(Re: “The new era of conspiracy thinking,” commentary, Feb. 7.) Who are the real conspiracy theorists? I can agree with Mr. Dyer that there are nutcases out there, but I suggest he look into who is to blame for an epidemic of conspiracy theorists. I partially blame our government and mass media. Think about it this way, if you have basic critical thinking skills and someone lies to you day in, day out, for years, it’s logical to distrust the source. Our media is controlled by international corporations and defense contractors — I have no reason to trust them. In fact, a more accurate term for conspiracy theorist would be: One that blindly trusts the &^*%^* mass media and government that feeds them.
Time and space prohibit a comprehensive list of lies, but here is a short one: Weapons of mass destruction, Lt. Pat Tillman, depleted uranium, the true number of civilian casualties in Iraq, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, etc.
Mr. Dyer does specifically mention the Federal Reserve. Does the fact that the Fed is private, not federal, has no tangible reserves and prints money out of thin air that is backed by nothing make me an anti-Semite or conspiracy theorist?
There are nutcases that claim our president is a Kenyan socialist that will take away your guns. Yes, Fox News is nothing but lies and propaganda designed to keep morons in a state of fear, and those that believe bigfoot is beyond the 9/11 attacks. These people are nutcases, not conspiracy theorists. The term conspiracy theorist is a derogatory term, a broad brush used against those rational people that have every reason to be doubtful about what media and government tells them.
Wolfie Clark/Thornton
I love the Boulder Weekly, but I had serious objections with Joel Dyer’s piece on conspiracies.
In many ways that article was filled with as many exaggerations and falsehoods about the Constitutionalist revival as anything you’d find on the “conspiracy” sites. He is constantly associating distrust of the Federal Reserve with anti-Semitic views. While these players no doubt exist, the most measured and accurate criticisms of the Fed come from decidedly non-bigoted people. Like Bernie Sanders and Peter Schiff (who is Jewish).
I was born in Manhattan and am Jewish. Many of my friends back home are Jewish and on Wall Street. A huge percentage of them distrust the Federal Reserve for all of the right reasons. Reasons I discuss on my blog, www.libertyblitzkreig.com. Believe me, some of the most vociferous critics of the Fed’s policies of funneling wealth to the 1 percent are Jewish. I consider myself part of the Constitutionalist movement and don’t have a bigoted bone in my body. Yet I’m extremely distrustful of government for very good and proven reasons. Ever heard of the NDAA? I moved to Boulder in late 2010 to get away from Wall Street-corrupted NYC.
You should consider having Joel sit down with me for an interview; I’d love to discuss this topic rationally.
Michael Krieger/via Internet
I just read “The new era of conspiracy thinking” by Joel Dyer. It is well-written and thought-provoking.
I laud what the president is doing and only wish he could do more towards gun control. I really think the problem has gotten out of hand. I was a Marine sergeant without combat experience. However, my life experience tells me that people were safer and saner prior to the proliferation of weapons occurring today. When I was young, people simply did not hoard or amass weapons and we felt a lot safer. No one thought of a gun as a means of protection. It was essentially for hunting, and lectures from my father and other elders about safety still are vibrant in my memory. I believe that we face far greater danger from uncontrolled gun ownership than from any other domestic threat to contemporary society.
George Denny/Arvada
Thanks for fracking cartoon
Regarding your Photoshopped lampoon of Mayor Wilson pontificating at the podium (“Really Bad Ideas,” letters, Feb. 14) in this week’s issue: As an Erie resident and one of those pesky fractivists who just won’t get out of Joe’s carefully coiffed hair, I can only say “bravo”!
And thank you!
Liz Fisher/Erie
Do it for the chickens
(Re: “Advocates: Chicken flap belies true egg industry practices,” News, Feb. 7.) The focus on the warm and fuzzy adoption of chickens, effectively saving them from imminent slaughter, distracts us from the real issue: animal agriculture, regardless of scale, will never have the animal’s best interest at heart.
Their lives are the last priority; they are pure commodities to be bought, owned, sold, or slaughtered. Taking their eggs throughout their lives is no different from slavery, as these chickens live and die at the hands of humans. Chickens, like all sentient, intelligent beings, have a natural order and way of life that we can’t fully understand. When in the wild, they follow complex social behaviors, establish sentries to watch over the flock, and they usually peck and eat their unfertilized eggs to absorb the calcium and other nutrients lost during egg-laying.
The fetishization of “small-scale” animal agriculture has led us to this horrible situation in which thousands of chickens were slaughtered at the folly of their “owner,” proving again that CSA animal agriculture is not the answer to factory farming; it’s not a way to re-create a life with meaning in our relationship with animals. To have a truly compassionate relationship with animals, we can’t take their things which aren’t ours — their eggs or their lives.
So go ahead, please adopt hens if you can, but consider adopting more than that: adopt a vegan diet. It’s the kindest thing you can do for the animals.
Tommasina Miller/Fort Collins
