Missing Octafish today. That is all. nt

[PatrickforO]

38. The photo on your post is unseemly because it

supports establishment propaganda by ridiculing anything that can make the establishment look bad.

Author Floyd Rudmin, the social psychologist writes:
“Conspiracy theory” is usually used as a pejorative label, meaning paranoid, nutty, marginal, and certainly untrue. The power of this pejorative is that it discounts a theory by attacking the motivations and mental competence of those who advocate the theory. By labeling an explanation of events “conspiracy theory,” evidence and argument are dismissed because they come from a mentally or morally deficient personality, not because they have been shown to be incorrect. Calling an explanation of events “conspiracy theory” means, in effect, “We don’t like you, and no one should listen to your explanation.”

In earlier eras other pejorative labels, such as “heresy,” “witchery,” and “communism” also worked like this. The charge of “conspiracy theory” is not so severe as these other labels, but in its way is many times worse. Heresy, witchcraft, and communism at least retain some sense of potency. They designate ideas to be feared. “Conspiracy theory” implies that the ideas and their advocates are simple-minded or insane.

All such labels implicitly define a community of orthodox believers and try to banish or shun people who challenge orthodox beliefs. Members of the community who are sympathetic to new thoughts might shy away from the new thoughts and join in the shunning due to fear of being tainted by the pejorative label.

What you are basically doing is ridiculing someone who thinks differently than you or looks at 'facts' differently than you. The fallacy in this is that you aren't refuting them based on facts of your own that you take the trouble to cite; instead you are simply attempting to silence with ridicule. Doesn't wash.