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Bernt's avatar

Great article. Always enjoy reading about the quackery of Bret Wienstein. His trajectory has been fascinating to watch with morbid curiosity. Sadly I thought he was an interesting thinker when I first heard him early on in the pandemic. He is well spoken and comes across so reasonable until you actually start to understand what he saying. Everything is always dressed up in metaphors and jargon it can just kind wash over you and you can just think he is just another intellectual. Although now a days he more or less just sounds crazy.

Decoding the gurus pod has had a lot good coverage of both the Wienstein's. They had them pegged from the get go, when so many others were still thinking of them as reasonable. Highly recommend giving them a listen if you're interested in analyzing rhetoric and conspiratorial thinking

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Harley "Griff" Lofton's avatar

A few years ago Weinstein was an unknown teacher in a second tier academic institution. Today he has a following and a platform. Can we see and compare his income tax returns from before and after the controversy that catapulted him into the pantheon of Xitter influencers? Jordan Peterson owes his own social media success to the transgender people he demonizes. Doesn't that define him as a parasite?

Same with many of these "firebrand" attention whores who are probably making a good living off their celebrity. Many of them are well educated and could have entered professions that contribute to society but that take time and hard work. So much easier to be come a social media celebrity to make quick riches and lots of adulation and hate which becomes a form of adulation. There is no bad publicity that cannot be made profitable.

The irony is that they believe THEY are the real victims in the social media Kulturkampf.

Conspiracy theories are a revenue stream for some, entertainment for others, and a symptom of mental illness in others.

I am no fan of Ayn Rand, but she was not afraid to say, when asked what she thought of her critics, "But I don't think about them." The best way for me to not think of these people is not to go where they go in social media platforms.

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anzabannanna's avatar

My sensors detect some narratives contained within this text also, as well as some irony.

Do you believe my sensors are providing me with false readings?

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Guscat's avatar

So many people got on here some offering up deceptive posts or let’s just say not totally honest ones so it got hard at times to tell who was who.

Anyone who’s say antivax (or better yet antivax while denying antivax), thinks there is something to Hunters laptop, or thinks Weinstein is serious instead of a grifting nut job is an idiot, and it’s up to them to prove otherwise. If you don’t fit this my genuine apologies but like I said this was a confusing thread at least on my app

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anzabannanna's avatar

> and it’s up to them to prove otherwise.

Let me guess: your claims of fact carry no such burden of proof?

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Guscat's avatar

“The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.”

Alberto Brandolni

My proof is anyone who is antivax or thinks there’s something to the Hunter Biden laptop or that Weinstein is anything more than a grifter crank is a total moron. That’s more than enough proof and tbh more proof than any MAGA antivaxer has offered up. If you or anyone would like to prove I’m wrong I would welcome it but absent any proof or effort to come up with proof we can only conclude my assertion they’re idiots is true.

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anzabannanna's avatar

So, your proof is your personal opinion. VERY CONVINCING!

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Guscat's avatar

Feel free to prove me wrong.

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anzabannanna's avatar

Do not try to shift the burden of proof, or distract from the silliness I just pointed out.

Aim for optimal gameplay.

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anzabannanna's avatar

When you say "we", do you include me? Because buddy, I am not so limited!! 😂😂😂🥰

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Guscat's avatar

Are you antivax or think there’s something to Hunters laptop or take Weinstein seriously?

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anzabannanna's avatar

Yes, yes, yes.

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anzabannanna's avatar

How about yourself? 😇

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wj's avatar

Who is really shaping the parameters of your sensors?

Look in the mirror, but upside down, while riding a unicycle.

Only then can you begin to see the true colors of the dominant tergiversation.

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anzabannanna's avatar

Ah, using humour to deflect! This is very novel behavior, I have never encountered it before among Humans.

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RD's avatar

Agreed.

It's good to know all of the "credible scholars" who are being used by the swamp regime / uni-party to discredit good people like Bret Weinstein. Did they get paid to do this by some entity ala Clinton's 'Russian Collusion' or was it out of the goodness of their hearts? We will never know.

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Berny Belvedere's avatar

Both of you are complete idiots.

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Harley "Griff" Lofton's avatar

No. They are just following the admonition of Julian Assange: "Be the troll you want to see in the world." Abusing the intellect which nature gave them.

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anzabannanna's avatar

How did you acquire this knowledge?

