Sure sounds like he’s describing my website and the people who frequent it every day. I never considered myself the lunatic fringe. I think I’m a middle class American trying to raise a family in an increasingly corrupt, delusional world. I try to analyze everything based upon facts, not emotions or storylines spun by those in power. The article below comes to the correct conclusion. There will be bloodshed. Those in power today will not be in power in 15 years. The existing social order will be swept away. Long live the lunatic fringe.
The Rise Of America’s Lunatic Fringe
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/30/2013 21:43 -0500
Authored by chindit
The Rise Of America’s Lunatic Fringe
Anyone who spends any amount of time on the internet has seen them.
They are the moonbats, the wingnuts, the whackjobs, the Conspiratorialists. They are America’s new Lunatic Fringe, and their numbers are growing.
While the rise of the internet fed a segment of society that has always existed, when the cyberworld became an increasingly important source both of entertainment and information, an entirely new demographic joined what was already amongst us.
Who are they and what do they believe? The Lunatic Fringe is not uniform in either its background or beliefs. Some clearly seem to be emotionally disturbed. Some are racist and hateful. Others are simply naïve and gullible, or uninformed. Still more are frustrated by an economy and a government that are behaving out of whack with what most people expected from life and from leadership. They want to believe America stands for something noble, but it is increasingly felt by them that it does not. They are confused, frustrated, and disappointed. They feel violated and betrayed. They grow angrier by the day. Some harbor a diffuse rage which could blow at any time. Others have figuratively thrown in the towel and have joined the ranks of what are called Preppers and Survivalists.
Collectively, though individually they differ, the beliefs of the Fringe conspiracies behind the JFK assassination, the lunar landing, and 911. The collective also includes the Birthers, and believers in everything from FEMA Camps to chemtrails to that retro old favorite of Colonel Jack Ripper, fluoridation. The Fringe holds beliefs that have the world controlled variously by the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Bilderbergers, Bohemian Grove, Skull and Bones, the Council on Foreign Relations, 33rd Degree Freemasons, the Vatican, the Queen of England, or just The Illuminati. Every event and every incident in the world is affected by some Master Plan carried out by whomever the believer chooses from the aforementioned gallery of rogues. For many, al Qaeda is really al CIAda, and the prime directive of that organization, along with all the other USG alphabet agencies, is to further the goals of the elite, usually through some “false flag” operation or “psy-op”, and funded through illicit drug sales.
Believers can “prove” each and every one of their claims via a series of cross-referenced and circular internet links, the source of many undoubtedly just someone’s fertile imagination, but very real to the believers.
To the uninitiated this all seems rather humorous, albeit slightly unsettling. It would be both wrong and unwise, however, just to slough it off as the ramblings of the insane. The reason such beliefs are gaining favor is because many Americans have lost faith and lost trust in the government and America’s elected leadership. Given what has happened over the last decade, this is not only understandable, it is even, in an odd way, reasonable. A continual drift to the fringe can be expected because of the many very real things that make the foolish things suddenly more believable.
Why have the people lost faith and trust? There is a host of reasons, perhaps beginning with the war of choice in Iraq and the vociferous and passionate claims of WMD that turned out to be false. That war cost lives, cost sympathy and diplomatic capital, and cost trillions even when America was told by former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz that the war “would pay for itself from oil sales” and that “Americans would be welcomed with garlands”. Neither was anything close to accurate. Instead the US has war dead, war wounded, a huge bill, fewer friends, and many more enemies.
What truly exacerbated the rush to the fringe were the Financial Crisis and the subsequent railroaded bailouts, which “democratic”
America opposed to the tune of 97%, and which were, and still are viewed as rewarding the very people who caused the collapse. The oft-spoken official claims that “the taxpayer made a profit on the bailouts” just adds salt to the taxpayers’ wounds, as it conveniently fails to take into account the host of programs—from TALF to ZIRP to QEI, II, and III and Twist—that virtually handed the banks the money with which they could “pay back” the bailout cash.
