Thread by @conan_esq

I enjoy speculating about fringe paranormal and conspiratorial topics, but I am increasingly careful about this because either of us could go crazy.

You roll your eyes. I understand. Everyone knows that beat from a hundred stories. But it is in fact real.

This is what happens to many in alternative diet circles. Keto, carnivore, vegan, fruitarian, etc. Merits argument aside, the rabid obsession people get with these diets the grip of esoteric insanity. They were exposed to ideas they weren’t prepared for.

Same also for political manias like Qanon, Russiagate, etc. These people are not mentally or spiritually prepared to be exposed to or involved in state/spycraft. So they become possessed by the new idea.

By not prepared, I mean that they encounter a powerful idea that forces a massive and rapid reordering of their perception of reality. They don’t have the experience and framework to incorporate it safely. It’s like catching a pokemon you can’t control.

It takes on paramount importance. Not only are you being reshaped according to the new idea, but also now forced to consider the prospect of other still unknown powerful new ideas. You don’t even need to understand the idea, if it’s symbolic.

The result is a mania. You may restructure your life around it to detriment, like guys who become all about JFK or whatever. You may proselytize and expose your insanity, to detriment also. You won’t have peace.

It’s so important! It changes everything! Why won’t other people also change their behavior in light of this new discovery? I can prove everything! I have the evidence right here, look…

This can even happen with religious conversion, at various points, and is among the reasons spiritual direction is so absolutely important.

Ideas smuggled in memes also have this effect. It’s dangerous to be online. Will the meme re-order you to insanity? Will you be the young man or woman who takes the meme too seriously and doesn’t mediate it into real life?

This example really has it all. Do you realize there are people on here RIGHT NOW made insane by this meme? or by mommy milkers or smoking or no trigger discipline or whatever other meme that needs a degree of maturity to incorporate safely?

This is the joke about making anime real. You are defying reality by trying to bring internet forms into the this world. It has to be translated into context. If you can’t/don’t, there is risk.

The risk of insanity is just the ante to play. You’re in for this risk whether you get a theory right or wrong. Whether we went to the moon or not, I talked to a lot of people about at 19–20 before I realized nobody else was going to bite. Nobody cared. Mildly insane.

Nobody cares because they instinctively avoid the risks you’re taking. You’re flipping over logs and poking around in caves for forbidden knowledge. You’re on the left hand path. They call it left hand cuz you have to think about it consciously; it’s awkward and clunky.

I’ve said this before. You can believe none of them. Or you can shoot the moon and believe all of them. But you should not believe ONE of them, because that’s when you can really get distorted.

When i throw new arguments or rhetoric at you guys i try hard to package it in a way that gives you a good install manual. As weird as it sounds i’ve been concerned about this for a minute. Not sure if i’m achieving the right balance. Got me feeling like John Glenn on set.