James Roger Brown (lesbian death squads)

[CORed]

Originally Posted by StankApe

I will make tens of dollars! WHAT A BOONDOGGLE!!!

Probably not much more than that, as most of the buyers have very little money because they're a bunch of delusional losers the nwo is keeping them down.

[JayUtah]

Originally Posted by Border Reiver

Having read that... plan... I would question the critical thinking skills of the author...

That's being cordial.

I had to edit my evaluation above for space, so that it wouldn't be an unreadable wall of text. I did go through large portions of his site while preparing to respond meaningfully, and chose only the segments I thought I could respond to rationally without stooping to an overall impression that Mr. Brown could easily dismiss.

In fact my impression was that not only would he be refused for employment at my organization, and for funding by any of the organizations I adivse, in fact he would be escorted from the building under guard. The easiest way to sell a paranoid delusion is to dress it up as a rational, "critical-thinking" response to some perceived threat.

But critical thinking is more than just identifying Aristotelian patterns of fallacy in what others say. Yes, fallacy boiled down to its essence is helpful. But there is more.

In the very second paragraph we see the first dodge. "The reasons are complex, but include factors such as..." following by a laundry list of bald assertions, the gist of which is that it's now apparently too late for his hypothetical overlords to do anything about his "plan." Basically his success is assured because he dove in just at the last minute. But in following that tangent for the rest of the paragraph, he deftly omits having to explain his reasoning. He tell us, "It's complicated," with the subtext, "...you wouldn't understand." In short, we have to take Brown on faith.

One proven method of forestalling a critical-thinking evaluation of one's claims is simply to amp up the emotional content. By the second paragraph he's already sold the reader on the idea that civilization is about to be destroyed by evil agents, and that they are so far along in their plan that there is very little we can do to stop them. This is the same methods employed by fundamentalist religions, and pretty much everyone who stylizes the government or The Powers That Be as an evil force to be reckoned with. Religion succeeds because it creates a Devil and then justifies everything that follows as part of opposing this imminent threat.

This sort of imaginary threat is at the heart of practically all conspiracism, with the necessary corollary being that the conspiracy theorist is uniquely poised by means of his hidden knowledge, his ability to penetrate the hidden knowledge of the imagined cabal, and his unique set of skills, to save humanity from the impending threat. This, of course, sets up the conspiracist to be the savior, the all-important leader, and the super-hero of the construct he has created.

What if we want to verify all this for ourselves? "Debate and discussions of who, what, where, when and why are for other venues." That is the next great dodge. There is no independent confirmation of The Devil in Mr. Brown's faith. Here, as with other devils, the proof is only in the attributed effects. Oh, you're sick? Must be an evil spirit. Oh, society has problems? Must be evil souls. We aren't told who the Devil is or how he works. This is so that Brown's specific claims can change with the seasons and incorporate current events as a means of renewing its relevance.

Independent confirmation of key premises in someone's claim is important. Syllogistical reasoning, as advocated by Brown as "critical thinking," depends on the truth of the premise for its reliability, not just the validating form of the syllogism. Critical thinking means questioning things we are asked to take on faith by prophets of a movement.

But all that sets us up for the following paragraph in which he lays out the Devil's plan to subjugate us by engineering the failure of society and then conveniently set itself up as the sole suppliers of vital necessities. Theoretically if you want to keep living, you have to pay the Devil his due and thereby depend on him. Or, conversely, you can pay Mr. Brown to be your savior and depend on him to spoon-feed you the details of what skills and materials you'll need in order to survive the Devil's apocalypse, the details of which only he knows and he's not telling ... yet.

And who anointed Mr. Brown to be the John Connor-esque prophet of the post-apocalyptic world? A couple of alleged intelligence insiders, both of whom are now dead and thus unable to confirm any such appointment. One of them, William Pawelec, is one of the Disclosure Project's insider-for-profit scammers, so if Brown wants to leach off of that, I guess he's welcome to. And he does: "You will need to know that the attention of at least three non-terrestrial forces are focused on Earth due to the resident evil."

The important realization is the pattern of attributing one's own mandate to lofty mentors who conveniently can't confirm anything. It gives one's behavior an air of authority without actually needing any. If you want to be famous, pretend to be the protégé of someone who's already famous.

By this means, Brown achieves the all-important anointing. Two giants of the (supposed) intelligence community have appointed Brown to head up the project to save mankind from the Devil, presumably because of unique skills and knowledge he has or will be endowed with as a consequence of the anointing. No one else in the world can do this. No one else can save humanity. He is an intelligence analyst extraordinaire, with personal inside knowledge of space aliens frowning at Earth's "resident evil," but can't reveal any specifics, apparently because of lingering non-disclosure obligations, or maybe because Gort will toast his nards if he does.

So let's say we accept James Roger Brown as our lord and savior of the apocalypse. Let's say we want to protect ourselves against the Devil by avoiding the specific things he plans to make us dependent upon. How do we go about finding that out? "Some [information] will be in the form of a book, sales of which will finance some additional steps."

That's right, the Reverend Brown finances his religion by passing the plate. If you don't drop in money, you don't get to attend his sermons in which he'll spoon-feed you that life-saving information at his pace. How does that avoid just making us dependent on him instead of the Devil he decries? If he tells us that dependence is the essence of corruption (and thus to be avoided), but then makes us dependent on him, what have we won?

Now of course every person has the right to be paid for his services. But caveat emptor. What are you actually buying? You're buying a defense offered by a guy who says it will protect you against the threat that same guy says is out there (but won't identify or define), on no better warranty of effectiveness than his say-so.

Yeah...

I'm just going to subscribe to this:

Quote:

The other bit of course is the premise - why would an organization that is capable of engineering a massive social collapse actually have to do so in order to seize control?

