Nibble
New member
- Jan 3, 2007
- 19,238
It would be more surprising if governments/the military weren't at least experimenting with it. From what I have seen they make no secret of it. I don't believe they would have used it to create monsoons in Vietnam as it would have put their own troops at a disadvantage, mind you they weren't adverse to napalming areas their own troops were operating in so who knows. If they had managed to pull it off it would have been far more humanitarian than fire bombing the place anyway, so where's the problem?
The fact that one scientist on a news programme stated it as a fact doesn't convince me either. I would want to see where he got his evidence from before I trusted him as a source.
I saw somewhere that they sometimes try seeding on Presidential inauguration days so the weather is nice and clear. It rarely works though. Either way, it's not especially harmful as the moisture has to be there anyway so at some point it would have rained. Phrases like "weaponising the weather" are shock phrases used by tabloid newspapers and conspiracy theorists to make what they are "reporting" seem vital and important. In fact conspiracy theorists use a lot of these type of shock phrases to get people's attention and the same goes with their use of pseudo scientific axioms and phrases, concepts they inc=variably misinterpret anyway.
Cognitive Dissonance for example, as I've stated before, was a phrase coined by Festinger to describe the phsycological state of a group of UFO believers whose predicted alien apocalypse never came to pass:
"An early version of cognitive dissonance theory appeared in Leon Festinger's 1956 book, When Prophecy Fails. This book gives an account of the deepening of cult members' faith following the failure of a cult's prophecy that a UFO landing was imminent. The believers met at a pre-determined place and time, believing they alone would survive the Earth's destruction. The appointed time came and passed without incident. They faced acute cognitive dissonance: had they been the victim of a hoax? Had they donated their worldly possessions in vain? Most members chose to believe something less dissonant to resolve reality not meeting their expectations: they believed that the aliens had given Earth a second chance, and the group was now empowered to spread the word that earth-spoiling must stop. The group dramatically increased their proselytism despite the failed prophecy"
Festinger, L., Riecken, H.W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Almost exactly the reaction CT's had when the 2012 Olympics failed to produce any of their predictions.
I would imagine the CT's misread the piece and mistakenly adopted it to lend their weak arguments some credence. In fact most descriptions of CD describe perfectly the behaviour of CT's we have witnessed on this very forum:
"Dissonance is aroused when people are confronted with information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. If the dissonance is not reduced by changing one's belief, the dissonance can result in restoring consonance through misperception, rejection or refutation of the information, seeking support from others who share the beliefs, and attempting to persuade others"
Harmon-Jones, Eddie, A Cognitive Dissonance Theory Perspective on Persuasion, in The Persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice, James Price Dillard, Michael Pfau, eds. 2002. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, p.101
One point that particularly rings true is this example of CD:
Explain inexplicable feelings: When a disaster occurs in a community, irrationally fearful rumors spread in nearby communities not involved in the disaster because of the need of those who are not threatened to justify their anxieties.
Prasad, J. (1950). A comparative study of rumours and reports in earthquakes. British Journal of Psychology, 41(3-4), 129-144
9/11, Weather phenomena?
CD exists in all areas of society and life but for one group ie CT's to keep trotting the phrase out ad- nauseum in a misguided attempt to discredit any opposing argument to their theories smacks of CD in itself and also displays a gross misinterpretation of the concept. In fact, any opposing argument to anyone's statements could have the CD argument levelled at it. It's telling that CT's resort to this phrase without truly understanding it's meaning.
The fact that one scientist on a news programme stated it as a fact doesn't convince me either. I would want to see where he got his evidence from before I trusted him as a source.
I saw somewhere that they sometimes try seeding on Presidential inauguration days so the weather is nice and clear. It rarely works though. Either way, it's not especially harmful as the moisture has to be there anyway so at some point it would have rained. Phrases like "weaponising the weather" are shock phrases used by tabloid newspapers and conspiracy theorists to make what they are "reporting" seem vital and important. In fact conspiracy theorists use a lot of these type of shock phrases to get people's attention and the same goes with their use of pseudo scientific axioms and phrases, concepts they inc=variably misinterpret anyway.
Cognitive Dissonance for example, as I've stated before, was a phrase coined by Festinger to describe the phsycological state of a group of UFO believers whose predicted alien apocalypse never came to pass:
"An early version of cognitive dissonance theory appeared in Leon Festinger's 1956 book, When Prophecy Fails. This book gives an account of the deepening of cult members' faith following the failure of a cult's prophecy that a UFO landing was imminent. The believers met at a pre-determined place and time, believing they alone would survive the Earth's destruction. The appointed time came and passed without incident. They faced acute cognitive dissonance: had they been the victim of a hoax? Had they donated their worldly possessions in vain? Most members chose to believe something less dissonant to resolve reality not meeting their expectations: they believed that the aliens had given Earth a second chance, and the group was now empowered to spread the word that earth-spoiling must stop. The group dramatically increased their proselytism despite the failed prophecy"
Festinger, L., Riecken, H.W., & Schachter, S. (1956). When prophecy fails. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Almost exactly the reaction CT's had when the 2012 Olympics failed to produce any of their predictions.
I would imagine the CT's misread the piece and mistakenly adopted it to lend their weak arguments some credence. In fact most descriptions of CD describe perfectly the behaviour of CT's we have witnessed on this very forum:
"Dissonance is aroused when people are confronted with information that is inconsistent with their beliefs. If the dissonance is not reduced by changing one's belief, the dissonance can result in restoring consonance through misperception, rejection or refutation of the information, seeking support from others who share the beliefs, and attempting to persuade others"
Harmon-Jones, Eddie, A Cognitive Dissonance Theory Perspective on Persuasion, in The Persuasion Handbook: Developments in Theory and Practice, James Price Dillard, Michael Pfau, eds. 2002. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, p.101
One point that particularly rings true is this example of CD:
Explain inexplicable feelings: When a disaster occurs in a community, irrationally fearful rumors spread in nearby communities not involved in the disaster because of the need of those who are not threatened to justify their anxieties.
Prasad, J. (1950). A comparative study of rumours and reports in earthquakes. British Journal of Psychology, 41(3-4), 129-144
9/11, Weather phenomena?
CD exists in all areas of society and life but for one group ie CT's to keep trotting the phrase out ad- nauseum in a misguided attempt to discredit any opposing argument to their theories smacks of CD in itself and also displays a gross misinterpretation of the concept. In fact, any opposing argument to anyone's statements could have the CD argument levelled at it. It's telling that CT's resort to this phrase without truly understanding it's meaning.
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nurse! we've broken The Truth, again.
