Austin, Texas braces for terrorist attack

[SchizNitz]

My friends' name is Austinn, too bad it's not spelled the same.

[PLaYbAck_Nine]

Well she's not bad, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for making crumbs.

lmao you're f*cking sick.

 

Guy at work was so deep into infowars.com, during work hours, he had some kind of drive that would play Alex Jones' radio. Always wore Infowars-related shirts and when i tried to talk to him, it would always end up about how America is onto us.

[sivispacem]

It's just the government trying to justify the NSA surveillance system.

Well that's what some say. Trying to cause a distraction and make the NSA story, sink from news & media.

The NSA story has sunk from the media, partially because Edward Snowden was a chicken-sh*t who would have been far better martyring himself for his cause like Bradley Manning did, partially because none of it is particularly surprising, but mostly because the average American just doesn't care.

[Creed Bratton]

It's just the government trying to justify the NSA surveillance system.

Well that's what some say. Trying to cause a distraction and make the NSA story, sink from news & media.

The NSA story has sunk from the media, partially because Edward Snowden was a chicken-sh*t who would have been far better martyring himself for his cause like Bradley Manning did, partially because none of it is particularly surprising, but mostly because the average American just doesn't care.

And because the average American just doesn't care is why fleeing the country was Snowden's second best choice.

[sivispacem]

It's just the government trying to justify the NSA surveillance system.

Well that's what some say. Trying to cause a distraction and make the NSA story, sink from news & media.

The NSA story has sunk from the media, partially because Edward Snowden was a chicken-sh*t who would have been far better martyring himself for his cause like Bradley Manning did, partially because none of it is particularly surprising, but mostly because the average American just doesn't care.

And because the average American just doesn't care is why fleeing the country was Snowden's second best choice.

Problem is he ballsed up his choices. The fact he's gone to Russia adds credence to the idea he was a defector rather than a whistleblower and gives fuel to his critics.

[Creed Bratton]

Problem is he ballsed up his choices. The fact he's gone to Russia adds credence to the idea he was a defector rather than a whistleblower and gives fuel to his critics.

Who cares? Manning didn't try to run and all he got is a possible life sentence. Ask an average American what he thinks about that and his response will probably be "ain't nobody got time for that".

 

No one with half a brain believes that he's a defector anyway. In fact, according to the latest polls I've seen, roughly around 55% of Americans believe him to be a whistleblower. People are too unhappy with the government to buy into cheap attempts of demonizing like they used to. I guess that's why Obama had to go to Jay Leno and do some anti-Snowden propaganda. That was pathetic, by the way.

[sivispacem]

Problem is he ballsed up his choices. The fact he's gone to Russia adds credence to the idea he was a defector rather than a whistleblower and gives fuel to his critics.

Who cares? Manning didn't try to run and all he got is a possible life sentence. Ask an average American what he thinks about that and his response will probably be "ain't nobody got time for that".

 

No one with half a brain believes that he's a defector anyway. In fact, according to the latest polls I've seen, roughly around 55% of Americans believe him to be a whistleblower. People are too unhappy with the government to buy into cheap attempts of demonizing like they used to. I guess that's why Obama had to go to Jay Leno and do some anti-Snowden propaganda. That was pathetic, by the way.

You've sort of made my point for me by acknowledging only a very slim majority of Americans think he's a whistleblower. Simple fact of the matter as you rightly point out is that the vast majority of people don't care, and those that do aren't in any real position to influence policy. It's been nice in the context of creating a debate on the issue of surveillance and the concept of privacy security balance, but the only people in involved in that debate are the security experts and the privacy and liberty advocates, and for the most part neither is listening to the other.

[unc13bud]

 

ALL he got is a possible life sentence

umm.

well, anyway, i doubt Austin would in be for a terrorist attack, Texas is just as bad to live in as Florida as far as I am concerned. I think Dallas would be more likely with all the racism/bigotry there.

but the only person I saw come out to be right about the future was William Cooper... actually, that is my litmus test for successful conspiracy theorists, either shot down by law enforcement officials acting on behalf of the government - or dying of some type of cancer.

