have to go home right away or we will be sprayed with drugs the government is etc.... she even told her daughter that people were watching her in the bathtub. Kid is only 7 years old...it is so sad. People like that should be locked away for "re-education" but then that would only prove her right.

[Axiom_Blade]

I know a truther who claims to be married to a freemason. They are always arguing because she is uncontrollable. On a family picnic she saw two crosslines in the sky and said "oh my god..chemtrails" she packed up the picnic, told the kids we have to go home right away or we will be sprayed with drugs the government is etc.... she even told her daughter that people were watching her in the bathtub. Kid is only 7 years old...it is so sad. People like that should be locked away for "re-education" but then that would only prove her right.

Yes, it's sad for the kid, but I can't help thinking...This would make a fantastic sitcom.

[JihadJane]

Critical Thinkers?

[aggle-rithm]

Critical Thinkers?

Perhaps you should start your own thread called "Short, Cryptic, Irrelevant Posts".

[SatanicSheep]

I have actually met a lot truthers/buyers of various woo.

A borderline homeless traveling salesman/barfly.

A group of fairly accomplished pro surfers.

A loan officer/ amateur musican.

A gulf war vet/waiter.

A computer programmer/ pro gambler.

The loan officer/musician and computer programmer/gambler dabbled in woo in an on again off agian fashion. They were both extremely smart men. However they were both somewhat antisocial and smart in terms of statistics/music/computer code/tax law/obliterating rubix cubes/counting cards etc. They were only able to abandon woo through long processes of private research. They were too confident in the power of their unshakeable intellects and once they believed something it was up to them to correct the notion.

[JihadJane]

Perhaps you should start your own thread called "Short, Cryptic, Irrelevant Posts".


Good idea.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=4794343#post4794343

[aggle-rithm]

Good idea.

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=4794343#post4794343

:)

[Axiom_Blade]

Actually, all of the truthers I've met were either retired, or had a low-paying job, or no job at all. A couple were college students.

I think it's funny that people on this board like to stereotype truthers as being young kids. In my town, the entire truth movement was made up of people over 40, and there was a good dozen of them. It seems like there's a faction of angry, bitter hippies and ex-hippies, who are very gullible and ready to latch onto any kind of movement that comes along. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these folks are now part of the nascent "Tea Party" movement.

[Uncayimmy]

Have you ever watched the mass tryout episodes of shows like American Idol?

Are we talking about musicians or singers? When it comes to musicians, bass players are the most sane (http://www.azwebpages.com/bass). Trust me.

[eromitlab]

The one truther I knew and worked with for a while (accomplished BS artist, claimed 9/11 was a gov't conspiracy well before Loose Change was even a work of fiction bouncing around in Dylan Avery's head) graduated college and is now teaching English in Japan.