#plus like they said it was bc i changed my residency status

[apocalypticdemon]

every day I think about how the admissions office fucked around with the money I was told I was going to get and every day I get so mad about it

[soler97]

The Age of Unreason

Men want certainty, not truth.

- possibly from Bertrand Russell

A thoughtful friend asked me what 2020 will be remembered for, apart from the obvious, ie Covid and Trump losing. I could not think of anything.

My friend suggested it is the realisation that in the 21st century millions of people are turning away from science and reality towards a variety of beliefs that border on the crazy. Examples are QAnon, flat earthers (yes, they are serious), deniers of Covid, about 40% of Americans believe the Rapture is coming, biblical fundamentalism, climate change denial, neo-Nazis, Holocaust denial, belief in Trump as a saviour, doomsday predictions, sundry cults, alien abductions, New Age beliefs, and a multitude of conspiracy theories, such as that the moon landings were a hoax, or that 9/11 was an inside job.

Some of these beliefs appear harmless, but occasionally, they inspire horrific violence, such as the killing of 920 people by the Jim Jones cult, the sarin attack in Japan, the Breivik massacre, the Oklahoma bombing, the Waco siege, the Christchurch massacre, and the Heaven's Gate suicides.

It is difficult to generalise about the various strange beliefs that people hold, as these include conspiracy theories, varieties of denial, religious fantasies, extremist political or racist views, and beliefs like the flat earth, that elude classification. There is no common thread underlying this spectrum of beliefs. Rather, they can be characterised by what they reject, which in a nutshell, is rationality.

Rationality can be defined as the desire to be guided by reason, which we apply to the available evidence. The third ingredient is the willingness to admit we are wrong. So turning away from rationality means letting emotion or emotionally-based belief take precedence over reason, an unwillingness to look at factual evidence, plus a dogmatic belief that one is in possession of the ultimate truth. Many irrational beliefs run counter to Occam's Razor, which tells us to prefer the simplest explanation that covers the known facts. Complex processes may require elaborate or involved explanations, but the point is not to introduce unnecessary factors, especially ones of a fanciful nature.

Clearly, there are too many irrational beliefs to do them justice, so let us look at flat earthers, Heaven's Gate and QAnon to see whether there is a pattern.

A Flat Earth

Flat earth map with the Antarctic ice wall at the perimeter

A bizarre example is the contemporary belief that the earth is flat. Is such a belief even possible in the 21st century? It may be feasible to construct a world view that makes a flat earth plausible. However, it requires factors such as a massive world-wide conspiracy to hide the truth, the abandoning of all of modern cosmology and much of physics, as well as weird ad-hoc explanations for why planes fly in circles around a flat disc, rather than around a spherical globe. Also, that ships at sea disappear below the horizon requires adjustment to the laws of optics. If that still does not cover all the facts countering a flat view, then one could invoke mind control by Martians, or something of the sort. The point is that if one wants to conjure up fantastical reasons to invalidate what we know of reality then it is always possible to do so.

It seems to me that the flat earth people are not interested in gaining knowledge about the world. They are uninterested in discovering what lies beyond the putative ice wall in Antarctica that holds back the oceans or why NASA might be guarding it. They just believe in the flat earth and that is that. Their only concern is to bolster the theory, which I think they hold on emotional grounds. They are willing to perform elaborate mental contortions to support their belief, and it is interesting to observe how much of modern science they are willing to jettison in order to keep their belief afloat, eg gravity.

Whereas the explanations given for the earth being flat are interesting, to me it is more interesting to enquire what causes people to seek these explanations in the first place. What causes people to believe the earth is flat?

Four factors come to mind. One is a desire to be rid of experts and eggheads, who insist on telling ordinary people what to think. In the case of the earth's apparent flatness, the boffins are telling us to deny the evidence of our senses by invoking the large-scale curvature of the earth, something that is far from apparent in ordinary life. Flat earth is like the last stand of common sense in the face of the inexorable advance of science, which keeps telling us the world is far stranger than we thought. It is also a form of contrariness and rebellion against authority. The second is the ego-gratification of knowing a secret that is hidden from nearly everyone else. The third factor is on religious grounds. The fourth is a desire to return to a comforting and anthropocentric model of the universe, rejecting the notion that our planet is an insignificant speck in the incomprehensible vastness of the universe.

Many ancient cultures subscribed to a flat earth cosmography, including Greece until the classical period (323 BC). However, early Christian writers tended to believe the earth is spherical, though with some notable exceptions. Curiously, it wasn't until 1849 that the flat earth belief was resurrected by Rowbotham and later others. He argued that the "Bible, alongside our senses, supported the idea that the earth was flat and immovable and this essential truth should not be set aside for a system based solely on human conjecture".

In the internet era, the proliferation of communications technology and social media have given individuals a platform to spread pseudo-scientific ideas and build stronger followings. The flat earth conjecture has flourished in this environment. Social media and the internet have made it easier for like-minded thinkers to connect and mutually reinforce their beliefs. They have also had a levelling effect, in that experts have less sway in the public mind than they used to.

The belief that the earth is flat could be seen as the ultimate conspiracy theory, given how many people are needed for a cover-up on such a scale. According to the Flat Earth Society's leadership, its ranks have grown by 200 people per year since 2009. Judging by the exhaustive effort flat earthers have invested in fleshing out the theory on their website, as well as the staunch defenses of their views they offer in media interviews and on Twitter, it would seem that these people genuinely believe the earth is flat. They tend to distrust observations they have not made themselves, and often distrust or disagree with each other. I imagine they are maverick individuals who enjoy challenging the status quo.

Paul Sutter, "The question isn't 'why do people believe in a flat Earth?' but rather 'why do people believe in a conspiracy?' And the answer is the same reason it always is: a lack of trust. Many people don't trust the society around them, most notably the representatives of that society. By claiming that the Earth is flat, people are really expressing a deep distrust of scientists and science itself."

Heaven's Gate

Heaven's Gate Logo

Far more bizarre than the flat earth belief are the doctrines of Heaven's Gate, which melded the Bible with belief in UFOs into a religious cult. It was founded in California in 1974 by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles. These two pondered the life of St. Francis of Assisi and read works by Helena Blavatsky, RD Laing, and Richard Bach. They studied several passages from the New Testament, focusing on teachings about Christology, asceticism, and eschatology ("the end times"). Applewhite also read science fiction, including Robert Heinlein and Arthur Clarke. They concluded that they had been chosen to fulfill biblical prophecies, and that they had been given higher-level minds than other people. They wrote a pamphlet that described Jesus' reincarnation as a Texan, a thinly veiled reference to Applewhite.

Eventually, Applewhite and Nettles resolved to contact extraterrestrials, and they sought like-minded followers. They published advertisements for meetings, where they recruited disciples, whom they called "the crew". At the events, they purported to represent beings from another planet, the Next Level, which sought participants for an experiment that would bring people to a higher evolutionary level.

In September 1975, the group visited the small town of Waldport, Oregon, to give a lecture about how UFOs were soon going to make contact with the human race. Roughly 150 people packed into a motel hall to hear Applewhite. At first the town thought it was a joke. However, soon after, in a testament to Applewhite's charisma and powers of persuasion, 20 people - or about one in 30 residents of the town - drove off to a meeting of about 400 people in Grand Junction, Colorado, in the hope of meeting aliens.

Later, the crew sold all their worldly possessions and said farewell to loved ones; the group vanished from the public eye. From that point, "Do and Ti", as the two now called themselves, led the nearly one-hundred-member crew across the country, sleeping in tents and begging in the streets. Evading detection by the authorities and media enabled the group to focus on Do and Ti's doctrine of helping members of the crew achieve a "higher evolutionary level" above human, which they claimed to have already reached.

