We are all wondering 'How can anyone believe this crap?'
Very simply - 'white noise' - or as I refer to it 'black noise'.
On the Constitutey board, a long time ago, I linked to a theorem about the capability of creating lies much faster than they can be refuted.
Can't remember the theorem's moniker - it was along the lines of Murphy's Law - "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong." Haven't been able to 'relocate' that theorem (or post) so if anyone else has a better memory or search capabilities - would appreciate it being recontributed. *s*
Anywhoose - on the issue of 'black noise' and why would anyone believe, I'll offer the following.
We have been accusing people of being 'uninformed' or just plain stupid because they don't see the truth.
That is actually unfair of us.
The internet has resulted in 'information overload', too much bullshit generated by way too many sources.
Many of those sources are quite brilliant psychopaths that can spin extremely believable lies far faster than they can be refuted. The search engines for TRUE information have been subverted to promoting lies, and without the aid of legitimate search engines, how does one REALLY discern truth from falsehood ?
Even I, a reasonably intelligent person, am having a harder and harder time discerning truth from falsehoods on a variety of subjects.
WHY IS THIS ? TOO MUCH INFORMATION ! - ie. 'black noise'.
Black noise is intentional signal jamming, but behaves the same as 'white noise'. White noise is technically random noise at all frequencies that, when high enough, can actually obscure or even completely drown out actual signal (ergo - the 'signal to noise ratio').
Black noise is INTENTIONAL WHITE NOISE meant to drown out the signal, ie. true information.
Trusted sources are drowned out by far more unknown sources.
So can we really blame people for NOT knowing the obvious truth in the face of overwhelming noise that obfuscates everything else ?
Rather than being a GOOD SOURCE for disseminating real knowledge, the internet has become/is becoming a river of unwade-able BULLSHIT - and sniffing out the truth has become damn near impossible over the stench.
Much easier to "Baffle them with Bullshit" than to 'dazzle them with brilliance'.
And too damn much 'information' makes the baffling a fairly simple task.