[IslaVista]

Infowars? Lol.

 

Seeing as you're an Aussie I would've expected you to see through that kind of political bullsh*t. Infowars is about just as much of a reliable source as Fox's international news.

[NiggMac]

 

What are your thoughts on this?

As an Austinite, this really russels me jimmies

[Acehilm]

 

Infowars? Lol.

 

Seeing as you're an Aussie I would've expected you to see through that kind of political bullsh*t. Infowars is about just as much of a reliable source as Fox's international news.

 

What effects the US, effects us as well. I haven't heard much news on this 'attack' lately. I wonder what is happening.

[sivispacem]

 

What effects the US, effects us as well.

Affects, and congratulations for stating the bleedin' obvious.

 

 

I haven't heard much news on this 'attack' lately. I wonder what is happening.

There's a reason you haven't heard much- because nothing did happen. As usual with Infowars, it's always a great deal of noise and smoke, very little heat.

[Acehilm]

What effects the US, effects us as well.

Affects, and congratulations for stating the bleedin' obvious.

 

 

I haven't heard much news on this 'attack' lately. I wonder what is happening.

There's a reason you haven't heard much- because nothing did happen. As usual with Infowars, it's always a great deal of noise and smoke, very little heat.

Could you please explain the difference between the word, 'effect' and 'affect'. I am serious, I do not know the difference.

[93Sean93]

 

The most recent study was published on July 8th by psychologists Michael J. Wood and Karen M. Douglas of the University of Kent (UK). Entitled “What about Building 7? A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories,” the study compared “conspiracist” (pro-conspiracy theory) and “conventionalist” (anti-conspiracy) comments at news websites.

 

The authors were surprised to discover that it is now more conventional to leave so-called conspiracist comments than conventionalist ones: “Of the 2174 comments collected, 1459 were coded as conspiracist and 715 as conventionalist.” In other words, among people who comment on news articles, those who disbelieve government accounts of such events as 9/11 and the JFK assassination outnumber believers by more than two to one. That means it is the pro-conspiracy commenters who are expressing what is now the conventional wisdom, while the anti-conspiracy commenters are becoming a small, beleaguered minority.

 

Perhaps because their supposedly mainstream views no longer represent the majority, the anti-conspiracy commenters often displayed anger and hostility: “The research… showed that people who favoured the official account of 9/11 were generally more hostile when trying to persuade their rivals.”

 

Additionally, it turned out that the anti-conspiracy people were not only hostile, but fanatically attached to their own conspiracy theories as well. According to them, their own theory of 9/11 – a conspiracy theory holding that 19 Arabs, none of whom could fly planes with any proficiency, pulled off the crime of the century under the direction of a guy on dialysis in a cave in Afghanistan – was indisputably true. The so-called conspiracists, on the other hand, did not pretend to have a theory that completely explained the events of 9/11: “For people who think 9/11 was a government conspiracy, the focus is not on promoting a specific rival theory, but in trying to debunk the official account.”

 

In short, the new study by Wood and Douglas suggests that the negative stereotype of the conspiracy theorist – a hostile fanatic wedded to the truth of his own fringe theory – accurately describes the people who defend the official account of 9/11, not those who dispute it.

 

Additionally, the study found that so-called conspiracists discuss historical context (such as viewing the JFK assassination as a precedent for 9/11) more than anti-conspiracists. It also found that the so-called conspiracists to not like to be called “conspiracists” or “conspiracy theorists.”