Most of their followers are described by researchers as having been longtime truth-seekers, or spiritual hippies who had long attempted to find themselves through spiritual means. The clan of UFO followers all seemed to have in common a need for communal belonging in an alternative path to higher existence without the constraints of institutionalised faith. The group purchased alien abduction insurance that would pay out $1 million per person, covering abduction, impregnation, or death by aliens.

Applewhite began to emphasize a strict hierarchy, teaching that his students needed his guidance, just as he needed the guidance of the Next Level. A relationship with Applewhite was said to be the only way to salvation and he encouraged his followers to see him as Christ. In the 1980s, the group became more like a religion in its focus on faith and submission to authority. Students who were not committed to this lifestyle were encouraged to leave; departing members were given financial assistance. He specifically cited sexual urges as the work of Lucifer. Applewhite, "We do in all honesty hate this world".

In March 1997, Marshall Applewhite videoed himself in Do's Final Exit, speaking of mass suicide as "the only way to evacuate this Earth". After asserting that a spacecraft was trailing Comet Hale-Bopp and that this event would represent the closure to Heaven's Gate, Applewhite persuaded 38 followers to prepare for ritual suicide so their souls could board the supposed craft. Applewhite believed that after their deaths a UFO would take their souls to another level of existence above human, which he described as being both physical and spiritual.

News of the 39 deaths in Rancho Santa Fe motivated the copycat suicide of a 58-year-old man living near Marysville, California. The man left a note, "I'm going on the spaceship with Hale-Bopp to be with those who have gone before me," and imitated some of the details of the Heaven's Gate suicides as they had been reported in the media. At least three former members of Heaven's Gate committed suicide in the months after the mass suicide.

Heaven's Gate members believed the earth would be wiped clean and refurbished before 2027, and that the only chance for their consciousness to survive was to leave their human bodies at an appointed time. Initially, the group had been told that they would be transported with their bodies aboard a spacecraft that would come to earth and take the crew to heaven, the Next Level. When Nettles (Ti) died of cancer in 1985, it confounded Applewhite's doctrine because Nettles was allegedly chosen by the Next Level to be a messenger on earth, yet her body died instead of leaving physically to outer space. The belief system was then revised to include the leaving of consciousness from the body as equivalent to leaving the earth in a spacecraft.

While the group was against suicide, they defined "suicide" to mean "to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered" and believed their bodies were only vehicles meant to help them on their journey. Suicide, therefore, would be not allowing their consciousness to leave their human bodies to join the Next Level. They believed that, "to be eligible for membership in the Next Level, humans would have to shed every attachment to the planet". This meant members had to give up all human characteristics, such as their family, friends, sexuality, individuality, jobs, money, and possessions.

The Evolutionary Level Above Human was seen as a physical, corporeal place, another planet, where residents live in pure bliss and nourish themselves by absorbing pure sunlight. They do not engage in sexual intercourse, eating or dying. Heaven's Gate believed that what the Bible calls God is actually a highly developed Extraterrestrial. Evil space aliens - called Luciferians - falsely represented themselves to Earthlings as God and conspired to keep humans from developing. Technically advanced humanoids, these aliens have spacecraft, space-time travel, telepathy, and increased longevity. They use holograms to fake miracles. Heaven's Gate believed that all existing religions on earth had been corrupted by these malevolent aliens.

Applewhite taught that "aliens planted the seeds of current humanity millions of years ago, and have come to reap the harvest of their work in the form of spiritually evolved individuals who will join the ranks of flying saucer crews. Only a select few members of humanity will be chosen to advance to this transhuman state. The rest will be left to wallow in the spiritually poisoned atmosphere of a corrupt world". Only the individuals who chose to join Heaven's Gate, followed its belief system, and made the sacrifices required by membership would be allowed to escape the prophesied disaster.

In a group open only to adults over the age of 18, members gave up their possessions and lived a highly ascetic life. The group was strictly regimented, tightly knit and everything was communally shared. Eight of the male members, including Applewhite (who was gay), voluntarily underwent castration as an extreme means of maintaining the ascetic lifestyle. "They couldn't stop smiling and giggling," surviving member DiAngelo told Newsweek. "They were excited about it."

Lalich speculates that they were willing to follow Applewhite in suicide because they had become totally dependent upon him, hence were poorly suited to life in his absence. He isolated them socially and cultivated an attitude of complete religious obedience. Applewhite's students had made a long-term commitment to him. Most of the dead had been members for about 20 years, although there were a few recent converts.

Three of the people who suicided left exit statements on their website. These extoll the joys of the Next Level while summing up people on earth as the walking dead. The texts are not the ramblings of disordered minds. The content is fantasy, but they are written in a lucid way in excellent English and give every appearance of sincerity. Unlike the Flat Earth Society, which no doubt numbers people who joined for a joke, as well as those who are not fully convinced, there is little doubt that the members of Heaven's Gate were totally committed to their beliefs. After all, they gave up their sexuality and their lives for their ideal.

QAnon

QAnon at the Capitol invasion

QAnon is a powerful but diffuse contemporary movement that sought to have Trump re-elected. It is animated by a loose collection of extreme right conspiracy theories whose central theme is that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles is running a global child sex-trafficking ring and plotting against Donald Trump, who is fighting the cabal. QAnon claims that Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and others are planning a coup against Trump and are involved in an international child sex-trafficking ring. It alleges that an elite cabal of pedophiles, comprising, among others, Hollywood A-listers, leading philanthropists, Jewish financiers and Democrat politicians, covertly rule the world. Followers of QAnon believe that there is an imminent event known as the "Storm", when thousands of members of the cabal will be arrested and possibly sent to Guantanamo Bay prison, and the US military will brutally take over the country. The result will be salvation and utopia on earth. QAnon promises a "Great Awakening", in which the elites will be routed and the truth revealed.

However, this summary is misleading because QAnon is amorphous, multi-faceted and confusing. In addition it keeps shape-shifting.

The conspiracy theory began with an October 2017 post on the anonymous bulletin-board 4chan by "Q". Q claimed to be a high-level government official with Q clearance. Q predicted the imminent arrest of Hillary Clinton and a violent uprising nationwide. It is likely that Q has become a group of people acting under the same name. QAnon's adherents, while seeing Trump as a flawed Christian, also view him as a messiah sent by God. Trump himself pretends to know little about QAnon, which is a lie. Trump has amplified QAnon messaging at least 216 times by retweeting or mentioning 129 QAnon-affiliated Twitter accounts, sometimes multiple times a day. Being a savvy politician, Trump is perfectly aware that many, perhaps most, of his supporters are QAnon people. He made a correct political calculation, deciding to give only scant public endorsement to QAnon. Showing full support would hurt his standing with moderate Republicans, whereas he does not need to do anything to retain the devotion of QAnon. They are happy with the crumbs he throws their way, being accustomed to snatching at Q's hints.

Q's posts have become more cryptic and vague, allowing followers to map their own beliefs onto them. Part of QAnon's appeal is its game-like quality, in which followers attempt to solve riddles presented in Qdrops by connecting them to Trump speeches and tweets. Q enthralls readers with clues rather than presenting claims directly. Travis View, a researcher who studies QAnon, says that it is as addictive as a video game, and offers the "player" the appealing possibility of being involved in something of world-historical importance. According to View, "You can sit at your computer and search for information and then post about what you find, and Q basically promises that through this process, you are going to radically change the country, institute this incredible, almost bloodless revolution, and then be part of this historical movement that will be written about for generations."