America sees backroom deals and favors to insiders every step of the way, and rightfully so they see this, because that is exactly how the bailout was affected. No one had to pay for his mistakes, and equally significant, no one has been prosecuted despite overwhelming evidence of fraud, malfeasance, and corruption. Americans cannot help but subscribe to the cynical quip, “everyone is equal under the law, except for those who are above it”. Fines don’t count, especially when the money to pay them comes right back through another door.
America’s prisons are filled with people who did little more than use a banned substance. It’s time some bankers and officials faced the possibility of similar accommodations, as their crimes are greater and victims substantially more.
The belief that all is not fair is further cemented when the Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer can be taped (PBS, “Frontline”) saying, “Well, I think I am pursuing justice. And I think the entire responsibility of the department is to pursue justice. But in any given case, I think I and prosecutors around the country, being responsible, should speak to regulators, should speak to experts, because if I bring a case against institution A, and as a result of bringing that case, there’s some huge economic effect — if it creates a ripple effect so that suddenly, counterparties and other financial institutions or other companies that had nothing to do with this are affected badly — it’s a factor we need to know and understand.”
No matter how one parses that quote it still says the same thing: some are above the law.
The American people are well aware they have been lied to by the leadership. They know that a lobbyist has an infinitely greater chance of getting his way than an entire nation of voters. They know who pays the bills—the taxpayer—as well as who pays the politicians—the lobbyists. They see the Federal Debt ballooning to Greek-like proportions, and the best Congress can do, other than take vacation or kick the can, is to tell Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to “get to work, Mr. Chairman”, which means print more money, monetize the deficit, and further dilute the value of the dollar.
Even some people within the government are undoubtedly growing frustrated. Imagine someone in DEA, FBI, CIA, or the military, who sees the slap on the wrist fine handed to a certain non-US bank for a decade or more of drug money laundering and laundering money for Iran, some of which might well have found its way to Hezbollah or to parties aiding the Iraqi insurgency. There are people in Waziristan who face the wrath of a drone-fired Hellfire missile with less evidence to back up the attack. This bank, incidentally, received a $3.5 billion payment-in-full upon the US taxpayer bailout of insurer AIG.
When trust is gone, everything becomes an affront, a conspiracy, a power grab by the elite. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which gives the President incredibly broad powers, seems to obviate both habeas corpus and the entire Bill of Rights. When the trust is gone, people are less willing to believe that such a bill would never be used recklessly, or vindictively to put down vocal opponents of whatever Administration happens to be in power at the time. When trust is gone, the people question new efforts to alter the Second Amendment, even if many are personally outraged at the rash of gun violence that has come to epitomize the United States, so they rush to guns rather than run from them. When the trust is gone, the message of the Lunatic Fringe is afforded greater reception. When the trust is gone the Fringe grows into the mainstream. When trust is gone in some aspects of governance, all governance is questioned.
The government can no longer afford to ignore the Lunatic Fringe, because it is becoming less loon and more understandably and righteously indignant every day. The government did not create the Fringe, but through callous disregard, incompetence, blatant self-interest, cronyism, selective enforcement, and pandering to its financial support base, the government has fertilized the fringe until it has grown to redwood-like size. The nation’s leadership is viewed not with respect, but with distrust. It is not the solution, but the problem. It has morphed from friend to enemy, at least for a not insignificant portion of the citizenry. The fringe is not going to go away, but instead it will grow. Its wounds will fester. It will continue to hammer away at an already fragile society. It may well lead to significant social unrest, even violence, and that violence is likely to be directed at those seen as responsible for the fiscal, financial and moral decay, which means the elite and the government that is seen as catering to it. New records in the Dow will not alter the focus, nor ameliorate the bubbling rage, even if the financial media or the Federal Reserve thinks it will. This growing demographic of citizens must have its concerns addressed before it is too late.
Woe to those who ignore it, because they will become the targets, rightfully or not.
