They've got the article online. It's a good read. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/03/science-doubters/achenbach-text
hahahahaha! Fuck man Sent from my iPod touch using Grasscity Forum great thanks dude! Sent from my iPod touch using Grasscity Forum
To be honest after having a spiritual awakening while Going through daily meditation, raw food diet, Pineal gland detox diet to flush out all the heavy toxins and chemicals that was keeping our minds unable to think for oneself and subliminally and chemically blinded to whats really going on in the world, Healthy living i noticed everything we've been taught, well almost everything was a lie and all the fantasy, sci-phi shows and everything else we were told to believe do actually exist and based on real storys and events. We are mostly made up of energy, Infact its almost 100% but we have been conditioned and programmed over thousands of years by the rich and powerful to dull these parts out so that we cannot find out true power. This would create a peaceful world where everyone is treated fairly and guided by love and imagination. The big guys didn't want this because they are living in FEAR which is ultimately False Evidence Appearing Real so they decided to rob the world from the material things and create a world where people would base their entire energy on material things and trick them to believe this is the one and only life. By the time these people are adults they would have flooded themselves with subliminal conditioning by societys lost ways and chemically blinded themselves from all the pharmaceutical drugs, Processed/Fast/Junk foods, Fluoride/mercury added to tap water/toothpastes(that calcifies the part of the part also known as the 3rd eye which lets you see past this illusion most people live in) Money and Religion are also a big role in this blinding. And another reason why cannabis is illegal because it stimulates the 3rd eye and the spiritual higher self, It keeps us in the Present or how spiritual teachers say in the NOW which is the divine state of being and we tend to ignore the outside world and be one with ourselves and the divine. Gladly now millions of people are waking up the truth because since 21st of december 2012 we have broke the barrier to the next stage of evolution which is mostly mental/spiritual and that is why the mayans could not think or see past this point because it was the next level.(if you will) I'll leave it here for now but i hope this helped.
Wow, this could be the most nonsense I've seen put into one post. It would take far to long to dismantle all this so I'll just make a few comments. You say this brainwashing has been happening for thousands of years but all of the methods you list used to control the people, "pharmaceutical drugs, Processed/Fast/Junk foods, Fluoride/mercury added to tap water/toothpastes etc.", have only been around for the last century or so. What methods were used in ancient times, religion excepted? If your assertion that "...we have been conditioned and programmed over thousands of years by the rich and powerful to dull these parts...this would create a peaceful world..." is true, then wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that before there were any rich and powerful people controling us sheeple the world was filled with peace? Fortunately, there are people who like to study things like this and they have found that's not the case. So on what do you base your assertion? One last quick point. This part confuses me "dull these parts out so that we cannot find out true power. This would create a peaceful world where everyone is treated fairly and guided by love and imagination". Are you trying to say that since everything, including people, are made up of energy, that if given the opportunity everyone would choose egalitarianism? That could be the single most naive statement I've ever heard. There will always be parasitic people who will take advantage of naive people like you and that fact has nothing to do with the rich and powerful or being blinded. I'm sure it's not what you want to hear but world peace is an illusion and will never be reached.
Great idea for a thread. relevant to this is the backfire effect you could end up having someone dig in and further rationalize their beliefs in the face of criticism. In addition to Shermer's book I recommend You are not so Smart and the accompanying podcast. YANSS is a nice non psych major introduction to pitfalls in thinking. also this podcast for those interested in superstition and other pitfalls of thinking. See if your library has this lecture series This topic is greatly interesting to me and I generally try to confront it in my friends/colleagues. The research, as I recall, suggests that you should point someone towards evidence and not just tell them they're wrong. Make them explain their beliefs and highlight the holes (how do you think that works?). People often come around to the evidence and will act as if they accepted it all along. Plant the seed of skepticism and let it grow. Great answers in this thread. I think the awakening post is satire, just SO over the top.
People are always going to rationalize their beliefs. I really don't give a shit. I don't care about convincing someone who is superstitious that they are wrong. However, I think religion is dangerous, so I take a different approach to that. I attempt to talk to people without pissing them off so they don't tune me out by default. False belief systems don't bother me. Only false belief systems that are dangerous bother me.
Only to add "in bed" to the end of them Sorry, I'm such a child sometimes Superstitions are kind of like the placebo effect, like some people get from taking from homeopathic 'medications'. They take it, or adhere to whatever superstition, and they feel positive effects following doing so. Is the drug or superstition actually responsible for these positive effects? Of course not. But it appears to be a simple example of cause and effect. So it's repeated, the person is prepared for the effects, and what do you know? Their brain follows through with them.