Although Q's claims are false and the prophecies routinely fail, this does little to decrease Q's influence. Believers overlook the lack of results and failed predictions because they gauge the movement's success by its popularity, its opposition from the mainstream media, and its recognition by the President himself. On multiple occasions, Q has dismissed his false claims and incorrect predictions as deliberate, claiming that "disinformation is necessary". This has led psychologist Stephan Lewandowsky to emphasize the "self-sealing" quality of the conspiracy theory, so that evidence against it can become evidence of its validity in the minds of believers. "The absence of evidence is reinterpreted as evidence without batting an eyelid." Conspiracy enthusiasts believe that the burden of proof lies with their opponents, ie that QAnon's claims are valid in the absence of positive proof that there is no cabal and no trafficking of children by Democrats.

Experts judge that QAnon's appeal is comparable to that of religious cults. According to Renee DiResta, QAnon's pattern of enticement is similar to that of cults in the pre-internet era where, as the targeted person was led deeper and deeper into the group's secrets, they became increasingly isolated from friends and family outside the cult. Rachel Bernstein, an expert on cults, has said, "What a movement such as QAnon has going for it, and why it will catch on like wildfire, is that it makes people feel connected to something important that other people don't yet know about... All cults will provide this feeling of being special."

A series of ideas began burbling in the QAnon community: that the coronavirus might not be real; that if it was, it had been created by the "deep state", the cabal of government officials and other elite figures who secretly run the world; that the hysteria surrounding the pandemic was part of a plot to hurt Trump's re-election chances. QAnon is a movement united in mass rejection of reason, objectivity, and other Enlightenment values. Some QAnoners are highly focused on what they perceive as degeneracy in the mainstream media, a perception fuelled in equal measure by Q and by Trump. QAnon may be propelled by paranoia and populism, but it is also driven by religious faith. The language of evangelical Christianity has come to define the QAnon movement. QAnon marries an appetite for the conspiratorial with positive beliefs about a radically different and better future, one that is preordained. As one adherent proclaimed, "It's not a theory. It's the foretelling of things to come."

Edgar Welch is a deeply religious father of two, who until December 4, 2016, had lived an unremarkable life in a small town. That morning, Welch grabbed his collection of guns and drove 580 km to a neighbourhood in Northwest Washington, DC. He held an AR-15 rifle across his chest as he walked through the front door of a pizzeria called Comet Ping Pong. Welch was there because of a conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate, which three years later became a pillar of QAnon. It claimed that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of Comet Ping Pong. The idea originated in October 2016, when some conspiracy theorists asserted that sexual abuse of children was taking place in the basement at Comet, where there is no basement. After firing a rifle to break a lock, Welch realised his mistake and gave himself up to police. He was sentenced to four years in prison. The New York Times wrote in June 2020 that posts on TikTok with the #PizzaGate hashtag were viewed more than 82 million times in recent months. The abuse of children fantasy arose because someone suggested that emails written by the restaurateurs referring to 'pizza' and 'pasta' were code words for 'boys' and 'girls'.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters

by Goya

Anthony Comello was charged with the March 2019 murder of Gambino crime family boss, Frank Cali. According to his defense attorney, Comello had become obsessed with QAnon theories, believing Cali was a member of a "deep state". Comello was convinced he "was enjoying the protection of President Trump himself" so he decided to act. Confronting Cali outside his Staten Island home, Comello allegedly shot Cali ten times. A May 30, 2019, FBI Intelligence Bulletin memo from the Phoenix Field Office identified QAnon-driven extremists as a domestic terrorism threat. Although the conspiracy that QAnon imagines does not exist, there is a real danger that QAnon itself might become a conspiracy of armed vigilantes, determined to bring about the promised "Storm". The storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters, including QAnoners, is not a good sign.

Heavy on millennialism and the idea that a reckoning awaits the world, the theory has found fertile ground in the American alt-right. Some 56% of Republicans believe that QAnon is mostly or partly true. At least 35 current or former congressional candidates have shown support for QAnon. A Time magazine article listed Q among the 25 most influential people on the internet in 2018. Counting more than 130,000 related discussion videos on YouTube, Time cited the wide range of the conspiracy theory and its prominent followers and news coverage.

Why did Q's cryptic post on an obscure message-board ignite a movement involving millions? Why were so many eager to embrace such a far-fetched conspiracy theory? Perhaps it was the surge in confidence of the Right in the wake of Trump's win. Whatever the reasons, the grass was dry and Q provided the spark. Not all QAnoners come from a rightwing background. For those who have had no agency to suddenly discover a path into the game is heady stuff.

QAnon is not confined to the US. It has organised protest demonstrations in 200 countries, ostensibly to "save the children". One in four Britons are said to believe in QAnon-related theories. According to The Guardian, QAnon is growing in the UK, spilling over into anti-vaccine and 5G protests, fuelled by online misinformation. At a QAnon rally, Shemirani, a nurse suspended for promoting baseless theories about Covid19, told the crowd: "Our government has declared war on the people of the UK."

"There is a high possibility that the spirited belief system which surrounds QAnon can slowly become a political movement in the UK," Liyanage said. "It will be successful because no one can fight it through reason. It's not a rational belief system but mostly a supernatural belief system."

The time for Trump to arrest the pedophiles and satanists is fast running out. It is interesting to speculate what effect his departure will have on a conspiracy theory in which he is the key figure. My guess is that the powerful energy and passion that drive QAnon will shift focus.

My own view is that QAnon is a blank slate onto which people project their darkest nightmares, as well as their hopes for a Christian utopia. Where do the ideas of satanism, eating children, sinister cabals, sexual depravity, and other crimes against children come from? The answer is simple: from the minds of those who form QAnon. QAnon is nothing but a mirror showing people their shared fantasy. People are sharing with each other their worst fears, as well as their hopes. The dark parts are projected onto the favourite targets of the alt-right, ie Hillary and other Democrats, Jews, and liberals, whereas the messianic hopes are projected onto Trump and Q. However, it is a mistake to see the QAnon conspiracy theory as the work of Q. Although Q was the initial cause, his cryptic and vague messages are merely prompts, asking people to fill in the blanks. This is what many have done and the result is a miasma of fanciful lies about corruption, sexual perversions and violence. The irony is that whereas the accusations made by QAnon are entirely baseless, QAnon might itself become a violent entity, little better than the chimera it rails against.

James Baldwin wrote, "It is a terrible, an inexorable, law that one cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own." Voltaire put it more starkly, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Is Credulity Humanity's Achilles Heel?

The three belief systems discussed  have almost nothing in common except the rejection of the consensus view of reality, combined with belief in a fantasised conspiracy. In each case, powerful unseen forces are seen as perverting or hiding the truth of what is really going on. All three beliefs appear absurd except to people who are believers. The puzzle is why do apparently normal people adopt such ideas?

In a study published online in March, 2014, in the American Journal of Political Science, Oliver and Wood, found that about half of Americans endorse at least one conspiracy theory, such as the notion that 9/11 was an inside job or the JFK conspiracy. "Many people are willing to believe many ideas that are directly in contradiction to a dominant cultural narrative," Oliver said. According to him, conspiratorial belief stems from a human tendency to perceive unseen forces at work, known as magical thinking.

In the Middle Ages the Devil was a convenient factor that could be used to explain anything weird or harmful, while the deity took responsibility for the rest. With the advance of science, both the Devil and God gradually lost their explanatory powers. God became "the God of the gaps", being only needed to explain what was missing in our understanding of the physical world. Nowadays, the term "act of God" is reserved to describe the insurance industry's view of natural disasters.