...and why can't the space aliens stop them? I guess we're supposed to believe they're the Shyamalanian aliens of Signs, who have mastered interstellar travel but can't work a doorknob.

We get a hint in the next paragraph who this diabolical cabal might be. It goes far beyond Lesbian Death Squads. Or even Alien Lesbian Death Squads (do I smell a sequel?)

Brown mentions Royal Rife's claimed cure for cancer and asserts that the medical Establishment perceived it as a threat, suppressed his technology, and put him out of business. That's certainly the pseudoscientist's point of view. In real life, Rife noticed the effect microwaves had on microorganisms, then (wrongly assuming a germ-theory explanation for cancer) assumed an application of microwaves would cure cancer in humans. He refused to submit his devices to clinical trials to investigate their effectiveness, and dismissed others' unsuccessful attempts to do so as conspiratorial.

Since he's told us not to expect a list of perpetrators, locations, or events, we have to extrapolate from this one example. And it's just the standard pseudoscience gospel. The Devil is simply the Establishment, however constituted. Brown rails against government and the justice system, to be sure, but he seems also to incriminate Big Business and the mainstream scientific community.

But of course from an objective standpoint it's just competition. Pseudoscience can't compete with real science on results, so it has to demonize its competition in order to achieve profitability. Brown has no problem with dependence, as long as it's dependence on him, at his profit and fame. But in order to make his off-beat claims palatable, he has to create the impression that you have a moral obligation to to take his side.

So let's sum up.

Invisible threat -- check
Nebulous rationale -- check
Alleged but undisclosed facts -- check
Self-proclaimed prophet -- check
Unverifiable claims to special knowledge and authority -- check
Asking for money -- check
Proponent is the hero of the scenario -- check

That, Mr. Brown, is critical thinking.

[Regnad Kcin]

Eight (obviously unsuccessful) attempts on his life? By who, the Keystone Cops?

[ComfySlippers]

Originally Posted by Regnad Kcin

Eight (obviously unsuccessful) attempts on his life? By who, the Keystone Cops?

Blimey. The Keystone Cops? They've been trying to kill Alex Jones for over ten years now.

Why do those damned Illuminati and Globalists insist on using 1920's comedy in order to achieve their evil goals?

What's next, commercial airplanes spraying the population with deadly chemicals?

[BazBear]

Since the ALDS and the Keystone Cops can't the job done, they're going to reanimate a hit team consisting of Burgess Meredith as the Penguin, Frank Gorshin as the Riddler, Earth Kitt as Catwoman, and special guest zombie Rodey McDowall as the Bookworm.

[Captain_Swoop]

Originally Posted by Regnad Kcin

Eight (obviously unsuccessful) attempts on his life? By who, the Keystone Cops?

More likely to be Johnny English.

[Sledge]

Originally Posted by Regnad Kcin

Eight (obviously unsuccessful) attempts on his life? By who, the Keystone Cops?

Hang on, how do you know they were all unsuccessful? Let's not take anything for granted.

[zooterkin]

Originally Posted by Sledge

Hang on, how do you know they were all unsuccessful? Let's not take anything for granted.

Ah, you think the fact that he's gone silent may be significant? Perhaps it wasn't just the ordinary heart-stopping punch to the chest, but the more advanced delayed death punch to the chest?

[BStrong]

Originally Posted by zooterkin

Ah, you think the fact that he's gone silent may be significant? Perhaps it wasn't just the ordinary heart-stopping punch to the chest, but the more advanced delayed death punch to the chest?

I believe he comes back every day to lurk, and I wonder if his CV on his website will be "updated" to correct the pointed out inconsistencies.

[JayUtah]

Originally Posted by BStrong

I believe he comes back every day to lurk

Last activity: Nov. 23, 2012. That puts his attention at around page 5 of the thread.

Quote:

I wonder if his CV on his website will be "updated" to correct the pointed out inconsistencies.

He's definitely in a quandary. His c.v. is decidedly non-credible, but if he changes it then his critics will notice and call him on it.

[zooterkin]

Originally Posted by JayUtah

Last activity: Nov. 23, 2012. That puts his attention at around page 5 of the thread.

True, but this is in the public section of the forum, and he could read it without logging in.

[Stacey Grove]

Originally Posted by zooterkin

Ah, you think the fact that he's gone silent may be significant? Perhaps it wasn't just the ordinary heart-stopping punch to the chest, but the more advanced delayed death punch to the chest?

Perhaps with the ninth attempt they got lucky?
Perhaps they threatened him with the comfy chair?

[Duffy Moon]

Originally Posted by Sledge

Hang on, how do you know they were all unsuccessful? Let's not take anything for granted.

Well, the eighth one clearly was unsuccessful but that doesn't mean that the previous attempts were.

Originally Posted by zooterkin

Perhaps it wasn't just the ordinary heart-stopping punch to the chest, but the more advanced delayed death punch to the chest?

Ah, the legendary Quivering Palm.

[BazBear]

Originally Posted by Stacey Grove

Perhaps with the ninth attempt they got lucky?
Perhaps they threatened him with the comfy chair?

Well what choice did they have? Obviously his self training makes the rack and the soft pillows less than useless!

[Wolfman]

I'm officially worried. No responses from Mr. Brown in almost a month. Obviously, a committed critical thinker such as he is wouldn't intentionally duck all the valid questions that have been raised regarding his story...

...leading me to conclude that one of those death squads (lesbian or other) was finally successful. Probably got him with the "laser death ray stare" from a top-secret cyborg.

[Duffy Moon]

Damn those lesbians.

[timhau]

Or maybe he was hit by the Thespians, and now he's playing dead.