To paraphrase a certain career New York Senator, “Mr. Government, get to work!” Or better yet, get out of the way.
efarmer says:
My family thinks I am one of those on the fringe.
I think they are all clueless and in denial.
We will soon find out who is right.
EF
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31st January 2013 at 8:37 am
Stigmation says:
Efarmer
Excellent point. I am in the same situation. I think we will soon see who is right. However, I think however it pans out, its a “No win situation for America”. Hard to envision a way this comes out in favor of people that respect the Constitution.
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31st January 2013 at 8:55 am
JIMSKI says:
We are not conspiracy wack jobs. Ok some of us are not. OK I am not.
What we do ( me ) is to use sources of information to prove a point.
SOURCES.
Building7.com is not a source. Prison planet is not a source. Shadowstats is a source and the government does put out data that can be a source but you have to work on it. Lucky for me JQ does the heavy lifting and always posts the source.
That is the difference between TBP and other places on the net. For the most part the articles can be backed up with proof and the author does not just post idiotic statements like ” a plane never hit the pentagon ” or ” they are seeding the planet with poison look at contrails ”
Now for the bad part. This is why you do not have the audience of a prison planet ( OMG thank god ) or drudge. Your standards of proof are too high and your message is too depressing for most sheep.
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31st January 2013 at 8:57 am
card802 says:
My wife is a dreamer, like many of my friends, they are mainstream, I’m definitely more on the fringe.
They believe that through education of the mass’s we the people can change the direction our government is headed.
This would only work if the majority of those in government gave a shit about we the people. There are some who care, but they are like token pawns, never in any position of real power.
America will be transformed into something new when this is all over, the America of the past is dead. What America will be is anybody’s guess, far too many variables.
I gave up a while back trying to talk to people about all the signs, and like EF, when we see who is right, who will really care?
I just hope I’m alive and still able to help those closest to me.
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31st January 2013 at 9:00 am
Zarathustra says:
For what it’s worth, I believe the moon landings were real and that 9/11 was an inside job.
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31st January 2013 at 9:21 am
Gayle says:
For most of my life I held such conventional views. Now I’m proud to wear the LF badge, although it ain’t an easy label or worldview. A few years ago a daughter said, ” Mom, you’ve got to read this book called “You Are a being Lied To.” Naw. A few years later, a son, after a second deployment to Iraq, said “Mom, don’t believe anything you see on the news.” Huh?? Now these two just roll their eyes at me and immediately counter any LF suggestions. Am I an obnoxious part of the LF? I hope not. I guess one of the defining qualities of being a lunatic is being consistently obnoxious to others, even if you’re nice about it.
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31st January 2013 at 9:22 am
Welshman says:
You are well love on TBP E-Farmer. You are on my Salt of the Earth list.
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31st January 2013 at 9:48 am
Eddie says:
Not everyone on the fringe is a lunatic.
The internet gives a voice to anyone who wants to use it bad enough. Sure, it brings out the cranks and crackpots, but it also give a voice to people who hit the nail right on the head.
Dangerous for people who want to be in complete and total control.
I too consider myself a middle class American just trying to make the best of a less than stellar siuation. The truth as I see it is that we’re in a hell of a mess, and headed for inevitable disaster of Biblical proportions. Does that make me a nut? Maybe…we’ll see.
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31st January 2013 at 9:57 am
Thinker says:
Interesting essay. There are many times I’ve questioned if being part of the LF is correct… any of the INTJs on this site probably have, too; it’s in our nature to question and reassess and develop new ideas when presented with contradictory information.
Yet, the author makes the point that the LF is really no longer the fringe… that it’s becoming mainstream as more and more citizens lose trust in government.
“The nation’s leadership is viewed not with respect, but with distrust. It is not the solution, but the problem. It has morphed from friend to enemy, at least for a not insignificant portion of the citizenry.”
We all know this is true, and the conclusion that this will escalate to violence if our concerns are not addressed is also correct. Most of us are students of history here… we know it’s not the first time (nor the last) that the world has seen this very sequence of events.
