Good time to reup my article about the big flaw in conspiracy theories: human beings mess up all the time.
But when you actually think through what it'd take for these plots to be true, hundreds even thousands of people must exhibit a superhuman competence
arcdigital.media/the-human-fall…
9/11 conspiracy theories require Twin Towers maintenance and security workers to have never noticed anything, or to all be in on it. The NYPD, FDNY, and various federal agents too. And all of them executed it perfectly, leaving no evidence, and all kept quiet for years.
Come on.
The alleged mass voter fraud conspiracies would need hundreds of thousands of fake ballots, which would take thousands of people to execute the scheme in various locations. Such a thing would leave tons of easily apparent evidence.
Remember, we're talking about human beings here.
It's funny looking back on this article now, because one of the conspiracy theories it shoots down as requiring too much perfection from too many people was claims that hackers changed vote totals in 2016 (in exactly the right states, leaving no evidence).
arcdigital.media/the-human-fall…

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More from @NGrossman81

11 Nov
Abrams acknowledged her loss, though maintained it was unfair, so she's already ahead of where GOP is now.
Her opponent was the official who oversees Georgia elections. He purged 340k voters from the rolls, many of them black. Abrams lost by <55k.
What's the equivalent in 2020?
After a successful lawsuit forced Georgia's now-governor Brian Kemp to release a list of purged voters, analysis revealed Kemp claimed thousands of voters he purged had moved out of the state, except they hadn't.
What's the equivalent evidence re: 2020?
rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
I know that "whatabout Stacey Abrams?" is a go-to move for people looking to excuse Trump's behavior, but we've never seen evidence-free claims of mass fraud and refusal to acknowledge results before.
The weakness of this whatabout highlights how abnormal that Trumpist claim is.
Read 4 tweets
7 Nov
False. There's no standard by which Trump didn't "get us into any new wars" that doesn't also apply to Obama.
Both did drone strikes. Both added troops to some ongoing conflicts and withdrew some others. Both bombed regime targets in a new country but didn't invade (Libya, Syria)
Trump also generated greater confrontation with Iran by scrapping JCPOA without cause and bombed an Iran government target, Soleimani, the first military commander of a foreign state the US killed since WWII. In response, Iran bombed a US military target for the first time ever.
I've heard from various types of people that Trump is the first POTUS in a while not to start any new wars, or was more generally anti-war, and it's false. Some are lying, many are just misguided, but either way, it's wrong.
And yet, this inaccurate claim seems likely to persist.
Read 5 tweets
9 Sep
The main reason DHS and other US gov security agencies consider white supremacists a threat is that white supremacist terrorists have killed more Americans in recent years than any other type of terrorist (see the El Paso Walmart shooting, the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, more)
Pittsburgh synagogue shooting was white supremacist because the terrorist targeted Jews because a Jewish org helped resettle Middle Eastern refugees.
El Paso shooting was because the terrorist targeted Latinos to defend whites from the "great replacement" of nonwhite immigration.
.@ConceptualJames doesn't understand terrorism, nor how terrorist analysts classify some attacks as white supremacist.
By fixating on personal bugaboos, he's effectively apologizing for white supremacist terrorism.
And that's the charitable interpretation.
Read 6 tweets
13 May
The argument here is it was totally unfair that the sitting administration's top foreign policy, national security, and law enforcement officials found out who was conducting secret conversations with Russia's ambassador about undermining the administration's foreign policy.
Try thinking it through:
US intelligence is monitoring Russia's ambassador--of course they are, not least because he's known to be involved with Russian intelligence--and catch him talking to an American about undermining US foreign policy. So they have to... willfully ignore it?
Logan Act stuff is silly. Incoming officials reaching out to foreign counterparts is fine.
But US officials knew Russia conducted a big intel op against the US, and knew this convo with Kislyak was hidden from the US gov. Not finding out who it was would be a dereliction of duty.
Read 5 tweets
31 Mar
The accusation "fascist" gets thrown around too easily these days, and I've argued that defining fascism down is an analytical and political mistake.
But that Adrian Vermeule article in the Atlantic is fairly labeled, at minimum, fascist compatible.
That's because
1/x
Vermeule denounces "individualist autonomy" and calls for "respect for the authority of rule and rulers" and "hierarchies" that, he argues, should show a "candid willingness to 'legislate morality.'"
Fascist theorist Alfredo Rocco called this subservience "organicism."
2/x
As @ethanbdm notes, an authoritative state paradoxically creating "freedom" is a key component of fascism.
Vermeule's "common good" vision is explicitly religious, with the state forcing people to adhere to his version of traditional Catholic morality.
3/x
Read 5 tweets
7 Mar
A few words about Bo Winegard (@EPoe187), who just lost his tenure-track job at Marietta College:
I don't know why they did it and can't evaluate it. But I can say it's unusual to let a prof go after < 3 years, especially one who, like Bo, has published peer-reviewed work.
1/x
No one on Twitter discusses contentious issues more civilly than Bo. I've disagreed with him on things minor & major, and he's always up for real dialogue. Many come at him aggressively, and he tries dialogue with them too.
Some preach civility and don't practice it. Bo does.
2/x
I'm familiar with criticisms of Bo--I've raised some myself--and while I'm not in the camp who thinks nothing should be out of bounds, placing Bo's arguments out of bounds is a mistake.
We're all better off when there's some space for real dialogue on controversial issues.
3/x
Read 5 tweets

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