Asch to Quora, experiment to sad reality

When I was a child in Catholic grade school, I was an altar boy. It was a big deal to my deeply indoctrinated mind, wearing girly frocks and lighting candles and ringing bells. Our pastor, Father Neville once took trouble after a morning mass to advise me that I was not my brother Steve, that I was not measuring up. Asshole. That really stung and in no way did it move me forward, especially not beyond Catholicism, as it should have.

One morning during a weekday mass we had to attend, my class sat in the balcony of the church, Little Flower, to this day still on 2nd Avenue South in Billings, Montana. It caters to the Hispanic community, and is quite charming. As an altar boy I knew the drills, when to stand, when to kneel and sit. We came to a part of the mass where we insiders knew it was time to stand, and yet my whole class just sat there, so I mustered all my courage and stood up, all alone, to snickers and oddball looks from our nun/teacher, sister Iforget.

I was demonstrating the courage of nonconformity in the most conformist way possible, by adhering to the altar boy code.

I think it safe to say that the readers of this blog tend towards nonconformity, and so I’m going to briefly review the Asch Conformity Experiments, and then take a look at Quora, the place where people go to be reassured by smooth-spoken experts who spout outlandish things like moon landings are real.

Asch Conformity Experiments: Conducted by psychologist Solomon Eliot Asch in the 1950s, he showed that people were willing to ignore reality if doing so helped them blend into a group.

In each experiment, a naive student participant was placed in a room with several other confederates who were in on the experiment. The subjects were told that they were taking part in a “vision test.” All told, a total of 50 students were part of Asch’s experimental condition.

The confederates were all told what their responses would be when the line task was presented. The naive participant, however, had no inkling that the other students were not real participants. After the line task was presented, each student verbally announced which line (either 1, 2, or 3) matched the target line.

“Other confederates” is the key, and the objects of the study were confronted with people who claimed, with assurance, that a certain line was longer than another when it was easily seen to be shorter or equal. The participants were not being tested on visual abilities, but rather the degree to which they would ignore reality and conform to the controlling group opinion. 75% of the participants went along with the dominant group opinion, at least one time.

It is easy for us to sit here and imagine that we would not be like that 75%, but are we sure? Are we, punks?

Quora: I would be lying to say that this website did not capture my interest, and hold it. I have a Gmail address and use it to follow Quora, Reddit, and other things beneath me. I’ll offer one example of the goings on at Quora:

Q: The Apollo astronauts sometimes smuggled stuff into the spacecraft, such as golf balls.

A: No they didn’t.

Each astronaut was allotted a Personal Preference Kit, a little bag in which we could carry anything he liked as long at it fit in the bag, stayed under a weight budget, and didn’t endanger the mission.

Buzz Aldrin brought wine which he used on the lunar surface to take the sacrament. Gene Cernan brought a family photo and a camera timer. Dave Scot brought an aluminium placard and sculpture to commemorate those lost to space exploration.

The golf balls you refer to were explicitly approved ahead of time. Al Shepherd had gotten the idea from comedian Bob Hope, who quipped about hitting a ball on the moon while the two were playing. Al thought it a fine idea, and as the astronauts were constantly being encouraged to do things to help make the program relatable to Joe Taxpayer, he asked the golf pro and the River Oaks country club if he could modify a club head to fit the end of the contingency sample collector. This was essentially an aluminium pooper-scooper meant to collect a quick sample at the start of the first EVA, just in case something went wrong and they had to leave the moon in a hurry. After that, it was useless, so there was no mission reason Al couldn’t remove the scoop, attach the club head and try to hit a couple of balls.

He took the idea to his superiors, explaining that he would carry the balls and head in his PPK and wait till the end of the mission to try it. If anything had gone even a little wrong, he wouldn’t do it, so as to avoid any appearance of goofing off that might embarrass the program. This was approved, and there are now three golf balls on the moon.

We see in that photograph evidence that the moon landings were faked, the absence of stars, the fluttering flag, the astronauts lightly lit up on their dark sides, an impossibility. But enough about that.

What Quora is doing is similar to what Solomon Asch did back in the 1950s, presenting authoritative voices to advance lies. There is on that site an inordinate number of questions and “answers” about the LOOT, or lies of our time. Moon landings seem to take precedence, as if Quora were trying its best to preserve the flailing ship. But nothing is exempt, and Manson, Challenger, Jonestown, Columbine, Boston 9/11, and every other fake event of note is QnA’d regularly. I respond regularly, and my upvotes must be monitored by Fr. Neville, as they just don’t measure up to those that advance the lies. I am not sure my comments even survive, so numerous are the subjects and responses on the site.

What is going on at Quora is a sad spectacle, liars reinforcing lies among the most gullible among us. The questions cannot be spontaneous, or if they are have been culled from thousands and boiled down to a few that measure up to my older brother.

