I have a story to tell you. A couple of weeks ago, YouTube decided to suggest in my sidebar that I view a video of Oprah flashing “satanic” eyes. I took the bait. Lo and behold, Oprah closed her eyes and weird snake-like eyes appeared on her eyelids. I spent the next week wondering if there was a chance that Oprah was possessed.
Then, a few days ago, I came across another snake-eye video. This time, it was of Justin Bieber in court. Bieber blinked, and the eyes appeared instead of his usual eyes, AFTER he blinked and not on the lids. There was a link to another video; I watched that too. Jim Carrey and Steve Carell were the possessed/aliens this time. Only THIS time, instead of their eyelids showing the eyes or their whole eye changing, there was a subtle reptilian narrowing of their corneas. Strangely enough, it happened the exact same way for both of them.
You would think, if Hollywood stars were possessed or aliens, the aliens would all have the same subtle shift of the eyes. Instead, each video clip showed a slightly different change. In one, it was on the lids. In another, it was a normal blink, followed by a change in the whole eye. In another, slightly narrowed corneas, like a cat or reptile. All right. Suppose each alien shows the change differently. Why, then, did Jim Carrey and Steve Carell shift the exact same way?
The answer is obvious and simple. Each video is different because each video shows someone else’s idea of what a reptilian or demonic shift would look like. They’re probably catering to all the people who think that “reptilians” have taken over positions of power in our country. Each video has different eyes, because each was altered to look “demonic” or “reptilian” by a different person. We can debate who that editing person is or when it happened to the videos. Maybe there’s someone at the TV station having a joke at the expense of their boss. The point is, they WERE altered, because they’re all different. Put another way, we know that, at the very least, two out of those three videos are lies. (And yet, if the third isn’t a lie, if they actually are reptilians, why would people have to make fake videos? Why not just post the real ones?)
Somebody out there, no, more than one somebody, wants you to be afraid. They want us to be afraid. Maybe they’re just having fun with their little hoax. Maybe it’s more sinister. The point is not just that videos can lie; we all know that. The point is this: Warnings are not always made with the best of intentions. Warnings might just be made by sick people who want to cause panic.
The devil isn’t in the Hollywood stars. It’s in the people who shout “fire” in a crowded movie theater when there is no fire. It’s in the rioters and looters who scream that the government, the aliens, or the demons are out to get us and cause stampedes that crush people to death. If you ever look in THEIR eyes, you probably won’t see slits, but you will see evil.
That doesn’t mean we should never go on YouTube, or we need to avoid conspiracy blogs completely. The truth is out there. We just have to look really hard to find it. Don’t be afraid to believe theories like that. Or rather, do not fear to examine them. Eventually, if you look hard enough, the truth will come out. Certainly, do fear the damage the theories can do if enough people believe them and if YOU believe them, and they’re not true.
One of the worst things that can happen is that a completely sane person will be labeled as “insane” and put in the hospital against their will. Believe me; this has happened. I’ve been in the hospital, and I met someone in there who merely said that someone had poisoned her. With no history of mental illness that I know of, she just thought someone had poisoned her, and she got thrown in the crazy house against her will. I myself explained about a previous mental illness diagnosis in the course of seeking medical treatment, then explained how I thought my medications for that condition had interacted with something else and caused internal bleeding. The first time, when I had the actual internal bleeding (and accompanying blood instead of poop), and an extremely bad stomachache, I got treated. When I went back for a minute to explain how I thought it had happened, i.e. what had interacted with the medications to “poison” me, I got thrown in the psych ward. I’m telling you, never mention “poison” in a New York City hospital. It’s like saying “bomb” at an airport.
When I was in there, one of the worst things I saw is that some of the people weren’t a “danger”; they were just acting strangely. Now, if one day you become convinced that all of Hollywood is composed of reptilian aliens, don’t you think YOU would act a little strangely, maybe start screaming and panicking? Just pray something like that never happens to you in New York City. The scariest thing is that they can hold you there in that psychiatric institution, indefinitely, if they– at least two doctors in NYC (though it’s different in other places)– think you’re a danger to yourself or others. They can hold you for 72 hours even without the doctors, and will sometimes hold you longer, if you don’t know your rights and insist on them, or if the courthouse takes a week or two to hold your hearing, as happened to me. Look up “involuntary commitment,” for more information. Now, if the doctors are paranoid enough to institutionalize any person who mentions poison in the hospital, don’t you think they’d maybe entertain the thought that someone who thought Hollywood was populated by reptilians would be crazy enough to, oh, go kill those reptilians? What if it’s some reasonable, sane person, who might not believe in reptilians, but believes something like it, simply because enough people have said it to them?