Fringe? Maybe temporarily. Lunatics? I think not.
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31st January 2013 at 9:57 am
Administrator says:
Quinn family watching TV. The average middle class family.
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31st January 2013 at 10:03 am
ragman says:
I am proud to be a part of TBP and if that makes me part of the “Lunatic Fringe”, so be it! Also, why would prepping and practicing “survivalism” be considered “throwing in the towel”? Seems to me it would be just the opposite. Incidentally, “Lunatic Fringe” was a great song from the ’80s by Red Rider(Tom Cochrane).
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31st January 2013 at 10:23 am
underfire says:
I’ve been out there for about twenty years, since I began reading people like Gerald Swenson, Harry Figgie, Pete Petersen, and Matt Simmons. I’m getting a little more respect lately.
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31st January 2013 at 10:36 am
OF says:
Also an article on Daily Bell….
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31st January 2013 at 10:42 am
sangell says:
The lunatic fringe, and there are some here who qualify, are those who see things in black and white, who imagine there is evil loose upon the land but that it can be found and eradicated because it exists only among a specific and identifiable population. That there answers to everything and that they have them. That beliefs are more valid than facts.
Here is a interesting quote I found today at the Telegraph in story on another windmill toppling in Britain.
I am James Lovelock, scientist and author, known as the originator of Gaia theory, a view of the Earth that sees it as a self-regulating entity that keeps the surface environment always fit for life… I am an environmentalist and founder member of the Greens but I bow my head in shame at the thought that our original good intentions should have been so misunderstood and misapplied. We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs. We need take care that the spinning windmills do not become like the statues on Easter Island, monuments of a failed civilisation.
Mr. Lovelock was writing to a local paper in Devon, England in opposition to the construction of a windfarm in his community!
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31st January 2013 at 10:46 am
AWD says:
Wasn’t Galileo nearly put to death for his ideas?
It takes an extraordinary amount of effort to disconnect from the MSM matrix, the political lies and hocus pocus, the propaganda, the constant attempt at brainwashing, the pure unadulterated bullshit that is being shoved down our throats each and every day.
Every once in awhile, a real nutjob happens by, and we see, by example, that they are unbalanced, deluded, and brain dead. It is our job to coat them in shit and straighten their ass out. Where else can we find like-minded people without leaving the house or office?
Admin and the TBP band
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31st January 2013 at 11:01 am
Cynical30 says:
Questioning authority, “official” stories, power grabs and bunk statistics/propaganda makes you a lunatic? Beam me up, Scotty.
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31st January 2013 at 11:05 am
efarmer says:
Welshman,
You guys are like family. Except I learn things here.
EF
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31st January 2013 at 11:15 am
AWD says:
We need Stucky back.
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31st January 2013 at 11:17 am
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:
The key issue in this article is not really about the “lunatic fringe”, it is about the total lack of trust and confidence in their central government by an increasingly larger number of citizens.
Admin wrote a great article about this lack of trust issue and it bears reposting again, IMHO.
It has to be said that the “lunatic fringe” is so designated by TPTB because these are the folks that refuse to drink the fed.gov provided KoolAid. These are the “red pill” people that have unplugged from The Matrix and are looking behind The Curtain of The Great and Wonderful Oz.
Now the “lunatic fringe” has an international forum, ie the internet, to test their ideas, the FOIA to force TPTB to disclose their shit and is likely heavily armed. Hmmmm, and just how long can we expect this happy state of affairs to continue?
That being said, should we ever meet up, I’ll be the one wearing one of these:
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31st January 2013 at 11:27 am
Wyoming Mike says:
The article is about RE, not TPB as a whole.
After analyzing this for several years, I have come to the conclusion that those who he refers to here as the lunatic fringe want freedom and are willing to fight for it on a daily basis, those that are not part of the lunatic fringe are content to be slaves.