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Harley "Griff" Lofton's avatar

Observation of the rhetorical style deployed in the service of argument for the sake of argument. It isn't sufficient to state one's opinion and simply let the statement stand on its own merits (or lack thereof) and must be challenged. And defended. And challenged again. Asserting blanket statements that are so general as to be meaningless.

It is behavioral. Almost Pavlovian. I think it is an artifact of gamer culture where one must not engage civilly but must prevail. One avatar in mortal combat with other avatars which must be vanquished.

Spinoza would say that such people who are drowning in an ocean of inadequate ideas. Jiddu Krishnamurti would see egos asserting themselves against the reality of their insignificance.

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anzabannanna's avatar

Are you using the technical or colloquial meaning of the term "knowledge"? (Your reference to not only Spinoza *but also Krishnamurti* strongly suggests that you know what I am referring to). Because it makes a massive difference with respect to my question (I was using the technical meaning).

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anzabannanna's avatar

Are you asserting that what I wrote above is incorrect, in fact? If so, would you like to demonstrate that?

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Guscat's avatar

lol what is there in your comment that rises to the level of being disprovable

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anzabannanna's avatar

Where did this "disprovable" idea originate in this conversation?

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Guscat's avatar

This is where I started getting confused. When you wrote a post and the nut job RD wrote this post agreeing with you I believe. https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/bret-weinstein-conspiracy-theorist/comment/54647576?r=auz4n&utm_medium=ios

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RD's avatar

It's good to know that's all you've got. ;-)

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Guscat's avatar

lol it’s still vastly more than you have. When someone posts something idiotic it doesn’t require a comprehensive response to disprove it.

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anzabannanna's avatar

An issue: identification of idiocy is not necessarily correct.

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Shikha Dalmia's avatar

Generally not convincing to counter an essay about conspiracy theories...with more conspiracy theories :)

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RD's avatar

Every 'conspiracy theory' of the last 4 years has come to be true and proven to be actual conspiracy and not just theory, and Bret Weinstein was one of the outspoken vanguards of the entire movement from the beginning.

As far as I'm concerned, that wins him a lot of brownie points and is much more credible than identity politics and mud slinging, which is all that the Left seems to be capable of anymore.

Logic and big picture is lost on them and all they have left going for them are specious arguments and personal attacks.

If you haven't noticed, the tide is turning, the general public isn't buying it anymore and there is a debt to be paid for all the lies. And it's coming.

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anzabannanna's avatar

As a conspiracy theorist, I think people like you give conspiracy theorists a bad name.

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anzabannanna's avatar

> Every 'conspiracy theory' of the last 4 years has come to be true

How many conspiracy theories are we talking here? Give a specific number please.

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Apr 24, 2024
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Guscat's avatar

The problem is almost all “conspiracies” were pretty obvious long before they were “exposed” so I’m hard pressed to think of any. Probably off the top of my head Iran contra and Nixon sabotaging the Paris peace talks.

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RD's avatar

Wow, only 3? Have you call been living in a bubble?

For #1, how about the fact that people were worried that the Covid shots were not as safe or as effective as we were told, the media suppressed the discussion, Pfizer and Moderna had contracts that didn't force them to expose the phase 3 trials for YEARS and that a law suit finally forced them to do it. It turns out the shots are not as safe or as effective as they were sold to be.

How many shots a year is acceptable if they're 90% effective as advertised?

Have you heard the credible horror stories of vaccine injuries? My own kids had side effects that were downplayed.

How about the recommending of the J+J shot and then DE-RECOMMENDING IT after millions took it???

All of this was orchestrated by the Democratic party in collusion with the media, the FDA, Fauci and the rest.

------------------------------------------------

#2) How about the fact that for the 1st time in the history of the United States, the US President used his executive powers to suppress the free speech of American people and violate the 1st amendment by suppressing true information about the pandemic and pushing false information (proven in court through a law suit by the AGs of Louisiana and Missouri).

Or the fact that the Democrats used their power to suppress the story of the Hunter Biden Laptop and Biden's daughter's diary (also proven by the same law suit as well as the Twitter Files by Elon Musk), causing election interference and affecting the outcome of the election?

-------------------------------------

#3) How about the fact that the Russian Collusion smear campaign was a total fabrication by Hilary Clinton and other Democrats to try to FALSELY smear Trump, a sitting president while in office.

