My husband’s brother is really into government conspiracy stuff – stuff like the income tax is illegal, that gold decorations on the US flag means we are under admiralty law (or did I get that backwards), that you can put up some sign in your car that you are a free citizen (or some other verbiage) and then you don’t have to have a driver’s licence, and the cops can’t search your car even if they see something illegal in plain sight, etc. etc. He goes to all these websites that have wacky legal ideas, and listens to weird shortwave programs.
My uncle, in contrast, destroyed his life basically because he assumed the nuclear bombs were going to fly any day. He is sure he has the answer to the dark energy in the universe too (all without knowing calculus and he doesn’t even have a super collider!)
What is the deal with this? Why are some people obsessed with conspiracies, etc? Neither of these two has schizophrenia. My brother in law is going down the path of my uncle – I expect him to be jailed for contempt of court one of these days with his weird legal stuff.
Neither of them are stupid – my uncle is actually very intelligent. But part of the deal is they think they know better than any of the experts. Thus, the physicists are stupid, or the lawyers & supreme court justices are stupid, depending on which one you talk to.
My brother in law thinks the moon landing was faked.