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31st January 2013 at 11:29 am
DaveL says:
I’m a 72 year old man who is not ashamed nor do I feel guilty, for being white, middle income and born in America. I worked for what I have and if you don’t have it that’s your fucking problem. I don’t owe anybody shit. I don’t trust the federal government or any fucking politician or lawyer and most other people. I don’t respect most black people, but don’t hate them. I don’t hate gay people but I have no respect for them. They can live they’re life as long as they don’t demand that I must accept their lifestyle. Basically, my fringe is simply “leave me the fuck alone.” Although, I must admit, that I don’t currently own a gun, but I do fantasize about blowing the balls off of Martin Bashir, Chris Matthews, Ed Schlutz, Lawrence O’Donnell and Ralph Maddow over at MSNBC.
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31st January 2013 at 11:46 am
Pete says:
Not crazy at all to question TPTB.
Go to the original post at Zero Hedge to see the comments in response to this “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain” spiel.
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31st January 2013 at 11:53 am
matt says:
Card is right, America of the past is dead. Maybe that isn’t bad. The key is being prepared for what the next America will be like. I can’t see many ways to survive in the future without being completely self-efficient for food, power, housing and transportation. You will need secured property that has solar, wind and water available and the ability to grow your own food. Forget about paper currency unless you need to wipe your keester. Guns, ammo, silver and other items to barter and a homestead that can be defended from startegic positions. You will need skills and tools.
Get away from the city, that will be the wrong place to be when it unravels. I haven’t heard of any Blackhawk military drills in the boonies, only metro areas. This ain’t about Al-Qaida boys and girls.
I have been investing in silver (after joining TBP) and this past Christmas I really upgraded my tools and organized them correctly. My Harley sits ready for use when and if gasoline is not viable, we are at $4.00 per gallon again here in Cali with no mention of it in the news.
I also am getting some experience with growing food. I have two large above ground palnters that we are now enjoying fresh vegetables since last spring and the winter gasrden has lettuce, beets, carrots and other plants kickin’ some butt right now.
Sorry for the long post, carry on TPBers!
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31st January 2013 at 11:55 am
KaD says:
Turning people who believe in and support the Constitution into the ‘lunatic fringe’? I can’t believe that’s coincidental.
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31st January 2013 at 12:01 pm
Dorkus Maximus says:
Terms like “lunatic fringe” are thrown around to discredit and marginalize people who don’t accept at face value everything their overlords tell them.
When the Nazi’s were hauling people off to Auschwitz they were going somewhere where they were going to get food and medical attention. One of my favorite anecdotes is that the sign above the entrance to Aushwitz said “WORK WILL SET YOU FREE” – its become one of my favorite sayings to people who are dubious of my theories.
The Nazis lied to the German people about the death camps with propaganda “One booklet printed in 1941 glowingly reported that, in occupied Poland, German authorities had put Jews to work, built clean hospitals, set up soup kitchens for Jews, and provided them with newspapers and vocational training.”
The lies of the US government are too numerous to catalog – why should a thoughtful person trust them?
Does not accepting things said by a serial liar make you a lunatic?
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31st January 2013 at 12:25 pm
harry p. says:
the term “fringe” means unconventional, outside the mainstream and extreme.
What I see is a majority/mainstream that is incredibly immoral, unprincipled, evil and destructive. Myself, like most of the people who frequent this site are vehemently anti-evil. If being against evil makes you “fringe” then the mainstream needs to look in the mirror.
I won’t hold my breath for those people to self-reflect. The next 15 years are going to be interesting no matter what, a conflict on some level is probably unavoidable at this point.
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31st January 2013 at 12:37 pm
flash says:
Reagan said “trust , but verify.”.
But, when verification is questionable due to subjects long history of well documented lies an deception, the the cause to distrust is reasonable.There is nothing irrational about not trusting a criminal cartel. Indeed, the opposite is true.It is a mainstream public that tolerates the blatant corruption and criminality of a government outside the rule of law that are the lunatics.