In the modern era magical thinking has undergone a new twist. God and the Devil have been replaced by conspiracies. A recent survey of 26,000 people in 25 countries asked respondents whether they believe there is "a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together". In the US 37% replied that this is "definitely or probably true". So did 45% of Italians, 56% of Spaniards and 78% of Nigerians.

2020 was the year of Covid19. The coronavirus has triggered the rise of myriad myths, waves of misinformation and virus conspiracy theories, including that it does not exist - believed by 22% in Poland, where there have been nearly 1.4 million cases. The virus has also had an incubating effect on unrelated conspiracy theories because it has thrown humankind into a state of fear and isolated people in their homes with too much time to think and surf. The extra time in the virtual space means increased exposure to the proponents of conspiracy theories, without the balancing effect of social interactions.

According to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, the normal process is that as people begin to acquire knowledge of a given subject, their feelings of competence rise quickly towards a peak, before declining, as they begin to realise how much more there is to know. In the case of conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, people can arrive almost immediately at that delicious peak of confidence, without actually learning anything at all. QAnon is like a super-car that can do 0 to 100 kph in 3 seconds flat. Many are captivated by the vicarious thrill of believing they are privy to vastly important secrets about which millions of people have no idea. This is the seductive appeal of conspiracy theories.

What causes us to believe? There is an analogy between religions and conspiracy theories. Once you pay the price of entry, ie faith in a religious doctrine or conspiracy, the payoff is that much of the confusion and mystery of life is dispelled because you are in possession of the answers. Yuval Harari: "Our lives are repeatedly rocked by wars, revolutions, crises and pandemics. But if I believe some kind of global cabal theory, I enjoy the comforting feeling that I do understand everything. The skeleton key of global cabal theory unlocks all the world's mysteries and offers me entree into an exclusive circle - the group of people who understand. It makes me smarter and wiser than the average person and even elevates me above the intellectual elite and the ruling class: professors, journalists, politicians. I see what they overlook - or what they try to conceal."

The spectrum of irrational beliefs shares one characteristic: they are all unfalsifiable. Their adherents never say, "If such-and-such happens I will discard this belief." This is particularly apparent in doomsday predictions. The predicted date comes and goes, but the true believers simply reset the clock to a future date. A cult called the Seekers went one better. They believed a UFO would save them from a cataclysm on December 24, 1954. Afterwards, some of the members claimed that their group's devotion had saved the rest of the world from disaster. They responded by proselytizing with renewed vigour. Cults and conspiracy theories are highly resistant to correction. Even the thoroughly discredited Pizzagate is still believed by masses of people.

The self-validating nature of the beliefs ensures that all evidence can be construed as confirmation. New findings that contradict a belief are interpreted as proof of the further workings of the conspiracy to hide the truth. Yet cults and conspiracy theories are not the only systems that guarantee their own validation. If one questions what is taught in a personal growth course one is rebuked with, "You are resisting". Pseudo-science is very difficult to debunk. Inconvenient facts, such as aliens not showing up, are explained by another tweak to the doctrine.

To be fair, the process of theory adjustment happens in science proper as well. When a theory fails experimental test it may be given an additional proviso that accounts for the discrepancy. For instance, the fact that personal experience can be handed down as a genetic legacy to future generations seems to contradict standard evolutionary theory. As it turns out, there is no contradiction. A new sub-science called epigenetics explains the mechanism of this process in terms of alterations to the DNA molecule that do not change the genetic code but which influence gene expression.

Since science is a human activity, it is subject to the foibles of our species. It too has dogmas that are difficult to overturn. Thomas Kuhn has written persuasively about paradigm shifts in science. He saw the history of science as consisting of normal and revolutionary phases, in which the community of scientists in a particular field are plunged into periods of turmoil, uncertainty and angst. These revolutionary phases, such as the transition from classical physics to quantum mechanics, involve great conceptual breakthroughs and lay the basis for a succeeding phase of business as usual. This is captured in an aphorism that is only half humorous, "The measure of the greatness of a scientist is how long they hold up advancement in their chosen field."

The history of science features dogmas that were held too long and new ideas that took an unreasonably long time to be accepted. One example is the resistance to the theory of plate tectonics, another is the opposition to a bacterial explanation for the cause of ulcers. The mainstream rejection of functional medicine and the progress it has made in curing Alzheimer's Disease is a current example.

Nevertheless, the greatest strength of science is that it is tentative: any scientific theory may be overturned and replaced by a better theory in the future. The criterion of a theory being scientific is that it makes predictions which could, in principle, be falsified by new data. Yet to a fundamentalist or a common sense sceptic, such as a flat earther, this is not a strength but a weakness. They point out that science can never prove anything, that scientific theories have been debunked plus questions science can't answer. Hence science is not to be trusted. With the authority of science diminished, the field opens for persuasive individuals with pet theories, especially about conspiracies. Why conspiracies? Because a belief that goes counter to the accepted view of reality requires a widespread suppression of the truth.

The bottom line is that many people do not perform due diligence in checking the information they encounter and its sources. Given the virulent spread of QAnon and other conspiracy theories, this is a massive under-statement. The worry is that many obtain their news from questionable sources, such as Facebook and YouTube.

Ultimately, eschewing reputable news media in favour of bulletin-boards and succumbing to their conspiracy theories has deeper causes. These are alienation and a lack of trust in society and its leaders. Why are people alienated and distrustful? Perhaps the underlying problem is not credulity but its opposite, ie a loss of belief in the system. Those who are drawn to far-right conspiracy theories have lost trust in democracy and the modern state. They think the US no longer embodies the ideals they believe in. Conservative Christians and right-wingers resent their defeat in "the culture wars", which were about abortion, separation of church and state, creationism, recreational drug use, homosexuality, and censorship. Perhaps the "Great Awakening" is their dream of a return to how things were. The fact that they grasp at ludicrous ideas indicates the depth of their disaffection.

Of course, irrational beliefs, superstitions, baseless theories and weird cults have been with us all through history, ever since the invention of writing, and probably long before. The difference now is that we supposedly live in the age of reason and science. Furthermore, knowledge is far more freely available than at any time in the past. The problem is that disinformation, extravagant falsehoods, fringe beliefs, and sensational stories are more easily disseminated than ever before, and they seem to capture peoples' attention more than sober facts. The difference between 30 years ago and now is that anyone can post anything and potentially reach millions of people. It's the old story - those who know least have the loudest voices. The paradox is that although reliable knowledge is now easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection, millions are turning their backs on both science and common sense.

My conclusion is that despite the advances of human knowledge, human nature itself has not changed. We remain a species ruled by emotion rather than logic, and hence we come to believe all kinds of nonsense.

Another conclusion comes from an insight of the brilliant intellectual, Yuval Harari. He is convinced that we human beings can only prosper and live in harmony with each other provided we believe in a shared myth. If so, then a propensity towards credulity might be built into our genome. Unfortunately, credulity is dangerous, as shown in Heaven's Gate, the Jim Jones cult and QAnon.

Tad Boniecki

January 2021

[straight-outta-hobbiton]

A Few Notes About American Legal Documents (Specifically For Proving Citizenship/Legal Residency and Traveling)

I work with a lot of legal documents associated with citizenship and legal residency. With the rise of legal residents and citizens unlucky enough to actually look like their ethnicity, I thought it might help to give a basic rundown of legal documents that could help in a sticky situation. It’s mostly simple stuff, but there might be something of value to your personal situation or the situation of someone you know, so, y’know.

