I never spent a lot of time thinking about conspiracies personally. I hear a lot of them from varied sources, people I meet, some of the radio shows I have listened to (you get pretty bored driving a big rig and the radio can be a good companion) internet articles, etc. but for me personally, it has always boiled down to having some kind of concrete proof. I studied quite a bit of philosophy in college, I enjoyed the courses very much and became somewhat close to a couple of my instructors (props to Barry and Dave). If I was hard pressed to walk away with anything from my philosophy classes, I would say that understanding what proof is, and how proof works was the most useful to me in my day to day life. That's not really the case for my brother. I would like to use Kevin Trudeau as an example. My brother is obsessed with him, and mainly because Mr. Trudeau feeds into his paranoid delusions. The government is using the medical/pharmaceutical industry as a cash cow, the pharmaceutical companies are using predatory practices on patients all in the name of gross profit, on and on and on. I have never had the "talk" with my brother about Kevin Trudeau, and I am not sure when or if that is a good conversation to have with him as it seems that a figure like Mr. Trudeau is exactly the kind of fodder the paranoid schizophrenic mind hungers for. He looks as if he is a credible source, he appears to know what he is talking about, he is charismatic, well spoken, and he seems concerned for the greater good of common people. My brother has bought this mans books, hell he even has the Kevin Trudeau kitchen magnet. What my brother doesn't know is that Kevin Trudeau has had several felony convictions and has been the unsuccessful defendant in several Federal Trade Commission Lawsuits. Trudeau has been charged with larceny and fraud in the 1990's, been sued several times by the FTC, was fined $5 million dollars for claims he has made in a weight loss book, banned from making infomercials, and was sued for $37 million (source Wikipedia). Kevin Trudeau has no leg left to stand on, except to the mind of a schizophrenic. I would imagine that if I were to introduce this material to my brother, that he would see all of this as proof that Kevin Trudeau was in fact legitimate, that what ever knowledge he is in possession of is so damning to the federal government that the government has gone to great lengths to smear his name and reputation, because he is the great holder of all the secrets that "the government does not want you to know about". What he would refuse to see is that this man is not only feeding him false information, but is using the naivety of the misinformed and consequently the paranoid delusions of my brother as a means to make money for himself. My point behind all this is that my brother does not understand the requirements of proof. Proof does not cater itself to our wishes or desires, many times I would cling to an idea only to do the research on it and find that my ideas, or whatever information I thought I had was absolutely wrong, and I understand how frustrating it can be because there are times when we have these ideas and when we find out that we are mistaken, sometimes we have to redefine parts of our world view because we were mistaken. That is what my brother faces. His entire world view is skewed by paranoid delusions, and thank you Mr. Trudeau for playing your part in facilitating my brothers paranoia, and keeping him from a better life by scaring my brother into not taking his medication. And really, I am convinced that my brothers life issues can boil down to three very simple things, not taking his meds, not actively seeking out counseling, and not learning anything about his schizophrenia.
So what would I like to see happen for my brother? I would like first of all to see him start taking his meds, all of his meds according to his doctors prescriptions. I would like to see him try and learn something about his seizure disorders, and learn something about his schizophrenia. I would like to see him get actively involved in counseling and reaching out if not to family members, then to doctors and trained experts for the help he needs. Lastly, I would like to see him thriving, living a good life, and maybe he will never be rid of the voices he hears, but at least find a way to muffle them.
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