# Congratulations. I used to look up to you.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 29, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078 "2014-01-29T22:36:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/1 "2014-01-29T22:36:16Z")
Congratulations, man. I used to respect you. You’re a close friend of my father’s, you’ve known me since I was a toddler, and I used to look up to you. I used to think you were a pretty cool guy, that you were wise, in a cynical, world-weary kinda way. Turns out that “wisdom” is pretty much just anti-government insanity with a bullshit filter that could not be more fucked up if you imported it from bizarro world.
I mean, I knew you were a kook. JFK assassination, 9/11, what have you. That’s okay. Most of my dad’s group of friends (including him) are. They’re wrong, of course, and their methodology is terrible, but hey - it’s not a huge deal. But then you started emailing me about climatology. Just out of the blue, linking me to an article and saying, “what do you think about that”. Not just any articles, though. Really, really, _really_ bad articles. Not even WUWT quality, which is somewhat _believable_ bullshit. But [this kind of crap](http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/01/25/ir-expert-speaks-out-after-40-years-of-silence-its-the-water-vapor-stupid-and-not-the-co2/). And then you find it odd when I reject it for having no source and an incredibly faulty argument. But okay, whatever. Then you send me [this](http://wtfrly.com/2014/01/27/the-poisoning-bankruptcy-and-poverty-of-geoengineering/#.UucgL830D_Q). And when I tell you what I think of it (god, what a load of crap, in not quite that many words), you accuse me of being dismissive of anything not published by the mainstream CONspiracy media (I didn’t even ask why you wrote it like that, because the answer was probably so mind-numbingly stupid as to not be worth my time), and start attacking my choice of words. You know I don’t believe in god, and you find it bizarre that I’d use “for the love of god” or “for christ’s sake” or “god dammit”. You know, not like those phrases are used frequently throughout the english language by people, regardless of their belief in god.
And I was annoyed by all of it. Flipping the burden of proof by saying things like “Do you really believe no nation has an atmospheric geoengineering project?”, dismissing sources out of hand, asserting “all of this can be rejected out of deduction alone” without actually showing your work (not that it mattered, I’d rather not look at what sort of bizarre, convoluted logic you presented), your blather about the church of the subgenius which I literally could not give less of a shit about… And I made that opinion clear. I grew tired of the crap, of posting legitimate, reliable sources, and having you in essence claim that anything that you could play “6 degrees of separation” to link to any corporate or government entity was tainted and part of “the CONspiracy”. And then came the straw the broke the camel’s back.
> [@](#):
>
> Do you really think I need a defense mechanism against media bullshit like Fukujima can’t hurt you, 9/11 was perpetrated by Arabs, HIV=AIDS
That’s all I could handle. I wrote back quite tersely, asking if he seriously believed there was no link between HIV and AIDS. His response?
> [@](#):
>
> HIV=AIDS is a CONspiracy myth. My understanding is no “human immuno virus” has ever been isolated and identified, that AIDS does not follow epidemiological patterns of biological infection, that the ELISA and Western Blot tests are notoriously unreliable and false positives result in oppression, that the many diverse symptomicities attributed broadly to “AIDS” (much the way global unrest is broadly attributed to “al Qaeda”) are the result of poisoning, that “life-saving” AIDS drugs worsen and hasten the wasting of patients, and it is all part of the depopulation program as outlined on the Georgia Guidestones.
As a bisexual man, this is something of a touchy subject for me. You know, the whole “AIDS kills people” thing is kind of a big deal. So I responded yet again, offering to show with legitimate sources that everything in that email was wrong, but only if he dropped the spurious claims of unreliability, ridiculous deflections, and outright denial, silently promising myself that if he took nothing from this, I would give up. He challenged me to do so. So I did. In no uncertain terms, I took every single claim there and debunked it with legitimate and worthwhile sources, citing peer-reviewed literature at every turn. And the response?
“I yam going to take a page from your book and impeach as not credible (as you do Duesberg et al.) any information derived from corporate/government sources; I suspect you pulled all those URLs exclusively from a CDC aligned site.”
