Rev Roger, Tales from the City #1: Conspiracy Nuts

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Jeff is what most people would call a conspiracy nut.  He firmly believes that there is a vast conspiracy by "the powers that be" (henceforth referred to as "TPTB") to kill off a big chunk of humanity, and reduce the survivors to serfdom.  He believes that both political parties are mere tools of TPTB, and that the entire government has been corrupted and works towards the ends of TPTB.

Some people laugh at Jeff...some people, but not me.  Jeff is, of course, more right than he knows...The proof of this being that if the government is willing to admit to things like the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments, inventing crack cocaine to fund CIA adventures, and spraying "harmless" viral agents over 2 American cities for the purpose of studying biological warfare...what are they not telling us?

Until a few months ago, Jeff was a republican who was for the various wars we are in, thought that torture was acceptable if unpalatable, and that one party was actually out for our best interests.  Watching him snap out of these particular delusions was refreshing; it gives me a bit of hope that maybe I'm wrong about the general run of mankind...that perhaps if the average Joe was given 10 minutes to catch his breath, then there would be a cleansing of the temple.

The only downside is that when you first open your eyes, there's so many hideous truths to see that you start thinking that everything is something sinister.  This tends to make an individual a little shrill, because the panic that sets in when you realize that everyone around you still believes that everything is fine tends to make you panic a little.  The solution?  "Bob".  Hand the poor bastard a copy of Revelation X, and point out chapter two.

A person who just now sees that there's a huge goddamn machine bearing down on him isn't really ready for Eris.  Not yet.  First he needs "Bob", and the capacity to laugh at doom that "Bob" brings.  He needs to read Orton Nenslo's essays on not freaking out and making yourself totally unbelievable.  He needs a little perspective...the CoN has been setting this shit up for 300 years, so you aren't going to topple it tomorrow, and many Greys will KILL you before they let you upset their comfortable little delusions.

In short, a new biped needs to learn to not toss himself beneath the clattering treads of The Machine.

So what do you do when you know someone like who Jeff used to be, maybe someone who still isn't quite awake, but is smart enough to sense that maybe things aren't as pretty and nice as we're told?  Don't preach at them.  That will simply make YOU unbelievable.  No, instead, it's better to occasionally bring up an ugly fact or two, in a casual manner.  That way, when he starts screaming that the government is rounding up citizens and we need to grab our shotguns and put The Machine down, you can explain the truth to him with a little credibility. 

You can explain to him that the LAST thing he needs to do is go off half-cocked, and become just another example of the "lone nut" or "domestic terrorist" to showcase on the evening news.  You can explain to him that there ARE ways to fight back, ways that don't result in a beneath-the-fold headline about a guy that shot up a DMV or whatever the hell else was handy.  And if this happens enough, if we give a damn enough to help guys like Jeff orient themselves to a terrifying new reality, then our numbers grow...and as our numbers grow, so does our ability to deal with the horrible shit that's being done to us.
 
This is a patience game.  The CoN is strong, but it makes mistakes, and the noose hasn't quite closed yet, so there's no need to panic just yet.  What we need is to learn to discern between the average cabbage and guys like Jeff.  And even though there IS time, there ISN'T an infinite amount of it.

So this is how the world is changed.  Not from the presidential podium, not from the pulpit, but instead at Denny's and the local coffee shop and wherever the hell else you find folks like Jeff.  But Jeff isn't going to come to you, so allow me to suggest that maybe you take some of the time you have dedicated to bickering on the internet and use it out on the street, looking for our glorious horde of freaks with which to TEAR DOWN THE ABOMINATION THAT STANDS ON THE NECKS OF OUR FELLOW MUTANTS!  GET OFF YOUR ARSE WHILE YOU STILL HAVE ONE! 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Or Kill Me.

[Jasper]

How do you do that?  How do you pick things out of people's heads that they don't even have words for yet, then write about them like this?

Anyhow, I'm saving this.  This touched me, right down to the bottom of my heart.  Maybe deeper, perhaps even as low as the colon.

[Jenne]

  WOW.  Felix is right, this resonates deep, deep down.  Well done, Rog--informational, advising, but not patronizing or pedantic.  Perfect.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

How do you do that?  How do you pick things out of people's heads that they don't even have words for yet, then write about them like this?

Rain God.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

  WOW.  Felix is right, this resonates deep, deep down.  Well done, Rog--informational, advising, but not patronizing or pedantic.  Perfect.

Thanks.   

[Bu🤠ns]

First,

Second, I probably know a good four or five Jeffs.  They like to talk to me about "truth" and yet, for some reason, i just can't seem to get through to them.  A common thing about the Jeffs I know is they don't really give you much room for input.  It's like as long as they can get you to smile and nod at their delusions then they're reinforced.  ... Perhaps it's time I read a little Revelation X...and this Orton Nenslo sounds quite interesting.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

First,

Second, I probably know a good four or five Jeffs.  They like to talk to me about "truth" and yet, for some reason, i just can't seem to get through to them.  A common thing about the Jeffs I know is they don't really give you much room for input.  It's like as long as they can get you to smile and nod at their delusions then they're reinforced.  ... Perhaps it's time I read a little Revelation X...and this Orton Nenslo sounds quite interesting.

Orton Nenslo, hate-wise, is to me what I am to Mr Rogers.

[Elder Iptuous]

very nice.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

very nice.

A golf clap?   

Have I lost my mojo?

[Bu🤠ns]

seriously...

"The Twenty-first century, for its first few years, was starting to look like the worst century of my life. That part where that one insane billionaire master criminal made all the other insane billionaire master criminals mad so that everybody else in the world now has to be treated as if THEY are insane master criminals to insure their safety, that was the part I really didn't like. Being expected to act grateful for the fact that my "safety" is in the hands of people who believe I will murder thousands if I am allowed to carry a plastic fork seems a lot for the Global Plutocracy to demand of me."

Orton Nenslo

...This guy is awesome!

[Requia ☣]

I've been hearing a lot of Jeff's at work.  It's funny as hell to see somebody finally admit that the Republicans are just serving their corporate masters, then rant at Democrats that the Dems are doing the same thing.

[Elder Iptuous]

very nice.

A golf clap?   

Have I lost my mojo?

No. it was fuckin awesome.
i was just attempting to show austere erudition to maintain the respectible nature of the foil hattery (which i share) as presented in the rant.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

very nice.

A golf clap?   

Have I lost my mojo?

No. it was fuckin awesome.
i was just attempting to show austere erudition to maintain the respectible nature of the foil hattery (which i share) as presented in the rant.

Oh, okay.  Had me worried, there.

[Requia ☣]

It occurs to me, in retrospect, that I *am* a Jeff, just one that got started early.

[Faust]

Whenever I talk to any Conspiracy Nuts or anyone in a postion of power I never try to preach at them, I don't even try to drop the horrible facts, those are becoming plain to see for even the most dimwitted now besides if the sinister plan has become so transparent then its probably entering its final stages  (or at least a crucial part),
what I do is just make OUR con seem like the more fun, more Interesting and more in control option.

Discord: we get laid more then the Bavarian Illuminati.