Titanic Switch website - a resource for battling misinformation on the Internet

Michael H. Standart said:
>>Yes, I have already received a lot of that over the years. The most common expression is that I am a "shill" - an expression I was unfamiliar with at first, as I believe it is a US term? But it comes with the territory.<<

On my side of the pond, it pretty much means you're some sort of party line Polly The Parrott spokesperson for the ever nebulous and ill defined "THEY" and "THEM" and a brainless one at that.

Another possibility is what Steven said above. Either way, it's not flattering.
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I know this is off topic a little but yes your definition is also what I would call a "shill". I had to go look it up as I had forgotten what it meant when I was younger. The original meaning at least what it was back in the day. But none of these remotely apply to what Mr. Parkes is doing. That's just coming from people who can't give up their losing position. Cheers.
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Wikipedia isn't necessarily the most credible of sources but I thought its definition was the best at understanding why conspiracy theorists like to -in the absence of evidence - use the word "shill" in a derogatory way:

A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or organization.
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And specifically on the internet:

In online discussion media, shills make posts expressing opinions that further interests of an organization in which they have a vested interest, such as a commercial vendor or special interest group, while posing as unrelated innocent parties.
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Cam Houseman said:
Be nice if someone could finally put this all to rest. Disprove it once and for all.
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This is what makes this particular conspiracy theory very interesting. Unlike other theories, where there are enough grey areas that can be exploited by theorists, the 'switch' theory has been *conclusively* disproved. And it is one single, unavoidable fact: The wreck has been positively identified as Titanic - her name, her yard number (builder's ID) and her unique design and structure all provide a positive "fingerprint" or "DNA" type identification. The wreck is unquestionably Titanic.

This of course is without even discussing the lack of any credible motive for a 'switch' (it cannot logically be insurance or Federal Reserve connected) or the complete lack of evidence that a 'switch ' occurred, or exposing the many misleading and false claims. So it is essentially a "slam dunk." Which is why I recommend taking any opportunity to politely direct people to the information - as it has indeed been disproved once and for all. To still believe it requires burying your head in the sand!
 
Cam Houseman said:
Be nice if someone could finally put this all to rest. Disprove it once and for all.
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Like Dan said there are some conspiracies that have a lot of grey areas. But the Titanic switch theory doesn't have any that I can find. All the one's I have seen can and have been torn apart as...well I don't a know a good word for it...hokus pokus comes to mind. Won't go into them as Mr. Parkes has covered it well on his site. Much better than I could. But it will never be dealt a final blow because of human nature. People want to believe it no matter what you show them. It's why I pretty much don't even argue about the moon landings anymore. I always ask a couple of questions that in 40+ years nobody has given me an answer too. Because there isn't any. But they will still go off some tangent. Plus there's always the element of just plain old grifters. It's an industry unto itself. Cheers.
 
Dan Parkes said:
Wikipedia isn't necessarily the most credible of sources but I thought its definition was the best at understanding why conspiracy theorists like to -in the absence of evidence - use the word "shill" in a derogatory way:



And specifically on the internet:
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Yes especially on the internet. Another area that shills often operate on the internet is online reviews. What I do when looking up stuff (mostly parts for machines) now is that I ignore the 5 star reviews and the 1 star and just read the 3 stars ones. I found those to be the most honest. It's no secret the games that get played with a lot of sites selling stuff. But I digress. Back to Titanic. Cheers.
 
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Steven Christian said:
Yes especially on the internet. Another area that shills often operate on the internet is online reviews. What I do when looking up stuff (mostly parts for machines) now is that I ignore the 5 star reviews and the 1 star and just read the 3 stars ones. I found those to be the most honest. It's no secret the games that get played with a lot of sites selling stuff. But I digress. Back to Titanic. Cheers.
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Hm, 3 stars reviews huh? I've never thought of that, Might try that :)
Steven Christian said:
Like Dan said there are some conspiracies that have a lot of grey areas. But the Titanic switch theory doesn't have any that I can find. All the one's I have seen can and have been torn apart as...well I don't a know a good word for it...hokus pokus comes to mind. Won't go into them as Mr. Parkes has covered it well on his site. Much better than I could. But it will never be dealt a final blow because of human nature. People want to believe it no matter what you show them. It's why I pretty much don't even argue about the moon landings anymore. I always ask a couple of questions that in 40+ years nobody has given me an answer too. Because there isn't any. But they will still go off some tangent. Plus there's always the element of just plain old grifters. It's an industry unto itself. Cheers.
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Honestly its amazing how they can ignore facts and logic to further their agenda.
 