I had dropped a throwaway comment on how Duesburg is essentially a lunatic. He spoke shortly about how the uncertainty in the papers (read: _the standard scientific uncertainty researchers are required to have regardless of how solid their evidence_ showed them wrong, completely misinterpreted the data on one paper, and then launched into a long diatribe on how odd he found my word choice.
This is the last email I will ever send this person not specifically related to business.
> [@](#):
>
> This week I’ve spent several hours conversing with a particularly stupid and infuriating brick wall. If you think rejecting all sources based on CDC/AMA/etc. data is equivalent to rejecting the opinion of one crank doctor… Well, I’m done caring. I have lost all respect I once held for you. I could go on to talk about how wrong you are, how stupid it is to dismiss the medical knowledge of decades of study simply because a government got involved (what do you think would happen when it is discovered that there’s a new major pandemic? That the government wouldn’t become interested in protecting the well-being of the people it represents from said pandemic? Like every government in the world always has?), but what’s the point? As said: stupid and infuriating brick wall of denial.
>
> You’re insane. Goodbye.
Dude, I used to respect you. What the hell happened to you? When did you lose your mind? ☹ This may sound childish, but dammit, I’m mad. I’m mad at myself for wasting so much time talking to this guy, I’m mad at him for giving mutual friends (including my family) absolutely horrible advice over the years, and I’m mad at him for proving to me that I am a lousy judge of character. Ugh. Just ugh.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/2 "2014-01-29T22:52:35Z")
You do business with the guy?
Anyway, maybe you should be _thanking_ him for proving that you’re a lousy judge of character. I mean, sure it stings to have to accept it, but self-knowledge is among the best kinds of knowledge that there are, right?
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### Author:  [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/3 "2014-01-29T22:52:45Z")
Did you fuck him? At least he appears to be of legal age & not totally retarded – something diferent for you surely.
As for the rest, I don’t give a fuck.
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### Author:  [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/4 "2014-01-29T22:55:39Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#):
>
> You do business with the guy?
If we are to believe him, BPC is a teen living in Germany and mooching off his current GF’s Mother.
What the fuck “business” could he be doing? Other than trolling us all that is.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/5 "2014-01-29T23:09:34Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> As a bisexual man, this is something of a touchy subject for me. You know, the whole “AIDS kills people” thing is kind of a big deal.
To be fair, if the government was in fact poisoning people as part of a Georgia-based depopulation program, that would be a pretty big deal as well. Maybe you could try thinking of someone other than yourself for once? There’s no I in [del]AIDS[/del] [del]HIV[/del] damnit.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/6 "2014-01-29T23:13:57Z")
> [@Giraffe](#):
>
> There’s no I in [del]AIDS[/del] [del]HIV[/del] damnit.
Yes there is. d a m n **I** t. It’s right there.
Anyways repeat rant is lame-o.
> **[You really don't understand how crazy you sound?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=711900)**
>
> Okay, so first you start talking about conspiracy theories at a party. Okay, not the greatest discussion for 11:30 PM on the 31st, especially after a few drinks, but hey, I can dig it. So then you start talking about how the term is demeaning, and...
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### Author:  [@Phatlewt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phatlewt)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/7 "2014-01-29T23:33:43Z")
It’s been going this way with my dad, as of late. When Snopes became “leftist,” I figured there wasn’t any point in talking about that any more.
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### Author:  [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/8 "2014-01-29T23:36:51Z")
My god, you are an incredibly boring poster. And a drama whore.
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### Author:  [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)
#### Post date: [January 29, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/9 "2014-01-29T23:45:10Z")
OP: I feel your pain. In my case, it’s my close relatives who, for some reason, once they hit 80 YO, have jumped full onto just about all the fringe “theories” to include some aspects of Fundamentalism.
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/10 "2014-01-30T00:05:30Z")
> [@RedFury](#):
>
> If we are to believe him, BPC is a teen living in Germany and mooching off his current GF’s Mother.
>
> What the fuck “business” could he be doing? Other than trolling us all that is.