VALID BIRTH CERTIFICATES:

Your birth certificate needs a raised seal on it, with as little damage as possible. I see a lot of folded/fucked up BCs from people in less than ideal living situations, and I understand that there are times when the only thing you can do to protect yourself is keep your shit with you all the time (abusive/controlling parents, foster care, intermittent homelessness, etc), but if the print is illegible, the seal torn or damaged, or the BC is in pieces, YOU NEED TO GET A NEW ONE. Most state ID places won’t accept it if there’s too much damage— it fucks with the security features, and most government worker grunts aren’t going to chance their jobs on faith in your puppy dog eyes.

If you need a new BC and you don’t have a way to get to the county clerk’s office (you need to go to the county you were born in, which is a hassle for some people)— vitalchek.com is a website where you can securely order your documents and have them delivered to whatever address you feel is best. It takes a little while sometimes, though, so it isn’t a perfect solution to more immediate issues.

If possible, see if you can get yourself a wallet-sized BC. I typically see older folk carrying them, but I’m pretty sure some states still offer the option. I highly recommend this for anyone who might be targeted by the current administration— again, it doesn’t solve every problem, but for right now, all American-born Latine and other non-whites can only benefit from having as much paperwork as they can. At the very least, it might slow some officers down.

IF YOU HAVE A PUERTO RICAN BIRTH CERTIFICATE, MAKE SURE IT’S THE MOST RECENTLY UPDATED VERSION. Plain PR birth certificates have been stolen from legal agencies on multiple occasions in the past to be used in the forgery of false documents for other Latin immigrants of a less-than savory nature, and it happened again in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The only BC most government agencies accept at this point have English translations next to the Spanish, and they won’t take anything older/untranslated.

PASSPORTS/PASSPORT CARDS/GLOBAL ENTRY CARDS/NEXUS CARDS:

Google the nearest place you can go to get your passport. I went to a post office and they took my picture, but not every place offers the option— you might have to go to Walgreens or some equivalent first to get your picture taken and bring it with you to the office. 

They’ll need your birth certificate when you go get your passport. They will take it from you and ship it out to whatever undisclosed location it needs to go to in order for them to print your paperwork. You’ll get it when your passport is sent to you.

It costs around $145 dollars including service fees to get your American passport, which is an unfortunate reality.

Passports take up to eight weeks to get to your house, so it isn’t a solution to immediate problems. That being said, GET IT DONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Passport cards exist, and they’re pocket-sized. If you’re eligible to get one (meaning you were born here or were naturalized), DO IT. GET A PASSPORT CARD AND KEEP IT WITH YOU. It’s just as good as a regular passport and far easier to keep with you if the worst happens and you need to get out. They’re also a cheaper than the average passport at a total of $65 (including service fees).

Passports/passport cards work as federal ID as well as international. In some states, children under a certain age might be unable to get state identification (in my state you have to be at least fourteen). If you have American-born/naturalized children that could be targeted and they’re under a certain age, get them their passports, get them their cards. Our government has proven they have no issue with snatching kids, but it’s a little harder to justify when the kid has legal US identification.

Global Entry Cards are accepted at every land and sea port in the US. They’re available to US citizens, legal US residents, and Mexican nationals, as well as citizens of Argentina, Colombia, Germany, India, Panama, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the UK. This I would recommend for people who already have passports/other legal documentation within the realms of the above listed countries but are uncomfortable with the idea of carrying a passport with them. It costs about $100.

Global Entry fingerprints you, no exceptions.

Global Entry does not help you enter countries not listed above.

Nexus Cards are the Canadian equivalent of Global Entry. It allows passage between Canada and America at any land crossing as well as airports. If you have one of these already and they’ve already fingerprinted you, you can get a GEC with minimal hassle, with the added bonus of being able to cross the Canadian border freely.

Nexus Cards require interviews, and once you’ve been approved they take your fingerprints and a retinal scan. Considering we’re living in the beginnings of a Big Brother dystopia, this might make some people uncomfortable, but again, it’s a cheap option for people who might not want to carry passports. Plus, it has the added benefit of being attached to Canada, and the potential disaster of arresting a possible legal Canadian resident might be enough to stall some of the more reasonable officers. It costs about $50.

LEGAL RESIDENTS AND VISA CARRIERS, GENERAL THINGS:

If you’ve gotten your Permanent Resident card you need to make sure you get a new social security card, one without the ‘NOT VALID FOR EMPLOYMENT’ or ‘VALID FOR WORK ONLY WITH DHS AUTHORIZATION’ on the front. These cards aren’t valid to use alongside your new green card, and they can get you into trouble if the person checking your paperwork is in the wrong sort of mood.

MAKE SURE ALL YOUR PAPERWORK MATCHES. I realize that American paperwork sometimes can’t handle non-white naming traditions and that makes it difficult for you to keep your shit together. Ideally, though, whatever it says on your immigration papers should be exactly what’s printed on all your other documents— your credit cards, mail, whatever. If your naturalization paperwork lists both your mother and father’s names, you need to either make sure you have that shit on everything and if it isn’t, you’ve got a decision to make. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but they will use any excuse to detain a ‘suspicious’ person, and dropping your second middle name on your driver’s license so it doesn’t match your visa is exactly the sort of thing they’ll pick at. My grandparents had to make this decision a few years ago— for convenience’s sake, they changed everything to match the anglicized forms of their names. I realize for a lot of people it isn’t an ideal solution, but for now, we’ve got to work with what we’ve got.

If you’re here as a Dependent Spouse (H-4) I don’t have to tell you that you’ll need your partner with you to do a lot of legal stuff. That being said, when you need to get stuff handled, please make sure your spouse has ALL of their paperwork proving they’re here legally. Even if the focus is on you, if their shit’s not in order, you won’t be able to get anything done. It is an inconvenient facet of the nature of your visa, but you’ve got to work with it until you can change your status to something less limited.

If you’re here on a Student Visa, the SAVE won’t update your status until your classes start. Keep that in mind when handling paperwork reliant on your status as a legal immigrant.

If your Permanent Resident Card has no expiration date on it, if it’s a laminated paper card, or if it’s just plain damaged— REPLACE IT. They don’t accept the old cards now thanks to a huge boom in forgeries, so particularly if you have an older relative who hasn’t been naturalized, you need to make sure that shit is up to date.

MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES:

(Marriage certificates are less important in the grand scheme of legal residency, but any little bit helps, and if you’re an immigrant married to a citizen, it’s another little piece that proves you just might have a legitimate reason or two to be here.)

Nobody is going to take the pretty version of the MC. The one you get from your place of worship is NOT the official certificate. It needs to be from the probate//surrogate’s/orphan’s court, not just signed in accordance with the official document.

It MUST have a seal on it. Not every state does the raised seal, so you have to double-check with your local, but it will have something that makes it a recognizable, official document.

If you got married in a country that doesn’t have English as the official language, you NEED a translation. In my state, you have to go to an official state translator and get— you guessed it— an official seal.

When you get married, that receipt slip they give you is not the official certificate. The official certificate is supposed to be mailed to you (the first one’s usually complimentary) after about a month. If you didn’t get it or you lost it, GO AND GET A NEW ONE. Little things like that can make or break you in the eyes of a government official.

If you have older relatives who are immigrants, CHECK TO MAKE SURE THEIR PAPERWORK IS UP TO DATE. I know it’s common for older folk to let their IDs expire because they’re in in a care facility or simply unable to leave their homes. I know that shit gets lost in the shuffle of life and most of the time those documents just sit in a box and do nothing, but this shit is important. Make sure they have their stuff and make sure their documents are all up to federal standard— relatively undamaged, legible, and with the right seals.

