Honest. How much of what I read here on DU should I believe?

[malachibk]

See, I'm pretty gullible. And I know that when I feel brave and venture over to rep. sites I think they are CRAZY. Totally fucking nuts.

Well, are people here as CRAZY as those folks are crazy? Was Nick Berg REALLY a spy and did the CIA REALLY kill him? Did buscho REALLY finance 9/11?

I hate this president so much that I desperately want to believe all of these horrible things. But I also think that it's driving me crazy.

Please, someone tell me if I'm falling over the edge. Is this some DU rite of passage or something? Am I "becoming a man" again?

[Pepperbelly]

1. believe what you want but use your salt liberally. nt

[papau]

23. I agree - but on econ/environment/etc facts DU rocks!

:-)

On conspiracy - use a bit of salt!

and on truth about Reagan and GOP giving atomic weapons away and helping dictators - the old farts here are a pretty good source - better than many textbooks.

[DoNotRefill]

2. Don't believe anything you read....

here or anywhere else until you actually check things out, verify facts, look for biases, et cetera.

Dogmatic belief of ANYTHING is not a virtue.

[malachibk]

3. Agreed. And I do research

That's partly what's driving me crazy.

I guess I'm just wondering if there's an "overall" sense that people here, for the most part, don't just post utter bullshit.

[papau]

27. "don't just post utter bullshit"? - DU tradition is you must have links!

so the reader can evalulate.

On opinion pieces - well - again use salt.

and on links to sources - be aware story selection, detail selection within story, and supressed facts vary by source and writer within source - so perhaps a bit of salt.

But in general, little here -in my opinion - is "utter bullshit"

[Must_B_Free]

4. DU is loaded with BULLSHIT

But there are a LOT of nuggets of truth buried in there like corn.

[PretzelWarrior]

15. yuk. horrible image. so we dig through sh!t to find the corn?

holy cow!

[AP]

5. Test every theory with argument. And then be your own judge of the

facts and the theory.

[kiahzero]

6. None of the people here are as crazy as those on FR or others

At least the people here that are close are in the right direction.
:D

Believe what you feel has been proven beyond whatever threshold you deem necessary. Be prepared to defend those beliefs when challenged.

[HFishbine]

7. One of the beauties of the Internet

is the ability to quickly and easily link to substantiating sources. If you don't see them, be suspicious. When someone simply puts forth a claim it's less credible than when someone makes a claim and links to some empirical data or authoritative source.

[Cleita]

8. You shouldn't believe any of it until you check out the facts

and links that come with most of the posts. Then you need to make up your own mind, not let anyone else do it for you.

[Serenity-NOW]

9. You can believe me, I would never lie to you. Say are you a hot gal?

[malachibk]

11. Nice. Funny. Nope.

[mopaul]

10. take every word and passage literally

especially if one of the crazier among us suggests bushco did 9-11

[Speck Tater]

12. Exactly 12.76%

But of course that statistic, like 83.9% of all statistics, was just made up anyway.

[KAZ]

16. Thanks for the smile fiziwig. Need those now-a-days. n/t

n/t

[DAGDA56]

13. I've found that every statement made on DU...

...will often draw an equal and opposite statement...people are also quick to respond to outlandish posts with "link, please" or "state your source" phrases you aren't likely to hear in the Fox newsroom.

[quinnox]

14. I don't believe a lot of what is posted here

I can smell the bs when it is present. You have to use your own judgement.

[Selwynn]

17. Ask for evidence - always. Then do the thinking for yourself! :)

[Sirveri]

18. Use the site as a reprieve

When I show up here it reinforces my faith that America might just do the right thing and dump Bush. That gives me hope so that I can go back and look at the varied Republican sites and try and understand why people are so very stupid. Pick and choose what you want to believe, it's not as though it really matters.

[mike1963]

24. Welcome to DU, Sirveri

:toast:

[Sirveri]

28. Thanks!

I couldn't seem to PM, maybe it's cause I'm still a new registered person.

[leftofthedial]

19. all of it

every single word is as true as the bushgang is false

reality is, if anything, FAR WORSE than the worst speculation here.

Trust me.

[Eloriel]

25. I think that pretty well sums it up.

And another line that sums it up for me, courtesy of Lily Tomlin:

No matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up.


A lot of people here (but I don't think the majority) are very, very reluctant to "believe" what are commonly, derisively, dismissively referred to as "conspiracy theories." That's cool.

BUT.

I would give the original poster this advice, from personal experience: Under no circumstances should you automatically, reflexively dismiss so-called conspiracy theories just because they don't fit in with your worldview or your current level of knowledge and experience. EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK THERE'S ANYTHING TO THEM, and let's say you don't have the time or interest to research them yourself at the moment, just tuck them in the back of your mind with a little sticker that says, "Hmmm. I dunno about this, but that's the point. I'll give it a 50% chance of being true or valid and put it on hold until I can check it out further."

And stick around. You're gonna learn a LOT here. Some of it won't be very comfortable, but it's better to know. Really.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

20. Critical Thinking is a dead art...

... but the old adage of 'trust, but verify' is a good rule of thumb to get one through this misinformation age.

[malachibk]

21. I don't think "critical thinking is a dead art"

maybe "unbiased reporting" or "transparent government" but "critical thinking" is alive and well.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

31. Glad to hear !

Some things you LIKED to be disagreed with... this is one of those times!

[mike1963]

22. Belief isn't necessary or even useful. THINKING and a willingness to

investigate and verify is the key. Imagine you're on a jury and you're interested in the truth even if it's uncomfortable. Try to be dispassionate and fair and never refuse to change your mind about something if there's credible evidence that challenges your position.

There's no shame in being ignorant unless there's no effort to learn, and there's nothing wrong with being wrong if the mind is open and active. :D

edit: small syntax correction

[bemildred]

26. About as much as you believe anwhere else. nt

[seabeyond]

29. opinion is just that

what i like is there is plenty of opinion, yet, there is tons of fact too. a healthy mix. any opinion i hold on reserve til fact comes up

as far as the berg and 9/11, there are facts in there. does it tell you what happened, i havent seen that yet. not personally. but there are a lot of facts.

i dont know what happened, but to hold the facts are good, cause things are continually moving on and on with these two and other events. helps to put things together in the mind.

[SpiralHawk]

30. Rite of Passage

Hi Mala -
i want to speak to the Rite of Passage issue you brought up in your post to start this thread. I think you are onto something there. However, all I can offer by way of evidence is my own experience.

I came to DU about 2 months after 9/11. And I read silently for a month or more, before beginning to post. After about 6 months I came to a stuck place -- it was just not conceivable to me that the BushCo gang and its cronies could be that bad, that corrupt, that incompetent, that "evil." I exhausted myself search for the "truth" of what was happening to the US of A.

But as more time passed and more and more facts -- and informed opinions -- came to my awareness (a fair amount of it through DU), I finally had a painful Epiphany. Most of what I was learning was true, and deeply troubling. I realized the country I loved was in grave danger -- from the massively corrupt Bush Gang -- and that as a citizen I had a responsibility to stay informed and to take constructive action to create the kind of government and society that I would be proud to pass on to coming generations of Americans.

Lots of DUers, and lots of other Americans, have also had to go through this painful, but necessary, Rite of Passage.

We are no longer in the US of A we grew up loving. It's up to us to make sure its a nation we can all be proud of again.