All 3 of these are written in stone, factual and Liberal agendas that were publicly denounced for years as conspiracy theory before proven to be actual conspiracies.

Shall I go on?

If you can't take accountability for your own house which is vile and full of corruption, you have no right to criticize your neighbors.

Bret Weinstein is a good guy and is being smeared for no other reason than to hide the truth.

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anzabannanna's avatar

Any comments on my "My sensors..." comment above?

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Michael A Alexander's avatar

I have no idea what you mean by sensors. Can you make a clear statement of what you are talking about with examples to illustrate??

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anzabannanna's avatar

I'm referring to my senses + cognition...I was wrapping my criticism with humour in an attempt to make the medicine easier to take.

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Michael A Alexander's avatar

You said you detected "narratives contained within this text also, as well as some irony: with no specifics, To what is one supposed to comment?

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Sheri Smith's avatar

Anyone who continually refers to “they” is just making crap up. Weinstein is just one more grifter in the pantheon of grifters.

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Michael A Alexander's avatar

I watched Weinstein begin to lose it on his youtube channel right at the beginning of the pandemic. Before that he had seemed to be sane. For example he moderated a debate between Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson in which he was a paragon of logic and reason, He did a wonderful job, which I why I started watched his channel. Back then there were only two red flags. One was his belief that one did not need to use math for evolutionary work; the other was his concept of "lineages" as evolving units which struck me as a bit sus. But other than that, he was clearly a very smart guy and seemed completely sane. It was his brother that was a bit out there. His brother seems (to me) as more of less the same as before, while it was Bret who has gone off the deep end.

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Guscat's avatar

The interesting thing is (and bear in mind I don’t really follow Sam Harris closely) is Harris seems to have ultimately rejected both his audience and audience capture.

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Ollie Parks's avatar

I have no use for the current generation of philosophy bros who find it essential to have an opinion on the existence of free will.

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Guscat's avatar

It’s amazing how many grifters have come out of the woodwork since Trump.

I’m tired of arguing with bad faith nutjobs like the antivaxers in which I have to expend so much more effort than they do to refute their bullshit. I’m going to call them idiots and it’s up to them to prove me wrong

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Ollie Parks's avatar

In the night sky, the average grifter is at best a shooting star. Weistein is a entire 4th of July fireworks extravaganza.

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RD's avatar

Just another political hit piece on an honorable person.

Bret Weinstein asks the CORRECT questions - something NO left wing news agency will ask.

Let's remember that almost ALL of the conspiracy theories of the last 4 years have come to be true...and yet these hacks continue to try to discredit good people.

As Weinstein stated so clearly, they (the THEY that are pulling the strings around the world) drove out all of the brave, critical thinkers and what this did is galvanized them and united them.

The truth will prevail and I plan on being on the correct side of history when the dust settles, meaning the side that the Weinsteins and the Petersens and the Musks are on. The other side is just sludge and name calling.

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Berny Belvedere's avatar

lmao

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anzabannanna's avatar

Bret Weinstein is a buffoon.

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Guscat's avatar

Sorry if I misread your comment. I agree with you on the buffoon part

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wj's avatar

Hi, you don't know me, but I'm a prince from Nigeria. The cabal of globalist elites, in league with the Democrats and Joe Biden, have exiled me from my home country and locked away my vast family fortune beyond my reach.

I know how to get it back though. All I need is your entire life savings. Aid me in my quest good sir, and I'll reward you with wealth beyond your dreams once I get my stuff back!

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Ollie Parks's avatar

Keep it up. You've got a great future ahead of you in parody.

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User's avatar
Comment deleted
Apr 24, 2024
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RD's avatar

That's all you see from the Left these days. No credible discourse ever follows.

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anzabannanna's avatar

In my experience this tends to be rather true of participants on either side of most anything if someone challenges certain claims they make (not necessarily sound ones, ones that have flaws), typically a routine of evasion will kick in.

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Guscat's avatar

lol yes I see a lot of antivaxer nutjobs and right wingers trying to evade my arguments.

I’ve made my case. It’s up to others to refute it.

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anzabannanna's avatar

Speaking of evasion.