It’s all about us, it will not change. People are gullible, and will not change. Enjoy this website and others like it, as even though we do not and cannot change the way it is, we offer a safe place for lofting amazing golf shots into black space.

20 thoughts on “Asch to Quora, experiment to sad reality”

  1. “…advise me that I was not my brother Steve, that I was not measuring up.”

    If it weren’t you speaking, and I didn’t know you as I do… much could be read into this comment about your beloved brother. As in, what exactly was the good padre receiving from Steve? Yeah, I’m mean sometimes.

    Religion… what a scourge on society.

    I was a member of that catholic cult too… way back. From age I-don’t-know until grade seven where, for whatever reason, my shitty parents offered the decision to me as to continue on, or not. I had just been “confirmed” (on paper only; $$$). DONE! In the mix there, I just day-dreamed during catechism classes. I was not brilliant then, but still, all bullshit and control. Illogical. Blind Faith – hilarious (not the band though – check out “Presence of the Lord”. My father was all the miserable control I could [barely] tolerate. It came to the attention of the thousand-year-old monsignor that I was not serving properly. I truly did not care. My parents were summoned. My mother: “What have we been paying you for if you can’t teach a smart little boy about god.” That dude mumbled and shut the fuck up and I was confirmed shortly thereafter. I only know this because I overheard papasan barking at my mother about all the wasted monies.

    I would say, throw them all away [religions], but where would the dumbass billions turn for instructions on how to live? Talk about chaos… yikes!

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    1. I went through a period of anger towards Catholics after leaving, the way they filled my young head with nonsense. I got over it. Two things in life serve to make people happy, religion and marriage. Some of us don’t need one, some don’t need either to thrive.

      If you’ve not read it already, I suggest The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, a very smart man. It is a series of lectures he gave at the University of Edinburg some time before 1910. I gave my copy away years ago but am going to re-read it. These religious feelings that people have are real to them, not make believe, and James does not belittle them. Fascinating.

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  2. I can be quite gullible, however, the problem isn’t generally people’s gullibility, the problem is that when things are pointed out that clearly show that something isn’t true they remain willfully blind.

    I believe the moon landings not because I’m gullible but because I’ve looked and I think the evidence is compelling.

    We might say that those who believe Bill Kaysing, Dave McGowan, Massimo Mazzucco and Bart Sibrel though are gullible because all they spout is nonsense against the moon landings. More importantly, those who believe what these agents say on the moon landings have zero response when it is pointed out that these agents only have nonsense to put forward on the moon landings and no disbeliever of the moon landings has detected this highly significant fact. If astronauts really didn’t land on the moon wouldn’t they throw in some truth? Agents don’t ONLY tell lies because that makes them too obvious, they mix truth with lies … except on the moon landings where there’s no truth to tell about the alleged fakery.

    Mark, how can you still trot out “absence of stars” and “fluttering flag”. No stars expected in the photos because they were on the moon in lunar daytime – do you see stars in photos during earth daytime? Flags move after handling and longer than on earth because of lack of air resistance.

    I believe the moon landings and I believe the ISS and other satellites are real but:

    — I recognise that the Challenger disaster is the most brazen psyop of all time with six of the alleged seven astronauts walking around with the same or similar name. It’s simply gobsmacking.

    — I believe the Apollo 13 mission was a “live” exercise and there was no catastrophic explosion of an oxygen tank. I think it’s quite probable the spacecraft slingshotted around the moon but the explosion was faked and they tell us Revelation of the Method style. My favorite is Jim Lovell saying they used – among other things – an old sock (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYcbmbtRwZc&t=4070s) to jury-rig the CO2 scrubber in the lunar module they were forced to occupy after the explosion allegedly happened.
    https://petraliverani.substack.com/p/houston-we-have-a-problem-was-it

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    1. I did not run that part of Quora to call you out, Petra, or to demean you. You’re entitled to your beliefs on the moon landings and defend them well. So I’ll just let this comment sit, though others might chime in.

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  3. Is this a logic/ plausibility problem for recent news stories about ICE raids –

    Plainclothes or masks etc would endanger the officers and their targets (and bystanders) by increasing the risk of gunfire, violence, etc

    Would also seem to open the officers involved to civil and criminal lawsuits, especially if anything did go wrong.

    That was my thought on hearing the news reports, even if I wasn’t already a default skeptic of publicized sensational stories.

    Then yesterday I saw someone post a chatgpt answer about it, claiming it was legal and that ICE could use its discretion, that in some cases that would be the best procedure. I just wonder if that is technically correct – aside from whether the events are likely staged or not.

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  4. I see the ultra-shill Tom Hanks is pushing the moon landings too full time – there’s some big “Moonwalkers” show where you can experience the moon just like the astronauts did – from the safety of a Hollywood studio!

    I got back on Facebook 6 months ago and I read the “space” feeds they have pushing the space propaganda. I would say nearly half the people who comment are skeptics. Beyond the moon stuff is the Space X fakery which is particularly bad, and there pushing of black holes being everywhere, with fake images. I commented on one thread that it looked the image of someone lighting their fart, or an a highly illuminated butt hole. The space suckers didn’t seem to get the joke.