If the Republican and Democrat parties can both be considered mainstream, then the so called fringe eschewing
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31st January 2013 at 12:56 pm
platoplubius says:
People that blindly accept the Truth at face value and would rather spend time that they should be using to analyze and research the validity of what is presented to them as the Truth on distractions like video games, farmville, facebook or (with the half-way decent parents) running their kids to and from the countless activities that they’ve signed them up for (because they LOVE them soooo much).
Reminds me of this article written by Chris Hedges awhile back. It is so good that I had to post it again for any newbies on TBP so they could enjoy his critique of American Culture as well.
……………………………
by Chris Hedges
Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution. She exacted divine punishment on arrogant mortals who believed they could defy the gods, turn themselves into objects of worship and build ruthless systems of power to control the world around them. The price of such hubris was almost always death.
Nemesis, related to the Greek word némein, means “to give what is due.” Our nemesis fast approaches. We will get what we are due. The staggering myopia of our corrupt political and economic elite, which plunder the nation’s wealth for financial speculation and endless war, the mass retreat of citizens into virtual hallucinations, the collapsing edifices around us, which include the ecosystem that sustains life, are ignored for a giddy self-worship. We stare into electronic screens just as Narcissus, besotted with his own reflection, stared into a pool of water until he wasted away and died.
We believe that because we have the capacity to wage war we have the right to wage war. We believe that money, rather than manufactured products and goods, is real. We believe in the myth of inevitable human moral and material progress. We believe that no matter how much damage we do to the Earth or our society, science and technology will save us. And as temperatures on the planet steadily rise, as droughts devastate cropland, as the bleaching of coral reefs threatens to wipe out 25 percent of all marine species, as countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh succumb to severe flooding, as we poison our food, air and water, as we refuse to confront our addiction to fossil fuels and coal, as we dismantle our manufacturing base and plunge tens of millions of Americans into a permanent and desperate underclass, we flick on a screen and are entranced.
We confuse the electronic image, a reflection back to us of ourselves, with the divine. We gawk at “reality” television, which of course is contrived reality, reveling in being the viewer and the viewed. True reality is obliterated from our consciousness. It is the electronic image that informs and defines us. It is the image that gives us our identity. It is the image that tells us what is attainable in the vast cult of the self, what we should desire, what we should seek to become and who we are. It is the image that tricks us into thinking we have become powerful—as the popularity of video games built around the themes of violence and war illustrates—while we have become enslaved and impoverished by the corporate state. The electronic image leads us back to the worship of ourselves. It is idolatry. Reality is replaced with electronic mechanisms for preening self-presentation—the core of social networking sites such as Facebook—and the illusion of self-fulfillment and self-empowerment. And in a world unmoored from the real, from human limitations and human potential, we inevitably embrace superstition and magic. This is what the worship of images is about. We retreat into a dark and irrational fear born out of a cavernous ignorance of the real. We enter an age of technological barbarism.
To those entranced by images, the world is a vast stage on which they are called to enact their dreams. It is a world of constant action, stimulation and personal advancement. It is a world of thrills and momentary ecstasy. It is a world of ceaseless movement. It makes a fetish of competition. It is a world where commercial products and electronic images serve as a pseudo-therapy that caters to feelings of alienation, inadequacy and powerlessness. We may be locked in dead-end jobs, have no meaningful relationships and be confused about our identities, but we can blast our way to power holding a little control panel while looking for hours at a screen. We can ridicule the poor, the ignorant and the weak all day long on trash-talk shows and reality television shows. We are skillfully made to feel that we have a personal relationship, a false communion, with the famous—look at the outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana or Michael Jackson. We have never met those we adore. We know only their manufactured image. They appear to us on screens. They are not, at least to us, real people. And yet we worship and seek to emulate them.
