u/JohnleBon

I used the term 'powerful people' in the title.

It could just as easily be 'TPTB' or 'TPWRTS' or 'the elites' or whatever.

And I used 'devil', but it could also be 'lucifer' or 'satan' or 'dark forces' etc.

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The question is straightforward, terminology aside:

Do you believe the powerful people worship evil?

Bohemain Grove style or otherwise.

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I ask this because the topic came up on an interview I did recently.

It reminded me that once upon a time, this was a fairly popular belief in conspiracy circles.

Maybe it still is.

You tell me.

Seems to me that most folks these days like to own a lot of stuff.

Of course there are some essential things like clothing, bedding, utensils, and so forth.

I'm talking about the stuff beyond that:

Collections (toys, games, DVDs, shoes, etc), trinkets around the home, outdoor gear which is rarely if ever used.

It is common to have wardrobes full of clothes which are also rarely if ever used.

And hobby material for hobbies which came and went, but the equipment remains sitting, collecting dust.

You get the idea.

When people move home, this stuff goes in boxes and can fill trucks.

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What I wonder is:

Is it natural for humans to collect so much unnecessary stuff?

Is it 'in our DNA', so to speak?

Or is it more to do with the society and culture in which we live today?

It is estimated that most people see thousands of advertisements per day.

> In the 1970's, people were exposed to about 500 ads per day. At present, people see roughly 5,000 ads per day. There are 5.3 trillion display ads shown online every year. On average, children see 20,000 thirty-second commercials each year. Adults see an average of 2 million of those on a yearly basis.

A large proportion of these ads are for stuff. Gadgets. Clothes. Shoes. And so on.

These days the ads are often tailored to the individual (thanks to the wonders of the internet and so-called 'cookies').

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Have we been unwittingly conditioned to think of consumption, and collection of stuff, as normal?

Is it possible that people might be happier if they owed less unnecessary stuff?

How much stuff do you own, and how often do you buy new stuff?

Do you think your collection of stuff makes you happier than you would be otherwise?

Why do you have so much stuff?

The World Cup final takes place this Sunday.

Lining up for Argentina will be the superstar (and some say GOAT) Lionel Messi.

Lining up for Spain will be the teenage prodigy (potential future GOAT?) Lamine Yamal.

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The photo

Back in 2007, when Messi was 20yo, and Yamal was a baby, Messi gave Yamal a bath.

https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/f32aef52-664f-423f-ae5b-28e4baf64620/messi-yamal-2-ap-gmh-260717_1784294935562_hpMain.jpg

The story goes that Yamal's family won some kind of raffle to be able to see Messi in person for a promotional photo shoot.

The photographer for the occasion decided to bring along a baby bath and the rest is, as they say, history.

Now that very same baby is a champion footballer in his own right and will be lining up against Messi on the biggest stage.

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More coincidence

Messi was a star player for Barcelona for the majority of his career.

(He would later go on to represent PSG and more recently Miami)

Yamal is currently a player for Barcelona, and was given Messi's iconic #10.

Prior to receiving the #10 shirt, Yamal wore #19, the same as Messi had worn before taking the #10.

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Going viral

The Messi / Yamal bath coincidence has gone viral over the past couple of days.

Not just on social media, but in the mainstream media as well.

You can even find a thread about it on the soccer sub of reddit where otherwise normal-sounding folk are discussing the incredible odds of such a set of coincidences occurring, with some suggesting it is 'the craziest coincidence they have ever seen'.

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Coincidence not enough

In the past, bizarre coincidences were generally waved away as just that: coincidence.

I can't help but notice that, these days, it seems like more and more people want another explanation.

'It's scripted', 'it's rigged', 'it's evidence of a simulation'. And so on.

This leads me to wonder if something has changed out there, if perhaps the regular people have become more conspiratorial than in the past.

And, if so, why is this the case? Does it have something to do with 'algorithms'?

Is there some kind of hive mind effect at play?

And who benefits from formerly fringe conspiracy theories going mainstream?

A survey was conducted to see how many Americans believe in various 'fringe' beliefs.

According to yougov, here are the proportions of American adults who believe in:

Aliens - 56%

Bigfoot - 28%

The Yeti - 23%

Loch Ness Monster - 22%

Chupacabra - 16%

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First of all, those numbers for bigfoot etc seem wild to me.

The idea that roughly ~1/4 of American adults believe in bigfoot etc is... i dont even

But the thing I want to ask you about is the aliens.

Do you think half (or more) of the adults around you believe in aliens?

And do you think there has been an increase over the past 20 or 30 years in this number?

What I am getting at is, do you think alien belief is on the rise? And if so, why?

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I discussed these matters in the latest episode of my show.

(You can stream / download it for free, just need to join the free patreon page, costs nothing to join)

One of my main points is that I think alien belief was still relatively fringe in the 1990s (when I was growing up).

It seems to me that over the past 30 years or so, alien belief has become mainstream and normalised.

I put it down to power of mainstream media: movies, TV shows, and so forth, pumping this stuff into peoples brains.

Once upon a time, it was the 'conspiracy theorists' who believed in alien life making contact.

Now it is the 'conspiracy theorists' who think the whole thing is a giant charade and effectively a psyop.

What say you?

Are you an alien believer?