I know this isn’t stuff we want to talk about, but it’s important. If you are a person of one of the groups targeted by this administration, you cannot make mistakes. You have to make sure there is no reason besides gross incompetence on the part of the ICE officers for them to detain you— as we all know, they will take advantage of any excuse they can find to fuck you and the people you love over.

Don’t let them.

[cromulentbookreview]

Dia de la Noche

I never learned Spanish. I probably should have, but I chose to learn German like some kind of a Schwachkopf. And because my high school German teacher told me I’d never pass college German. Yeah, well, joke’s on you, you Irish bastard, now I have a useless bachelor’s degree that allows me to eavesdrop on German tourists.

Edit: I’ve proven my Schwachkopf status by having Maya Motayne’s name misspelled multiple  times in the original post. Even though a picture of the book cover with her name in giant letters shows there’s no N after the O in her surname, I insisted on putting one there for some reason. Then leaving that post up for days. Good job, me. Good job. I have fixed the error but still: I’m a moron.

And by that I mean Nocturna by Maya Motayne!

A Faceless Thief.

A Desperate Prince.

A Darkness Unleashed.

A Reviewer Who Really Should’ve Learned Spanish At Some Point.

Seriously, I wish Spanish was a requirement in schools from kindergarten forward. You gotta start language-learning early, damn it! But noooo, can’t have that, can we? Let’s just not talk to other people in the world and only speak English, that doesn’t sound boring at all.

I’ve gotta spend more time on my DuoLingo Spanish course. And my German course. I should also probably learn the Cyrillic alphabet while I’m at it...

Anyway - Maya Motayne’s Nocturna is set in a Latinix-inspired world, so there are a lot of cool plays on Spanish words that I needed Google translate to help me with. 

Alfehr, who goes by Alfie, is a prince of a nation called Castellan - crown prince now, after the death of his older brother a few months prior. But because Dezmin (or Dez) was killed with magic, Alfie is convinced that his brother might still be alive, and can be brought back.

I’ve been desperate for an excuse to use that gif at some point.

Finn Voy is a thief, and a damn good one, too. Finn has a particular magical talent: she can change her face whenever she likes, making a life of crime much easier to maintain. Finn has just escaped her abusive “father” (he’s not her biological father, he just plucked her from the streets when she was an orphan) who spent years manipulating and controlling her, forcing her to do awful things she didn't want to do. Now free of him (or so she thinks), Finn just wants to make one big score and get the hell out of Dodge: she's going to steal some books of forbidden magic.

Only Finn's not the only one who wants those books: Alfie wants them, too, hoping there might be some kind of forbidden, foreign magic in the books that can bring his brother back. Finn manages to get hold of the books, but Alfie manages to steal them from her. This lands Finn in a bind: a ruthless gangster, Kol, also wanted those books. Kol has the ability to block the magic of others, so she blocks out Finn's face changing ability. Kol will give Finn back her ability, if she breaks into the palace and steals Ignotus Peverell’s invisibility cloak from the royal vault. Now stuck with one face, Finn agrees to do the job.

No word on how Harry Potter feels about all of this.

While in the palace, Finn runs into Alfie, because of course she does. Shenanigans occur, and when Alfie's best friend Luka is poisoned, Alfie kind of accidentally on purpose releases a malevolent magical evil to save him. Luka is saved, but, like I said, malevolent magical evil darkness smoke monster thing. On the loose. It needs a particularly evil human being to act as its vessel, so as soon as Mr. Malevolence Darkness McSmokemonster escapes the palace, it takes up residence in none other than Ignacio - Finn's evil abusive “father” who come on, you seriously didn’t think he wouldn’t show up at some point, did you? Ignacio wants nothing more than to get revenge on Finn, but Evil Magic of Evil wants to spread itself and take over the kingdom. You know, like so:

Just, you know, not as purple and minus Charming and Snow from Once Upon a Time and not in Vancouver, BC. 

Anyway!

With a massive royal ball happening the next day, Finn and Alfie don’t have a lot of time to solve this whole “stop the spreading darkness” problem. Plus, they can’t really stand each other...well, not at first. Can Finn and Alfie stop the Evil Darkness? Will Finn ever get her powers back? Will Alfie find a way to save his brother? Is it even possible? And will Finn and Alfie finally kiss, because yes I will be that person, I will go down with my ship!

Ahem. Anyway! Nocturna is just fantastic. The story is fast-paced and doesn’t drag at all, and the writing is sharp and absolutely delightful. I especially loved all the descriptions of Castellan - it sounds gorgeous, full of bright colors, ornate mosaics, and entire buildings that run on magic...

 Our two main protagonists are both extremely relatable (poor Alfie and his shame spirals and his belief that he’s inadequate - I know those feelings...) and their relationship doesn’t read like a typical YA fantasy couple where they are immediately all over each other - in fact, while there is definitely a romantic undercurrent there, Finn and Alfie’s relationship is entirely platonic. At first the're both annoyed by the other - Finn sees Alfie as just another pampered royal accustomed to only using “book magic” and Alfie can’t understand why Finn just can’t trust him for crying out loud...the transition from reluctant partners to fire-forged friends was perhaps my favorite aspect of the whole book. Since Nocturna is the first book in a trilogy, I have hope for my ship. Finn/Alfie forever, damn it, I don’t care what anyone tells me.

Also, I need a whole book dedicated to Luka. To save Luka from the poison, Alfie accidentally causes the Evil Darkness to leave Luka with Hulk-levels of superhuman strength. Awkward hilarity and hijinks ensue, but we don’t get to see much of the ramifications there, at least, not in this book... Fingers crossed we get more of Luka in book two. And some Finn/Alfie romance. I just want more of this story in general - I love the world Motayne has set up here and once again I’ve found myself in a position where I’m going to be waiting in agony for a second book before the first is even released. Waiting is hard, you guys. So very, very hard.

RECOMMENDED FOR: Fans of damn good YA fantasy set in awesome Latinx-inspired worlds with two main characters who need to just kiss already.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR: Anyone not big on YA fantasy - if YA and fantasy is not your thing then maybe don’t read it, but if you’re even remotely a fan I think you’d like it.

RATING: 5/5

TOTALLY UNBIASED SERIOUS BOOK REVIEWER RATING: 500,000,000/5

RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2019

ANTICIPATION LEVEL FOR SEQUELS: Sagarmatha

BUMBLEBEE MAN’S EVALUATION OF MY SPANISH SKILLS: Y finalmenteuna catastrófica con una pelota de béisbol.

[angrybelieverconnoisseur-blog]

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#NAME?

Can i go on someones insurance but drive a different car to them?

well i know i can be put on some kind of car insurance with someone like a family member but i herd that's only if i just drive there car. is there a way i can be put onto there insurance but Drive my own car. Or does anyone know a cheap car insurance company for young new drivers??? I've tried hundreds and there all saying around 2,500ish!!! which is ridiculous i might be young but i have a one year old and a new born child it is highly unlikely that i will be racing with friends, and putting myself in unsafe situations!!! my cars only Worth like 1000 so i refuse to pay for insurance that's costs more than my car!!!! Any kind of help would be nice!! Thank you :)""

Affordable health insurance?

i am 34 , i pay over 400.00 a month , im single , does anyone know of some possible cheaper insurance . does anyone know of better insurance that i can afford . please help , male nonsmoker also""

Can anyone tell me which group insurance a Jaguar XJ8 auto come in?

Can anyone tell me which group insurance a Jaguar XJ8 auto come in?

Is $3000.00 for Car Insurance?

my 18 yr old son just bought a 2007 Chevolet Cobalt. .$3000.00 for insurance. that just make the whole family sick. we have the house and two other Vehicles with same insurance company. i don't even think we got a discount. $3000. 00 for the Cobalt plus the two trucks. that about $5500.00 for car insurance we all have clean driving records. 18- 24 yrs old male! How much do you paid for car insurance?