In this state of cultural illusion any description of actual reality, because it does not consist of the happy talk that pollutes the airwaves from National Public Radio to Oprah, is dismissed as “negative” or “pessimistic.” The beleaguered Jeremiahs who momentarily stumble into our consciousness and in a desperate frenzy seek to warn us of our impending self-destruction are derided because they do not lay out easy formulas that permit us to drift back into fantasy. We tell ourselves they are overreacting. If reality is a bummer, and if there are no easy solutions, we don’t want to hear about it. The facts of economic and environmental collapse, now incontrovertible, cannot be discussed unless they are turned into joking banter or come accompanied with a neat, pleasing solution, the kind we are fed at the conclusion of the movies, electronic games, talk shows and sitcoms, the kind that dulls our minds into passive and empty receptacles. We have been conditioned by electronic hallucinations to expect happy talk. We demand it.
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31st January 2013 at 12:56 pm
flash says:
Reagan said “trust , but verify.”.
But, when verification is questionable due to subjects long history of well documented lies an deception, the the cause to distrust is not only reasonable, but prudent.
There is nothing irrational about not trusting a criminal cartel. Indeed, the opposite is true.It is a mainstream public that tolerates the blatant corruption and criminality of a government outside the rule of law that are the lunatics.
The fact that the politics and ideology of both Republican and Democrat parties are considered mainstream should be all the proof you need that lunatics run in herds.
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31st January 2013 at 1:00 pm
flash says:
I’ve either got a bug on Firefox , Windows or WP likes to f!@# with me , by posting prior to my editing comments…
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31st January 2013 at 1:02 pm
GreasedUpWillie says:
I joined the fringe in 2008. Once you realize that (elite) people have tanked the economy through fraud and incompetance, and instead of going to jail, received Billions in taxpayer Dollars. That is so unbelievable, but actually happened. By comparison, nearly everything else enters the realm of plausibility. If that can happen, Bilderbergers, illuminati, 9/11, fouride, et.al are all plausible.
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31st January 2013 at 1:03 pm
flash says:
harry p. …we’re thinking along the same lines. The fact our elected government is ran by such shallow , self-serving cadre of maleducuated milksopic muppets, is enough evidence to prove that it is the mainstream that is ignorant of the issues and therefore lends itself to validation the corruption which will inevitable end in the demise of this Republic.
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. ~ Charles Mackay
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31st January 2013 at 1:12 pm
Muck About says:
I love an “inside/out” post like this one…
Claims to call bullshit on “the fringe” and then proceeds to prove in no uncertain terms that the fringe is right and growing in numbers.
I’ve always called bullshit on 99% of the conspiracy club hoorahs but economically speaking, I’ve been on the fringe since Tricky Dick shot us all in the foot and slammed the gold window shut.
Handwriting writ large on the wall over 40 years ago and the only thing I can see is that my fringe is growing longer and grayer every year and starting to grow where it is not wanted!
MA
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31st January 2013 at 1:57 pm
nonner says:
JIMSKI – “We are not conspiracy wack jobs. Ok some of us are not. OK I am not.” i am not either,
i try to stay away from all the nutjobs and wackos on this site but in some weird way, they seem to know what i am thinking and i just have to keep checking to see if they are still on my wavelength. it’s like i’m almost afraid to formulate a thought in case they are monitoring
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31st January 2013 at 2:54 pm
Avalon says:
Lunatic fringe? Ha! After two beers Jim goes full lunatic, runs around the house, and pees in the cat bowl. On those days I pray for the normalcy of lunatic fringe.
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31st January 2013 at 3:03 pm
Administrator says:
Llpoh
Doppleganging avalon is a serious offense. There will be hell to pay when she sees what you’ve done.
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31st January 2013 at 3:10 pm
Administrator says:
Quinn family cat
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31st January 2013 at 3:13 pm
Administrator says:
Quinn family dog
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31st January 2013 at 3:16 pm
matt says:
Jim,
quit pissin’ in the cat’s food bowl, unless you are trying to turn friskies into your twisted version of Irish ciopinno.
