# Can we drop the superior "tinfoil hat" phrase, please?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 3, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252 "2005-05-03T17:58:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/1 "2005-05-03T17:58:25Z")
> **[New Area 51 satellite images](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902)**
>
> A few days ago I was checking out Google’s new satellite maps service and found myself looking at very interesting satellite images of area 51. So I made a simple web site displaying some of the more interesting images I found. ...
OK, I’ll say it. Calling something out as “tinfoil hattery” without attempting a debunk is nothing but snobbish pseudo-intellectualism of someone imitating the vocabulary of their betters. People do it far too often here and it needs to stop.
I first noticed it on [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303819&highlight=expire+printer+cartridge) where a couple of people showed up all smug and self-righteous with the “tinfoil hat” dismissal and turned out to be completely and abjectly wrong.
So stop using “tinfoil hattery” dismissal unless you can make a stab at debunking what you’re talking about. This board is about fighting ignorance, not having a nice self-glorifying wank at things that seem ignorant but we can’t really be bothered to think about.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/2 "2005-05-03T18:02:47Z")
Those lithium pills taste salty, don’t they?
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### Author:  [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/3 "2005-05-03T18:06:44Z")
Oooooooooooh, that’s what “The Man” _wants_ us to do.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/4 "2005-05-03T18:10:08Z")
Besides, most of us use aluminum foil!
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/5 "2005-05-03T18:15:33Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#):
>
> Those lithium pills taste salty, don’t they?
Am I missing something or is this a really tacky “I think you suffer from manic-depressive illness” comment?
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/6 "2005-05-03T18:22:42Z")
Couldn’t be. Manic Depressives don’t tend to suf **f** er the delusio **n** al activity that makes necessary a go **o** d, stout foil cap with essental ga **r** nish & con **d** iments…
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/7 "2005-05-03T18:25:34Z")
I was kinda miffed at the dismissal of [this question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314713), when the technology asked about was fairly old.
(I’ll admit I’ve been wrong about stuff before, but I almost always check my answers at least a bit…)
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/8 "2005-05-03T18:26:41Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#):
>
> [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902)
>
> OK, I’ll say it. Calling something out as “tinfoil hattery” without attempting a debunk is nothing but snobbish pseudo-intellectualism of someone imitating the vocabulary of their betters. People do it far too often here and it needs to stop.
😕
The moon landing joke you linked to would have really sucked if it had been followed by an elaborate debunking. Sometimes it’s OK to indicate to certain beliefs are crazy without backing it up, once it has been well-established elsewhere that said beliefs are in fact batshit-crazy. Not to mention that the alternative is boring as shit.
Funny:
“Did your tinfoil hat fall off?”
Not funny:
“I believe that idea is erroneous for the following well-known and obvious reasons. Anyone holding such a belief in the face of this evidence seems likely to be delusional and paranoid to the point that they would believe other unlikely ideas such as mind-control rays being used on them by the government or perhaps aliens.”
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### Author:  [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/9 "2005-05-03T18:28:38Z")
When addressing a claim that is preposterous on its face, I agree with Mencken: one horse laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms.
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/10 "2005-05-03T18:46:03Z")
I’ll side with the (thus far) majority. No matter how well one debunks such a belief, the believer won’t care nor change his view. Moon Landing Hoax has been debunked so thoroughly by so many that any idiot who attempts to reopen it doesn’t _deserve_ a new debunking; just verbally smack, in a forum appropriate way, the poster. Even better would be to totally ignore such posters, but that’s asking too much. Too many internet posters cannot ignore trolls, thus giving said trolls the sustenance they need to keep trolling.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/11 "2005-05-03T18:48:45Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Besides, most of us use aluminum foil!
Do you prefer shiny-side-in or shiny-side-out? I’m a shiny-side-in person, myself.
Everybody listen! The bandits have returned to XinXian castle!
I think I have a natural immunity to the control waves, so by having the shiny-side-in configuration, I make it impossible for them to read my brain.
The clouds are moving to the east. Something dreadful may be happening somewhere.
That way, they can’t solve my natural immunity. When the rest of you are working in the oxygen mines on Mars, I will still be free.
It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this!
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/12 "2005-05-03T18:49:30Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#):
>
> [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902)
>
> OK, I’ll say it. Calling something out as “tinfoil hattery” without attempting a debunk is nothing but snobbish pseudo-intellectualism of someone imitating the vocabulary of their betters. People do it far too often here and it needs to stop.
>
> I first noticed it on [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303819&highlight=expire+printer+cartridge) where a couple of people showed up all smug and self-righteous with the “tinfoil hat” dismissal and turned out to be completely and abjectly wrong.
>
> So stop using “tinfoil hattery” dismissal unless you can make a stab at debunking what you’re talking about. This board is about fighting ignorance, not having a nice self-glorifying wank at things that seem ignorant but we can’t really be bothered to think about.
Why Bless Your Little Heart. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/13 "2005-05-03T19:01:53Z")
So now If I claim the CIA is trying to read my mind Others have to properly refute my claim rather than point me to the proper headgear to protect my noggin from Spook rays and mind control devices?
Don’t seem fair do it.
Unless you are one of them. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/14 "2005-05-03T19:27:04Z")
Well, _threads_ expire after a certain date, and no one can post to them!
_You_ try reviving a three-year-old thread and just see what happens!!
**They** don’t want you posting. 😕
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/15 "2005-05-03T19:29:21Z")
Besides, smartass answers (combined with board glitches) is how we got the whole “1920s style death rays” bit, complete with the longest thread in GQ history. So to dismiss the use of catchphrases in responding to answers is like the internet without Monty Python quotes.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/16 "2005-05-03T19:30:03Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#):
>
> [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=314902)
>
> OK, I’ll say it. Calling something out as “tinfoil hattery” without attempting a debunk is nothing but snobbish pseudo-intellectualism of someone imitating the vocabulary of their betters. People do it far too often here and it needs to stop.
>
> I first noticed it on [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=303819&highlight=expire+printer+cartridge) where a couple of people showed up all smug and self-righteous with the “tinfoil hat” dismissal and turned out to be completely and abjectly wrong.
>
> So stop using “tinfoil hattery” dismissal unless you can make a stab at debunking what you’re talking about. This board is about fighting ignorance, not having a nice self-glorifying wank at things that seem ignorant but we can’t really be bothered to think about.
What kind of hat should we use then? 😕
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/17 "2005-05-03T19:55:51Z")
I guess recycling all those aluminum cans isn’t needed anymore, eh?
You know how many home business tinfoil hat manufacturers will be driven out of business now? Well, outsourced to overseas, but the point is the same.
Are you going to take away the home envelope stuffing next?
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/18 "2005-05-03T20:11:16Z")
Yeah **Brain Wreck**! Why do you hate America?
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/19 "2005-05-03T20:45:17Z")
…So, I guess that would be a “no.”
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### Author:  [@dasgupta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasgupta)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-drop-the-superior-tinfoil-hat-phrase-please/302252/20 "2005-05-03T20:59:34Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#):
>
> Those lithium pills taste salty, don’t they?
Pit or not, you, sir, have left me speechless. Assuming I’ve read this correctly, of course.
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