That’s not all. After all, theories like that won’t just get you labeled as crazy. Not only could people lock you up if you ever voice them. If you tell someone, it will make them that much less likely to believe that you know what you’re talking about, about prepping, and the fact that they should be prepared, and everything else. If they think you’re doing it to protect yourself from the reptilians, they’re not going to want to do it themselves. So, when the dollar crashes, they’ll be outta luck. However, if you don’t tell anyone, how will you know how crazy you sound? Bouncing ideas off of someone else is sometimes the only way we can reasonably expect to NOT go crazy. So we can’t be afraid of telling other people what we think. We just have to be careful WHO we choose to trust with our innermost thoughts. If you heard “Brake!”, and it saved you from a car crash, it’s perfectly fine to tell your wife. But don’t extrapolate and tell your doctor you’re hearing voices.
These are some rules for ferreting out the truth. Take them or leave them; I am, after all, “mentally ill.” I’ve also learned a thing or two.
First, liars lie, and most of those who tell the truth are not afraid of the truth. Hence, truth-tellers are not afraid to tell you what the liars say, and then refute it with the truth. Liars, however, will not tell you what the other side says, will not refute it, and will instead only tell “their” version of events. How many political races have you seen (most notably the last few presidential elections) where somebody just repeated a lie again and again, hoping people would believe them, no matter how many times the news station or their opponent proved that what they were saying wasn’t true? Those liars never, ever mentioned what the other side was saying. When people tell the truth, they do say what the other side is saying. They’re not afraid of people examining the issue because they know, or hope, that the truth will win out. The one who’s not lying is not afraid of the truth; he’s trying to PROVE the truth, which involves refuting a lie. The liar is trying to HIDE the truth, which involves not bringing it up if nobody else does. See how it works? Liars fear the truth, so much so that they avoid even mentioning it, if possible. Imagine, for a minute, what would happen to a conspiracy blog that published all the mainstream news critiques of the “theory of the day”. Most of the conspiracy theories would collapse. Imagine, for a minute, that those reptilian video posters wrote a critique explaining away the differences between their videos. Do you think they would do such a thing? Why wasn’t I afraid to post about what they said, even if I don’t believe it? Because I could prove it wasn’t true.
Here’s another rule: You should take the time to think; liars won’t want you to. When trying to figure out if something is true, do a search on the people who say it. See if they’re reputable. I’ve stopped myself from clicking on a number of spam emails that way. Another rule for ferreting out spam, or false testimonials: Liars may say they’ve been covered by CNN or NBC, but do they link to the originals, on the CNN website, or give you the web address for it? Do they facilitate your research or just say you should trust them? Spam may say it’s from AOL or your credit card company, and you need to send them this information or that information NOW. If you’re cautious and educated, you’ll know that the real company will never ask you for that information. You’ll also notice that the fakes’ logos look a little funny, and their grammar is poor. You also shouldn’t be afraid to call the company to find out if it’s real. My father almost sent his credit card information to a spammer, but I told him to check if the email really was from PayPal. Think about what spammers, or phishers, are doing for a minute. They want something from you, and they say that something terrible will happen if you don’t give it immediately. Liars, spammers, evildoers sometimes try to make you afraid, and they make you think you need to act NOW, in the hopes that you’ll be irrational because of that fear. They hope you’ll be irrational enough to believe them and do what they say, without checking them out. Always ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen if I take the time to check this out? Are they trying too hard to scare me and not let me think?
Yet, do not be afraid to be afraid. If people weren’t afraid, they wouldn’t have fled from Hurricane Katrina’s wrath, and thousands more would have died. When a legitimate person or group of people, like each news channel in your area, says to fear, then go ahead and panic a little. Do what they tell you. When economist after economist says the dollar’s going to crash, well, maybe it’s time to stash a little Bitcoin, save your gold, and gather together things you might want to trade. When some obscure website says it’s time to panic, do a little research, especially if they’re asking you for anything like money or personal information…or if they mention reptilians.