How Do I Get Health Insurance?

I'm thinking of leaving my job to go freelance in California. I have no idea where to even start to look for a private health insurance plan. I have a preexisting condition, so I'd probably be turned down for most regular plans. Should I look for an independent broker? I've looked online and it's impossible to find one. Does anyone know SPECIFICALLY where to go and what to do?""

I need help with car insurance?

My parents are divorced and i live with them each 50% of the time. I just turned 16 and was put under my dads insurance. When im at my moms house am i allowed to drive her cars even though i am not listed under her insurance and live in her house part time???

If i have liability insurance and i hit a car but the car leaves the accident will my insurance pay?

I have liability car insurance and the other day a car pulled over in my lane and just stopped i ran into the back of her smashed the front end of my car(non driveable) the police said it wasn't my fault and the other car just left right after it happened. Will my insurance pay for my car?????

Car insurance for 17 year olds?

I am interested in getting my own car insurance separate from my parents but I have NO IDEA what to do or what I actually need. Keep in mind I am a 17 year old high school/college student so I really can't pay more than $100/month. Can you explain car insurance to me and what is required and what is optional? I really do need the cheapest car insurance possible but I do not know anything about insurance.

Do you have to get insurance as soon as you get your license?

I plan on going to get my drivers license in a few weeks (hopefully I pass!) and I've been told you have to have insurance right away. I'm currently on my parents plan with my permit but it's not costing them anything. Their agent said to immediately notify her once I get my license. Could she have said this just because she thought I would be getting a car? I don't plan on getting a car anytime soon but drive my parents cars occasionally. So will the insurance go up any if I don't have my own car that needs to be insured? If so will it be a lot? All answers will be greatly appreciated, because my parents are trying to make me put off getting my license because their car insurance is sky high already because of all the tickets & wrecks my brother has gotten in & I really want my license! Thanks in advance!""

Is there a CHEAP car that fits my needs?

Hey, Im a soon to be 19 year old, looking for my first car, I iwll be getting my licenses next month and was wondering is there like a cheap big body cars out there sorta like the ...show more""

Can a change in surname increase car insurance prices UK?

I obtained a quote for a car a couple of weeks back by putting in some fake details that were relatively similar to mine so I wasn't inundated with insurance company spam. The quote was for my mum and I was to be a named driver. The only thing that was noticeably different from reality were the names and email I used. Today, I went to get the quote again, this time for real and so typed in our real names and the quote went up by 600! I then changed the names back to the fakes but kept everything else the same and it went back down!! What's going on? Or do Aviva have something against people with Celtic surnames - I sincerely hope not! Just to clarify, I have previously never obtained a quote in my name with Aviva before this nor have either of our marital status' changed from the fake details. Any help would be great! Thanks in advance!

Which company has the best deal on maximum coverage car insurance?

I live in Ohio, and I have a lease which requires that I have extremely good car insurance. I was paying 140 a month on my fathers plan with a discount which was ridiculous in my opinion. Now I have to get my own policy, which places would be the best to get quotes from? I need it asap.""

Do additional safety features pay for themselves via cheaper insurance rates?

Specifically anti-lock brakes and side curtain airbags, on a small sedan. I'm planning on buying a new or less used vehicle soon. The only things that matter are: gas efficiency, reliability, and a low total price to own.""

Where do you get long term health care insurance quotes?

Where do people get long term care health insurance quotes? I've come across many websites but was wondering if anyone has had any particularly good experiences. I did come across http://www.ltcconnects.com which appears to compare various health care providers.

Why are there not provisions in the ACA that put caps on how much health insurance premiums can increase?

I just bought into a health insurance policy as I work 2 part time jobs and get no benefits in those jobs. Now my health insurance provider is saying my health insurance premiums will increase by 50% with higher deductibles and higher out of pocket maximums. This will put a strain on my finance as I can barely afford what I have now and having a $1500 increase really hurt. Why did this ACA not have something to cap these outrageous premium increases plus benefit decreases? It seems to be making it unaffordable rather than affordable.

Motorcycle Accident And Insurance?

I'm in California I was involved in a single bike wreck. immediately after wards two other motorcyclists collided in a separate but close in time and distance accident to mine. Now the insurance company is coming after me to pay the bill (Metaphorically). What should I do? any suggestions?

Whats the best affordable insurance?

I have a good driving record no tickets no suspension. I would like to know who has the best affordable liability car insurance from a range of monthly payments between $50-90?

How much would it cost to insure my motorcycle?

I plan on buying a Suzuki dr-z400s and I'd like to know what some people are paying for their insurance. Or maybe just what I would be paying. I'm 16 years old, Male, and I have a clean record. I'm not sure what kind of insurance I would get but probably just liability. Thanks!""

Lowering insurance premiums in BC?

In BC after I get my class 5 drivers license(no longer an N) Is it likely my monthly insurance cost will go down?

Insurance quote!!!!!!!!?

abut how much will it cost to insure a 2002 suburban for a 16 yearold male in dallas texas with a 3.5 gpa

Is it cheaper to shop for car insurance online vs local agents?

I am looking to switch and was told by an agent that they like it when you come to them in person rather than over the phone? I don't want to spend a whole day running to different agencies only to save a couple of dollars each month because the agent gets a share. Is that how it works? Is it cheaper to shop online? I would appreciate any reply.

Is minimum coverage car insurance the same as an SR22?

In Tennessee, is minimum coverage car insurance the same as an SR22? I already have minimum coverage but am now required to get an SR22. Is this something that needs to be added on or will minimum coverage suffice? Thanks.""

Who knows about car insurance?

How much would it cost for a teenager to have car insurance on a Mustang?

Car insurance and driver's license in Belgium?

I would appreciate some information on how to get a driver's license in Belgium. 1) Will I be able to use a US license to drive around and if yes then for how long? 2) Will I have to pass any tests, written or driving, in order to get a Belgium license or will I be able to simply show a US one? 3) How much would I pay for an insurance (basic: damage + liabilities)?""

Insurance?

I was hit by a metro park gate while driving my fiance's car which is insured under his name. I am not insured uner his policy, so therefor dont have insureance will the insurance company still pay because its insured? or will be stuck because i have no insurance?""

Universal life insurance as a savings plan?? Is that a good idea?

Ameriprise Financial is sellign me 400k life insurance policy that costs 200 per month. They say its like a savings plan because I can access 90% of the 200 per month at any time. Is this a good idea or a scam??

Health insurance from a broker?

HI, I need to take out a health insurance policy for myself because my work doesn't offer any. I called a local insurance broker who offers that service in addition to others like life, business, etc. My question is, is there any negative reason to buy from him verses going online and buying a policy by myself? I think I'd get more info from a broker right? Thanks""

Car insurance question?

i was just wondering, i know that having a two door car cost more for insurance,but how much more on average is it. im 16 and i wanna buy my friends 03 hyundai tiburon. how much more do u think insurance will be considering its 2 door""

No name cheap auto insurance for new driver? Please?..?

My friend is 19 and she got her license less than a year ago. She has a car and is paying $200 per month on it and she needs insurance or she'll lose her car. However, every company out there wants her to pay between 400 and 600 dollars a month. Is there any cheap no name insurance that she can get? Anything less than 400 would be great..preferably between 200 and 300..but she'll take what she can get. Oh and she has gotten a ticket for speeding and she can't get on her moms insurance. She needs basic full coverage. Please help..""

Car insurance question! HELP HELP HELP?