 

Both of these findings are amplified in the new book Conspiracy Theory in America by political scientist Lance deHaven-Smith, published earlier this year by the University of Texas Press. Professor deHaven-Smith explains why people don’t like being called “conspiracy theorists”: The term was invented and put into wide circulation by the CIA to smear and defame people questioning the JFK assassination! “The CIA’s campaign to popularize the term ‘conspiracy theory’ and make conspiracy belief a target of ridicule and hostility must be credited, unfortunately, with being one of the most successful propaganda initiatives of all time.”

 

 

In other words, people who use the terms “conspiracy theory” and “conspiracy theorist” as an insult are doing so as the result of a well-documented, undisputed, historically-real conspiracy by the CIA to cover up the JFK assassination. That campaign, by the way, was completely illegal, and the CIA officers involved were criminals; the CIA is barred from all domestic activities, yet routinely breaks the law to conduct domestic operations ranging from propaganda to assassinations.

 

DeHaven-Smith also explains why those who doubt official explanations of high crimes are eager to discuss historical context. He points out that a very large number of conspiracy claims have turned out to be true, and that there appear to be strong relationships between many as-yet-unsolved “state crimes against democracy.” An obvious example is the link between the JFK and RFK assassinations, which both paved the way for presidencies that continued the Vietnam War. According to DeHaven-Smith, we should always discuss the “Kennedy assassinations” in the plural, because the two killings appear to have been aspects of the same larger crime.

 

Psychologist Laurie Manwell of the University of Guelph agrees that the CIA-designed “conspiracy theory” label impedes cognitive function. She points out, in an article published in American Behavioral Scientist (2010), that anti-conspiracy people are unable to think clearly about such apparent state crimes against democracy as 9/11 due to their inability to process information that conflicts with pre-existing belief.

 

In the same issue of ABS, University of Buffalo professor Steven Hoffman adds that anti-conspiracy people are typically prey to strong “confirmation bias” – that is, they seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, while using irrational mechanisms (such as the “conspiracy theory” label) to avoid conflicting information.

 

The extreme irrationality of those who attack “conspiracy theories” has been ably exposed by Communications professors Ginna Husting and Martin Orr of Boise State University. In a 2007 peer-reviewed article entitled “Dangerous Machinery: ‘Conspiracy Theorist’ as a Transpersonal Strategy of Exclusion,” they wrote:

 

“If I call you a conspiracy theorist, it matters little whether you have actually claimed that a conspiracy exists or whether you have simply raised an issue that I would rather avoid… By labeling you, I strategically exclude you from the sphere where public speech, debate, and conflict occur.”

But now, thanks to the internet, people who doubt official stories are no longer excluded from public conversation; the CIA’s 44-year-old campaign to stifle debate using the “conspiracy theory” smear is nearly worn-out. In academic studies, as in comments on news articles, pro-conspiracy voices are now more numerous – and more rational – than anti-conspiracy ones.

 

No wonder the anti-conspiracy people are sounding more and more like a bunch of hostile, paranoid cranks.

[sivispacem]

The glaring omission in that piece, convincing as it may sound to the kind of person who digests this line in bullsh*t-and one that strikes a rational observed immediately and unequivocally, is that people with extremist views are more likely to comment. Discussion tends to provoke extremism and ignore rationality so it stands to reason you see more conspiratorial ramblings than you do conventional comments. Most normal people aren't motivated to comment.

[Clem Fandango]

What effects the US, effects us as well.

Affects, and congratulations for stating the bleedin' obvious.

 

 

I haven't heard much news on this 'attack' lately. I wonder what is happening.

There's a reason you haven't heard much- because nothing did happen. As usual with Infowars, it's always a great deal of noise and smoke, very little heat.

Could you please explain the difference between the word, 'effect' and 'affect'. I am serious, I do not know the difference.

"Affect" is a verb, "effect" is a noun.

[Hollowpoints]

I don't really tend to focus on conspiracy theories, sometimes I'm open minded about them. But seriously, who the hell would even attack Austin? There's no strategic points that would even affect really anything. Not saying anything bad about Austin, I like Texas as a state.