Stop Normalizing Nuttiness

Can we just stop with the silliness?

Modern communications, particularly social media, have given us a peek into the formerly private beliefs of millions - and the images aren’t inspiring confidence. Some are truly convinced about unrealistic conspiracies. Others might not be, but their promotion of such things in support of growing their influence convinces many of their weak-minded followers. 

 

A recent documentary called “Earthstorms” had an episode on earthquakes. Among those interviewed was a Native American man whose property was devastated. He said, with a straight face and without shame, that he and his people believe earthquakes are the result of giant “Thunder Birds” lifting huge whales from the ocean, carrying them to land, and dropping them from great heights, rattling the earth. His words were accompanied by a cartoon depiction of that event. Solid reporting.

The Flat Earth Society actually exists. It’s not one kooky incel in his mom’s basement, it’s a society. It may have been a legitimate theory 600 years ago, but not when we understand gravity and have views from space.

Many of their members also believe everything NASA does in space to be concocted on a movie set to mislead us as if hundreds - and perhaps thousands - of NASA employees over the decades have all maintained this secret in silence without a single whistleblower looking for a book deal. 

A fair number of folks believe in Bigfoot and other non-existent animals. Not a single one has ever been captured, killed, or had its remains discovered.  “Sasquatch hunters” verbally call out for them, as successfully as whistling for a whale shark, yet they persist.

It still makes international news when someone periodically discovers the “miracle” of Jesus or Mary’s image appearing on a piece of burnt toast, a dirty towel, or the knot of a tree.  Clearly the best means of authentication to the masses from an omnipotent God.  

This isn’t a political thing. All affiliations, races, and genders are represented.  These are not limited to mentally disturbed outliers living under bridges and wearing tinfoil hats (though fear not, we have those, too).  

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Many claim beliefs in some of the most outrageous nonsense, and we all give them recognition. Maybe it’s just for entertainment, but it’s a little frightening when you try to reconcile that many looney tunes are also part of conversations about actual issues.

Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson asked during a Congressional hearing if too many people would cause the island of Guam to tip over on its side and fall into the Pacific Ocean. An elected official actually asked this of a Navy Admiral, who did his best to keep a straight face and his composure.  

After some public backlash, his office later backtracked, calling the question sarcastic, but anyone who has seen the video knows otherwise. This is a person who writes our nation’s laws, and we picked him to represent us. In case you don’t know, he was wrong - islands do not float.

News stories abound about people who’ve married their cars, their houses, their horses, and their sex dolls. Looking for attention? Maybe. And we give it to them.  Their votes count as much as everyone else’s.

Louis Farrakhan has openly and repeatedly promoted the story of “The Myth of Yakub” as true history which he believes and preaches as doctrine. Wikipedia states that according to the legend “Yakub… was a black scientist who lived 6,600 years ago and began the creation of the white race”. Farrakhan has led 50,000-100,000 followers in the Nation of Islam for almost 50 years; that’s 50,000-100,000 people, with a say in our lives, who believe this.

There are still people, despite thousands of recorded fossil discoveries, who think that dinosaurs never existed.  

That aliens arrived, set up our civilizations then left.  

That karma really exists to bring justice to the wicked.  

That mermaids swam the oceans and dragons ruled the skies.  

That water-people thrived in the lost nautical city of Atlantis.  

That a random herb soaked in crocodile semen and stirred with a specific stick will cure cancer (or something like that).  

That AIDS is God’s way of sending a message to homosexuals.  

That making sharks and rhinos and other animals extinct to harvest their cartilage or horns will grow their dicks or make them better lovers.  

That we can “sweat out” toxins in a steam room.  

That we can “pray away the gay” (all nonsense).

People believe what they read in fictional books and see in fictional movies.  I’ve had a person refer to elves and hobbits during a discussion about medieval times. I thought I was being “punked” and started looking around for a hidden camera.  

Paranormal “ghost hunters” sell books and television shows to vast audiences, and use measuring instruments that have zero frame of reference for their efficacy, even if you do believe ghosts are real and responsive.

Organized religion is a larger issue.  

There is an earth-sized elephant in the room which is simply accepted en masse due to religious indoctrination. We have world leaders, whose fingers are on the buttons of our potential destruction, openly admitting beliefs that their invisible creator is more legitimate than their opponents’ invisible creators. The world seeks confirmation about all other aspects of politics but blindly accepts leaders who institute policy based on their perceptions of what an imaginary being would want.

This is no knock on personal faith - even for the faithful, this dilemma is obvious. There are countless religions that can’t all be right, meaning at least some must be delusional. So whether you think they’re all wrong, or just the ones who believe differently than you are wrong, it still leaves powerful people allowing unconfirmable faith to dictate the policies that shape our lives.  The fact that we still have theocratic governments in our technological world is shocking.

“What’s your sign?” used to be a cute attempt at a pickup line, but countless people think that astrology genuinely impacts our lives. It is its own industry, as are psychics (including for pets), raki healing (shaky hands technique), digital psychics (because of course the dead make use of transportation through wires and WiFi), crystal healing, tarot cards, palm reading, mud baths, oxygen bars, ouija boards, and anti-aging treatments.  

Some feel that because they’re adept at first-person racing and shooter video games, they’d make for skilled racecar drivers and soldiers. All fine as hobbies, but actual lifestyles and beliefs? We live in a world where millions of people have paid actual money for the privilege of “raising” a tamagotchi or “caring for” a pet rock.

It’s become so pervasive that we barely take notice anymore. We have no baseline standards - sure you’re bat-guano crazy for thinking the locations of Venus and the moon at the time of your birth dictate the type of person you will become, but I’m interested in your thoughts about immigration. Guess the real world is too complicated to factually understand, and it’s too scary for our snowflake population to even try.   

Zephareth Ledbetter is the author of “A White Man’s Perspectives on Race and Racism”, available as an ebook at smashwords.com/books/view/1184004, and can be reached on Facebook and Twitter