Essay talk:Uses of Conservapedia
CP is also proving to be a good example of how the mechanisms of shifitng polarity work in a group of individuals not exposed to alternate/contradictory viewpoints. I have seen many articles on that site shift radically over the past couple of days, and there seems to have been a subtle shift in how the remaining contributors interact. As certain contributors sporting alternate viewpoints were removed from the social group the political spectrum of the remaining CPers was forced to undergo a shift to the right. It will be interesting to see whether those CPers on the hard right begin to cut away those who are now the "left", or if the new "left" shifts its view to the right in order to fit in.Prof0705 14:03, 24 May 2007 (CDT)
Could you add some links to the examples you mention? I'd like to see the mental gynastics that go into thinking the Book of Genesis is the literal scientific truth, but "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone" was purely metaphorical. (And it'll probably reinforce my belief that if people like modern Fundamentalists had been around in Jesus' day, the symbol of His death would be a rock instead of a cross.) --Gulik 23:06, 24 May 2007 (CDT)
You forgot to mention how much fun it is to post something that subverts their worldview, then see how many revisions it lasts through. (The "Obviously, he was the devil incarnate" line from their listing for "Bill Clinton", for example.) --Gulik 23:13, 24 May 2007 (CDT)
I am not sure where this should go, but Conservapedia has been extremely useful to me in interacting with a totalitarian regime whithout actually suffereng physical harm. I am sure that if I had lived in Nazi germany or In Stalin's Russia that I would have been shot for subversion and dissent. I have always lived in a fairly relaxed democracy, and had no first-hand experience of bully-boy tactics, revisionism or creation of non-persons. On a number of times that I was banned, I was outraged. I spent one entire evening creating account after account with abusive names just to get my frustration out of my system. Having come through that experience, I feel I know a lot more about political motivations and about how one should actually behave under an authoritarian regime. For those who understand the references, what I have learnt is that it pays to be to be more like Fletcher in Porridge or Rene in Hallo Hallo, rather than attempting to be Rambo. --CatWatcher 05:15, 26 May 2007 (CDT)
- hehehe, we're in danger of making this place far too anglo-centric. Not that that's a bad thing ;) αιρδισΗταλκ 05:39, 26 May 2007 (CDT)
- Relevant quote: "don't let the bastards grind you down"--CatWatcher 06:33, 26 May 2007 (CDT)