20 as of this month, and website design, you jackass.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/11 "2014-01-30T00:13:46Z")
I guess those conspiracy websites aren’t going to make themselves.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/12 "2014-01-30T00:29:47Z")
I feel your frustration. But, as I said to another poster, just because you’re upset about something doesn’t mean you should come here and start an entire thread.
Add a short rant to the mini-rants thread, or just wait a week, deal with it, and then see if you need to burden us with your inner turmoil.
The good news is that what feels like a huge deal at an immature 20 is much easier to shrug off at a wiser, more laid back 30.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/13 "2014-01-30T01:01:21Z")
Maybe you should reply to his email with one of these:
[http://freakoutnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/middle-finger.jpg](http://freakoutnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/middle-finger.jpg)
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/14 "2014-01-30T01:29:51Z")
> [@digs](#):
>
> I feel your frustration. But, as I said to another poster, just because you’re upset about something doesn’t mean you should come here and start an entire thread.
>
> Add a short rant to the mini-rants thread, or just wait a week, deal with it, and then see if you need to burden us with your inner turmoil.
>
> The good news is that what feels like a huge deal at an immature 20 is much easier to shrug off at a wiser, more laid back 30.
It is the fucking pit, which exists as a place to vent. Deal with it, Buttercup. If you don’t want to read something that a 20-something wrote, don’t open the thread.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/15 "2014-01-30T01:36:22Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> It is the fucking pit, which exists as a place to vent. Deal with it, Buttercup. If you don’t want to read something that a 20-something wrote, don’t open the thread.
I thought it was something new. Instead, our OP doesn’t seem to know how to search for threads he authored less than a month ago, in order to post what’s merely an update on the same topic.
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### Author:  [@FightMyIgnorance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FightMyIgnorance)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/16 "2014-01-30T02:10:27Z")
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the OP.
OP, knowing the whole “anti-government conspiracy theory damn moochin liberals” person like the back of my hand (I came from a family of it), I would have just stopped talking to him the moment he/she sent me this email. You simply cannot convince these people. Trusted, cited and researched sources are part of the conspiracy, which essentially leaves their viewpoint impenetrable. (In their mind) Argumentum ad ignorantiam at it’s finest. The burden of proof is always on you, not them.
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### Author:  [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/17 "2014-01-30T02:52:35Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> It is the fucking pit, which exists as a place to vent. Deal with it, Buttercup. If you don’t want to read something that a 20-something wrote, don’t open the thread.
But what if I do open the thread and want to tell the 20-something who wrote it that it sucked? What do I do then??
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/18 "2014-01-30T03:04:50Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> It is the fucking pit, which exists as a place to vent. Deal with it, Buttercup. If you don’t want to read something that a 20-something wrote, don’t open the thread.
Likewise, we can tell the OP he sounds like a douchebag.
> [@Giraffe](#):
>
> To be fair, if the government was in fact poisoning people as part of a Georgia-based depopulation program, that would be a pretty big deal as well. Maybe you could try thinking of someone other than yourself for once? There’s no I in [del]AIDS[/del] [del]HIV[/del] damnit.
Well, it’s not like there isn’t a [history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell) of [stuff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment) like [that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States).
(I’m not a CT, but it is scary to read some of this shit.)
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/19 "2014-01-30T05:04:36Z")
> [@aruvqan](#):
>
> It is the fucking pit, which exists as a place to vent. Deal with it, Buttercup.
How did you know that I’m a huge Power Puff Girls fan? (I kid…)
> [@](#):
>
> If you don’t want to read something that a 20-something wrote, don’t open the thread.
B-b-but, I didn’t know it was another episode of Teen Drama until I opened it.
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/congratulations-i-used-to-look-up-to-you/680078/20 "2014-01-30T05:42:16Z")
As a middle-aged professional stuck in the same job, I’ve mentored lots of kids who are now executives earning much much more than me, and have always seen me as a jerk. I find it cheesy that they’d walk up to me, and imply I was an important part of their professional success or something like that. For me, I’d rather some people remain as enemies. 😃
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