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31st January 2013 at 3:17 pm
AWD says:
I think we’re quite sane.
The lunatics believe:
Voting matters
The government will fix our problems
You can believe what you see on t.v.
Taxes are fair
People on welfare and disability deserve it
Debts don’t matter
The stock market will always go up
Divorce is normal and good
Lawyers are necessary and beneficial
More laws means more law and order
You can trust the government
The court system is fair and just
Buying cheap foreign goods is great
You can eat as much as you want, no problem
The government will save you during a disaster
We need 2 million people in jail, they deserve it
People on T.V. have your best interests in mind
Government is the solution, not the problem
Having $11,000 in credit card debt is cool and normal
You can drive as big of a car as you can afford
Paying 29.99% interest on your credit card isn’t usury
Paying 69.99% interest on “pay day” loans is acceptable
You can trust your stock broker and investment house
There will always be plenty of gas, no matter the cost
Paper money is real money
The news is unbiased and accurate
Being called a racist is the worst insult imaginable
Our schools are educating our children
If the poor were only given more money, they wouldn’t be poor
Everyone wants a job, everyone wants to work
The constant increase in taxes is for a good purpose
The government can run healthcare well
We know what’s best for people in other countries
allowing government employee unions is best for everyone
Marriage has no meaning or purpose anymore
Government employees deserve to be paid twice as much as everyone else
Politicians know what they’re doing
Our tax code is fair
Social websites bring people closer together
It’s okay to destroy your health, you can always take medicine
We don’t need guns to protect ourselves, we have police for that
We live in a democracy
You really do own your own property
The police “protect and serve”
America is exceptional and will go on forever
Who’s the real lunatic fringe?
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31st January 2013 at 4:40 pm
AWD says:
The real lunatics are?
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31st January 2013 at 4:41 pm
AWD says:
Mr. Quinn and pussy
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31st January 2013 at 4:47 pm
JJ3 says:
That’s crap I don’t believe in every conspiracy, I definitely think Elvis is dead.
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31st January 2013 at 5:02 pm
Administrator says:
“Many people need desperately to receive this message: ‘I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people don’t care about them. You are not alone.’”
Kurt Vonnegut
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31st January 2013 at 7:32 pm
SSS says:
The people of TBP are not the lunatic fringe. The federal government collectively is the lunatic fringe. I have been fortunate enough to uncover this actual photo, which accurately depicts in just one snapshot, what the federal government looks like.
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31st January 2013 at 7:46 pm
AWD says:
We’re just one big, happy dysfunctional family…
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31st January 2013 at 7:51 pm
Avalon says:
And I cannot bear to tell you what Jim does after four beers. But i did take this picture the last time it happened:
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31st January 2013 at 8:04 pm
matt says:
just for the hell of it;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK-nVzp5NbE
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31st January 2013 at 9:04 pm
chrsub8rt says:
Cass Sustein
Hatched a plan to
Indoctrinate utter
Nonsense and
Demand the
Indictment of
Truth
Chindit, the author of this drivel, is a statist hack. All trolls should perish.
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31st January 2013 at 9:05 pm
Novista says:
“Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.” — Henry David Thoreau
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31st January 2013 at 9:05 pm
Bruce says:
Realists,Skeptics,Dissenters and folks who are prepared for an emergency are the Lunatic fringe? I thought lunatics were supposed to be delusional or irrational.
Seems to me that term Lunatic would apply more to the “Moron, Psychopath, Pisswilly Super majority” and their leaders than the fringe that calls bullshit on ‘em all.
………..and we are doomed.
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31st January 2013 at 11:32 pm
elby says:
Who knows what the TBTP will do in their desperate attempts to stay in power and wealth when TSHTF. That is what scares me most about this Fourth Turning. But I don’t believe they control every little thing. Conspiracy theories are mostly bunk. The elites are riding the crest of the wave, that’s for sure. But they don’t control the wave. They do not have the power of gods.
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31st January 2013 at 1:14 pm