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Guscat's avatar

I’m just bored with crank troll posts like the antivaxers or Weinstein fanboys. It’s not evasion but rather I’m tired of bad faith posts in which the burden of proof is placed infinitely high on me while the cranks have no burden of proof. If you want to offer up something and I find it worth my time I’ll engage until then I have made my point

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Guscat's avatar

lol it’s funny reading nut jobs saying this

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Guscat's avatar

More proof that smart people can be incredibly dumb.

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Michael A Alexander's avatar

It was clear to be that it was audience capture at first. Back then Bret's audience on youtube was clearly far to the right of where he was and he would still have other scientists on to discuss things. When the pandemic came, and Trump's handlers decided it was best to minimize the threat and issued spin to that effect. This created a strong demand that creators like Weinstein produce content reflecting this spin. It's supply and demand. Initially I assume he was just providing what his audience wanted, but in time he came to believe what he was selling. It's not an uncommon thing. He may have inherited a propensity for this since his brother has a touch of it too.

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Guscat's avatar

Yep it’s interesting to see this happen with people. I also think smart people are very susceptible to this in part because of ego but also because they often confuse the degree of difficulty of an idea with being right. It’s amazing how dumb smart people can be sometimes. If you’re smart it’s easy to construct arguments proving even your nuttiest idea is right.

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enkramer's avatar

References to Biden's "exaggerated" senility and there being nothing to Hunter's laptop suggest you do need a look in the mirror.

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Ollie Parks's avatar

In which a critique of a notorious conspiracy monger attracts passing conspiracy mongers like ants to a picnic.

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Ollie Parks's avatar

One of the worst things about Weinstein is his tone, both in his delivery and in his choice of words. Weinstein has a relentlessly snide and condescending voice. Bret uses his words not just to inform but to stab his adversaries and their ideas in absentia. The overall performance is so formidable that critical listeners might find themselves becoming distracted from the sheer absurdity of what's coming out of Weinstein's mouth.

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Ollie Parks's avatar

Please do a deep dive on that other, more unhinged conspiracy theorist, James Lindsay. He sees commies under every bed, especially in the nursery. It is alarming how quickly and deeply Lindsay's gospel of cultural Marxism has penetrated social media, blinding people to the true causes of DEI, gender identity ideology, harm reduction and other failed progressive policies and programs.

There's a great need for a single well researched, credible and politically moderate resource for those of us who wish to refute Lindsay's ideas and warn off members of the public who might not know how radical and flaky Lindsay has become since the Grievance Studies Affair.

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Shikha Dalmia's avatar

We will definitely put that on our todo list, long as it is given all the noxious figures on the right

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RD's avatar
Jun 25Edited

There is a LOT more to a pandemic than just stopping the virus. We discussed this. Americans died because they are one of the most unhealthy population in the world. Obesity and diabetes is off the charts. If there was no obesity and no diabetes the number of severe outcomes would have been a fraction of what they were. Plus you have to consider what happens after the pandemic, which Democrats refused to do. They ruined the future for our children indefinitely.

Regarding the politics taking over by May of 2020, who is responsible for that? This doesn't happen in a vacuum.

The Democrats opposed everything Trump was trying to do, even if it was effective. Schools should have been left open. Children were not susceptible to Covid nor where they spreaders. We knew this because the Scandinavian countries did a 3 country study in the summer of 2020 and concluded this.

And regarding the bleach / UV conversation, you absolutely could have put a UV wand into a person's nostril in place of the iodine spray disinfectant. The science is sound and it would have had the same effect, killing SARS-Cov-2. Trump definitely bumbled that message, but the media made sure it stayed bumbled by maligning the President, rather than investigating the comments and exposing and publishing the truth. It was purposefully done.

And the measures Democrats took to manage the pandemic ended up being worse than the pandemic itself. They've basically broken society.

There is no leg to stand on here for Trump haters. Democrats did as much as damage as anyone by censoring free speech around the pandemic, and suppressing effective treatments, opposing anything good Trump tried to do and by illegally mandating things that should never have been mandated.

This is the main reason Trump will win this next election. The people have had enough of the lies, they see through it all now, unlike in 2020 and this go round Democrats will likely resort in even greater unethical, immoral behavior in an effort to stop him. They've already done it, only now it will happen in greater measure. The pendulum is swinging the other way.

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Kumara Republic's avatar

Ever wondered what a nation run by conspiracy theorists including Bret Weinstein would look like? Here’s a visual hint:

https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media.salon.com/2012/02/Putin-L.png

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