Hi everyone I am new to the forum and am here to see if anyhone else has come up against Mr David Icke? I dont know if he can be classed as a cult. He has no organized group, no compound, no actual physical place followers can go, its all internet. He is a conspiracy theorist, with some pretty scary ideas. His teachings make his followers very paraniod and distrutful of everyone, their family included. I have a relative who believes everything this guy writes. He is isolating himself and his motivation is almost non exsistant. Anyone else dealt with this guy?

yeah, his name comes up from time to time.
David Icke be found in this search link. [forum.culteducation.com]

The Lizard Stories are told by others like Stuart Wilde. [forum.culteducation.com]

The interesting question is that why are these "crazy" leaders like David Icke able to earn millions of dollars and sustain a large business for so many years? Crazy like a fox, more like.

David Icke thread

Am I just lizard food? [forum.culteducation.com]

There is a book entitled Why People Believe Wierd Things by Michael Shermer--
might be a good place to start.

[www.google.com]

And people like Ickes do not work in a vacuum. Often they get their material from a variety of sources, novels, movies, books that have previously seeded the public imagination, and find ways to link the material to current social anxieties.

They can only get attention and a following within a particular social groove, what social scientists have termed 'the cultic milieu', which in some cases, also overlaps with a culture of conspiracy.

The thing about pseudoscience and conspiracies is that they are based on hypotheses that cannot be disproved. Actual science is based on hypotheses that can be proven wrong---aka the null hypothesis.

If you cannot prove an idea wrong, it hangs around in your head and is joined by other ideas just like it that cannot be disproved.

There is a kind of instant comraderie if people share these beliefs.

Also, because these kinds of beliefs, unlike scientific ideas cannot be disproved, they offer the promise of stablity and security, because they cannot be disproved--which is very appealing for those threatened by change.

Persons already burdened by paranoia can find their pre-existing paranoid emotions validated by a fact proof conspiracy theory, whether it is one they come up with on thier own, or something provided ready-made and off the rack, like Lizardology.

Just had a kick reading the Am I Just Lizard Food thread again. [forum.culteducation.com]
This guy stirs up a lot of emotion in people. Some of the remarks are quite funny!

Quote
corboy
The thing about pseudoscience and conspiracies is that they are based on hypotheses that cannot be disproved. Actual science is based on hypotheses that can be proven wrong---aka the null hypothesis.

If you cannot prove an idea wrong, it hangs around in your head and is joined by other ideas just like it that cannot be disproved.

This reminds me of my homeowners association! LOL! I kid you not! If you can not prove the non-existence of the weeds the inspector discovered in your yard on the day and hour he was there, you can get fined unless you pay homage and write a letter with 81/2" X 11" glossy photographs with dates imprinted ---THAT IS ---- if you know the date the inspector came by! There's more... after 18 months the HOA wrote that my garage door was the wrong color and that one of my fence slats was missing. They had the wrong house, but it took a lot to convince them they were wrong. I think I will send them the book, Why People Believe Wierd Things by Michael Shermer...

It just goes to show you how easily people can percieve untruths...if it suits their need.

Oerlikon and others...make sure to get the edition that has the updated postscripted entitled 'Why Smart People Believe Wierd Things'

The world is full of suprises and chaos. We'd go crazy and get immobilized if we faced the randomness of it all. We have pattern seeking minds.

The upside is that this has led us to create magnificent art, wonderful forms of recreation, play.

The downside is, it can lead us, under stress, to designate scapegoats and put our hearts and souls into the hands of people who just are not equipped for the responsibility.

And under stress even the brightest of us will regress and lose access to our full intelligence. Its why we are so often advised to bring a trustworthy friend with us to the doctors office if we are getting tough news--anxious people have more difficulty remembering complicated medical information but a steadier minded companion can remember the fine points and remind us later.

We are very far from being alone in believing weird things. March Madness is just a few weeks away.

Baseball Superstitions

(Talked to a guy who played third base on his college team and had to take a class on Baseball Theory--rule book is over 500 pages long. He said superstitions are 'all over the ballpark')

[www.google.com]

Football Superstitions

[www.google.com]

Gambling Supertitions

[www.google.com]

Quote
Vera City
This reminds me of my homeowners association! LOL! I kid you not! If you can not prove the non-existence of the weeds the inspector discovered in your yard on the day and hour he was there, you can get fined unless you pay homage and write a letter with 81/2" X 11" glossy photographs with dates imprinted ---THAT IS ---- if you know the date the inspector came by! There's more... after 18 months the HOA wrote that my garage door was the wrong color and that one of my fence slats was missing. They had the wrong house, but it took a lot to convince them they were wrong.

The HOA might even consider putting cameras around your lawn to make sure you keep your weeds under control... I mean, good grief, some of those weeds might be medicinal herbs and might put the pharmaceutical companies out of business!!! Apparently in England they are putting cameras on their garbage bins, and someone even told me they have put cameras inside homes to make sure that parents are not abusing their children! ... 1984? No, 2011! They might even send in the swat team if you do not comply with their regulations, eh?

But speaking of weeds ... everyone has a different perception of reality ... one may consider weeds to be herbal medicine and safe cures for many diseases ... others may consider weeds to be a nuisance that needs to be poisoned with chemical weedkiller ... Apparently the FDA is trying to outlaw comfrey because one scientist gave 500 pounds of the herb to a rat and it died of cancer!!!

I think Ickes is CIA, stay clear of this guy. I read one of his books and it was all speculation. I realized a lot of this conspiracy theory crap was fear mongering and make believe to instill fear to the public just as much as your local TV news station. I dont read this crap anymore.