The internet. A cyber sewer platform for spreading all sorts of information. Some real, some imagined and some based on some deliberate agenda to preach, deceive, or gain some sort of recognition that cannot be easily gained otherwise. Now prove me wrong. By the way, the earth is flat. Don't let them tell you otherwise. We all can see that.
 
Cam Houseman said:
Hm, 3 stars reviews huh? I've never thought of that, Might try that :)

Honestly its amazing how they can ignore facts and logic to further their agenda.
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It has worked for me. But don't take my word for it. Just go to a site like Amazon and look at the reviews. You'll see 5 star reviews and then the comment will say "Well I haven't tried it yet but it looks ok". The 3 star ones will often give you the good with the bad. 2 questions I always ask when somebody makes a grand claim is..are they running for office or are they hawking a book/docu? Both clues to be weary. Especially with politicians. Regardless of the party they are natural born liars. Comes with the territory. Cheers.
 
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Cam Houseman said:
Hm, 3 stars reviews huh? I've never thought of that, Might try that :)

Honestly its amazing how they can ignore facts and logic to further their agenda.
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I watched a show last night and the speaker was talking about why people believe conspiracy theories. Human nature. Some people can't believe or grasp that one lone nut with a rifle or a few with box cutters and can change the course of history. Makes them feel vulnerable and they can't accept it and look for or invent different reasons. What he said made sense to me. The more complex a system the easier it is for one thing to go wrong and mess up the whole thing. Not so much today but during the time of Titanic I'm sure that many just couldn't believe that the unsinkable ship could go down because of a chunk of ice. The conspiracy theories started the next day after she sank. Cheers.
 
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Steven Christian said:
I watched a show last night and the speaker was talking about why people believe conspiracy theories. Human nature.
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It is a fascinating topic - why people believe conspiracy theories. Other than a natural "power" bias (probably fed by an inferiority complex - wanting to know something others don't), humans are naturally "message machines" in that we tend to try and read messages in whatever we see e.g. faces in clouds or in wallpaper patterns. So the same is with a major event or disaster - we naturally try and find structure amongst the chaos, to find "comfort" which is why in the immediate aftermath of the Titanic sinking many were quick to identify "villains" e.g. Ismay.

I particularly like a "rudderless" quote from Alan Moore about this:

“Conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory. The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control. The world is rudderless.”
― Alan Moore
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Or wonderfully summarised by Brzezinski:
“History is much more the product of chaos than of conspiracy.”
― Zbigniew Brzezinski
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I think the other issue we must acknowledge is that indeed some "conspiracy theories" are true. There are major coverups- and let's face it what large corporation or government is actually 100% trustworthy? Take for example the DuPont Teflon (PFOA, or C8) story. I think it is important when dealing with those pushing the Titanic switch theory to firstly acknowledge that there are coverups - but that the facts are a Titanic switch or Federal Reserve conspiracy is simply not one of them.

I am presently working on an article all about this - how to best handle Titanic switch conspiracy theorists, as I have over the years developed a system which is 90 - 95% effective in dealing with it - and uses only a one-sentence response.
 
You get this a lot with Titanic with the switch theory, coal fire theory or V break theory and you see it all the time with major disasters curtain people try to find a complicated reason for why it happened.
 
Well I'm guilty of it myself too. Just last night I was watching a news story and kept thinking there's more to this than what they are reporting. It doesn't pass the smell test. It has nothing to do with Titanic so I won't go into it. But I realized while running thru a couple of theories some would call them conspiracy theories. Cheers.
 
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