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    1. I simply applied Occam’s Razor and was forced to conclude that black holes are, indeed, highly illuminated butt holes.

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      1. Years ago I read a book called Propaganda, by Jacques Ellul. I was riveted – this was before 911 – the only concrete memory I have was that I purchased the book at Tattered Cover in Denver on a trip there from Bozeman, likely in 1999 or thereabouts. Ellul layed out the basics of the craft in amazing detail. I did my usual, transcribing by hand many flagged passages, and then in a transfer to a new computer lost the file, so I set out to do it again, but I had changed and could no longer read Ellul. He was too dense and serious. It became extremely boring.

        But you, Petra, might benefit if you were to look over his work from your fresh perspective. Propaganda is multilayered, as you say, and Ellul was controversial because he thought it was a necessary part of our lives, that we literally need and seek out propaganda. It completes us.

        Just one example, Rommel, the Desert Fox, and the victory of Americans over him at El Alamein – Ellul says that Rommel had been called back to Germany and was not even present, but this fact did not serve the propaganda objectives of either side, for Americans making it look like a cheap victory, for Germans, making it look like excuse making.

        On an even grander scale, it could be that there was no battle at all, that it was just a script. That would be yet another (overlaying all) script.

        I’ve still got the book, i never look at it or my attempts to reconstruct the lost file.

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  5. Thanks for watching news. It saves me the trouble. I just read mm this AM about everything in news being fake, as always. I just don’t unnastan what money gots to do with it. Don’t they already have it all? Or enough?

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    1. I think they want people to act like loyal little doggies and beg for everything they need from their masters, vs. let us dogs have our due. As you found out they reward the good dogs like your brother who do what they are told. The money is doled out according to loyalty and ass-kissing.

      FYI don’t worry about sucking at games, I do too. But I forbid myself from gambling or playing video games when I was 16. I am particularly terrible at any card game, I can never remember the rules, or have the energy to learn them. I figured it was a big time waster to get involved in that stuff.

      Also even though i suck at games I outscored the great MM on my GREs. I was surprised at that, his scores are very good – 2160 total – mine was 2210 or 700, 730, 780. I have always scored top 1-2% on standardized tests, so go figure. Can’t be good at everything.

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      1. I also suck at music, juggling, fishing, and yardwork. When a freshman in high school we had to climb a rope in PE, and I could climb that rope faster than any other boy in the class. That’s not nothing. I also scored really well on standardized tests, meaning that if there were an opening that paid well at taking cardboard and making it into boxes, I would excel. That’s what I remember from the tests, said to be “IQ” tests. I think that’s what they were looking for, a factory box assembly line worker. They were indeed looking for where to place us in the factory system, with a few of us escaping to non-manual labor, which is why I am still in good shape. I love carpentry, and I suck at it. My hero, if I must have one, is Tom Silva.

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        1. “I think that’s what they were looking for, a factory box assembly line worker.”

          Back in my day, Chicagoland (not the City proper) Public School mandated taking the Kuder Preference Test.

          Mine came back “Unemployable” or some such. Just kidding – I have no idea what my results suggested. What I do know is that a handful of purportedly “smart” students had results that included Doctor, Fireman (WTF?), Teacher (HAH!) and some other professions that held glory back then. I met some of them post-college: just average schmucks… and you all know me [now], of course – modesty topping my list of attributes.

          Yeah Mark, This Old House was once a fantastic show. These days I suggest to Wifey to turn off all such programs – glorified commercials for unnecessarily expensive crap.

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  6. “It caters to the Hispanic community”
    There’s more than a few reasons for that. Trumpy’s deportation event was planned to have zero effect. However the old southside neighborhoods in almost every city across the USA are getting remodeled thanks to the affordable labor, and resold by the realtors who happen to be mostly Catholics.

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    1. I guess that if we lived in Kosovo they would just bomb the neighborhoods. It is far too big a subject for me to comprehend, but I was left with the idea, after Vietnam, that there was a massive relocation effort underway, with people from the countrysides placed in concentration camps prior to relocation in cities. Then garment manufacturers like Nike moved in and used them in sweatshop fashion to make our clothing. Vietnam became a garment center, and American clothing manufacturers moved their facilities there to take advantage of cheap labor.

      What of the bombing and death tolls in Vietnam? They can fake everything, so they can fake that too. No doubt people died in these mass efforts, no doubt there was collateral damage in destroyed neighborhoods and villages. And, alongside the relocation regime was a propaganda apparatus that included fake horror stories like Mai Lai and all those movies that had soldiers in the jungles fighting gooks and killing and getting killed, 55,000 dead Americans and 3,000,000 Vietnamese. What is actually true? I know it is not those numbers, but beyond that, I just don’ t know – no one does because no one kept track.

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