I just bought a car from a dealership and its sittin there. but tomorow i plan on changing to a NJ license cause currently i have a MA license. They said i need to get insurance for the car before they let me take the car. So if I go to any insurance place tomorw will i be able to get the insurance THAT day? and then get my car ? THANKS

2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS. Need Reviews & Insurance prices?

Hi, im 16 I am thinking of buying a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS Mileage: 72,130 Transmission: AUTO $3,960 Is this car good for a teen? Is maintenance expensive? Will my insurance rate be higher than usual? Thank you.""

What's an affordable life insurance with no health exam?

My father needs life insurance and has health problems. He needs something with low monthly payments, but will provide enough if he has a natural death.""

Can you get in trouble for letting someone drive your car without insurance?

I own a car. I just bought it. I don't have the title in my name yet, nor is there any insurance on the vehicle in any ones name. If I let someone else drive my car and they get pulled over, who is liable? Will the person driving the car get in trouble for driving without insurance or will I get in trouble for allowing someone else driving it knowing its not insured nor is the title in my name?""

I have a question about car insurance?

Okay I get my license on Monday but i don't have insurance yet due to my grades but does that mean i cant not drive a car that has insurance like my parents cars??? Thanks I really need an answer

Would insurance be high on an impala ss?

I'm 18, I have a safe driving record (so far), I've completed driving school as well as defensive driving (it gives me a discount), if it helps. I'm thinking about buying an impala ss. I can afford it as far as the payments go, and my parents have agreed to pay the insurance if it's reasonable . So what am I looking at, guys?""

Are insurance rates different for a lifted Toyota Tacoma rather than a normal one?

I know i'm getting a used Toyota Tacoma, under 100K mileage, and I really want a lifted one, but I need to know if insurance rates are different?""

Can a change in surname increase car insurance prices UK?

I obtained a quote for a car a couple of weeks back by putting in some fake details that were relatively similar to mine so I wasn't inundated with insurance company spam. The quote was for my mum and I was to be a named driver. The only thing that was noticeably different from reality were the names and email I used. Today, I went to get the quote again, this time for real and so typed in our real names and the quote went up by 600! I then changed the names back to the fakes but kept everything else the same and it went back down!! What's going on? Or do Aviva have something against people with Celtic surnames - I sincerely hope not! Just to clarify, I have previously never obtained a quote in my name with Aviva before this nor have either of our marital status' changed from the fake details. Any help would be great! Thanks in advance!

How do I get secondary health insurance?

I'm a full time graduate student currently receiving health insurance through my parents. However, my coverage sucks and I would like to purchase secondary insurance. I looked through all the different plans on einsurance.com (united, humana atena, etc), but when I called they told me that I can't purchase it when I already have insurance. I did some searches for secondary health insurance, but I can't find companies specifically for secondary insurance. It seems that I should be able to purchase any type of insurance I want and that the secondary company should pick up some of what my primary doesn't. Right?""

The Future Of Car Insurance?( Its what they do in the U.K)?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5408338.stm An in-car black box device calculates premiums based on when, and how often, the car is used. The time of the day, type of road and mileage of the drive is taken into consideration when working out the monthly charge to customer. Charging people more for driving late night when many accidents occur could change driver behaviour, particularly among the young. Would you be willing to try pay-as-you drive car insurance?""

What's the point of car insurance?

I pay insurance for my car. Shouldn't car insurance cover anything needing fixed on your car? What is the point of paying for insurance, when the insurance doesn't even cover repairs? I pay for supposed FULL COVERAGE , shouldn't this cover everything, ITS A BIG F-ING SCAM!!!""

""How much, on average, would it cost to get a Thyroid Function Test? (No insurance) Info on Hypothyroidism?""

I was told that I might have Hypothyroidism because of my constant low blood pressure & low body temp. I was reading the symptoms and seem to have the following. Poor muscle tone (muscle hypotonia) Fatigue Cold intolerance, increased sensitivity to cold Depression Constipation Muscle cramps and joint pain Arthritis Thin, brittle fingernails Brittle hair Paleness Dry, itchy skin Weight gain Thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows Low basal body temperature Impaired memory Impaired cognitive function (brain fog) and inattentiveness <-all the time now Migraine headache Sluggish reflexes Anxiety/panic attacks <All the time now Increased need for sleep <All the time now Irritability and mood instability <All the time now Decreased sense of taste and smell Depression (Had <that for years and years now) Could it be the depression & Borderline Personality Disorder causing this or thyroid problems causing the Mental issues? Thanks for any info!""

Cheapest car insurance?

i am looking for a car which will be cheap to insure. i am only a 17 year old girl, so i need to know what would be best and how much a month around about?""

Auto Insurance in Ontario?

Hi, I just bought a used Toyota Tercel 1999. I am living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada I am wondering in anyone knows which auto insurance comapny is the best in terms of giving a good rate and give you least hassle about claims. all help is greatly appreciated.""

Why do people buy life insurance?

What groups of people buy life insurance? Why do they buy it?

""If I get a ticket, does my insurance rate go up?""

As a new driver I am unsure about ticket and insurance policy. Also, will I get points off. What are points?""

Income Based Health Insurance in California?

I'm 18 years old and live at home with my dad/step mom. They don't have insurance through their employers, so neither do I and because their combined income is so high (6 figures) I'm not eligible for Medical or Medicaid. Any ideas on what I can do to get affordable health insurance? I have a job too...""

Cancel Car Insurance in Florida-How?

It's my dad's car and everything is under his name. Currently his out of the country and won't be back for a month or two. He got two cars insured with Progressive, one I want to cancel because it's broken down. Told the insurance agent about it and he told me to go down to the tag(building, whatever it call) and turn in the tag to get a paper? My dad is not in the country so will I be able to turn the tag in for him without problem? and what tag is the agent talking about(registration tag?) Also will there be any other document needed? (Going down tomorrow but gathering some information first) Thank You.""

Cheap Car Insurance For 17 yr old?

I am considering purchasing a fiesta st 2005 model and would like to know where is the cheapest place to insure it. I understand that being 17 it will be rather expensive but i hope you can help me find some cheap insurance i want fully comp with as little excess as possible :) thanks

Car insurance help!? please...?

Somebody hit my car and possibly totaled it. If it is totaled would their insurance just pay off my car, just give me a check for what its worth or both??""

Specialist insurance- evos?

im 22 years old and i really would like a mitsubishi evo 4. but the cheapest insurance ive found so far is 1900 fully comp, but apparently you can get specialist insurances for certain cars so is this possible and if so whats the website? i live in the uk. thanks""

""For Americans, How do you feel about your current health system?""

Reason I ask, I saw a segment on television of people in the states lining up in a showground to receive basic health care, instead of clinics, I was horrified, is this the norm? In Australia we have Medicare & Private health insurance, the main difference is one is a bit more comfortable than the other, I would really like to hear your views.""

Can i get car insurance.?

my boyfriend and i broke up,and we bought a car together, hes the one with the name on the title,but i pay for the car payments as the co signer,his credit was better htan mine,the car was for me.though.he no longer will help pay for it,the insurance is for the both of us,am i able to get the car insurance under just for me if he doesnt drive it at all.""

""What would motorcycle insurance cost for 17 yr old guy, kawasaki ninja 250R?""

what would an average motorcycle insurance cost for me? i am looking for a ball-park estimate and understand that there are MANY other factors which matter... If anyone has an idea, what would be like the MAX price for a good insurance... i've seen that insurance prices can range from 200-400 yearly, but i want to make sure that after i get the motorcycle i dont find that the insucance is like 1000 /yr. Thanks""

Who does the cheapest car insurance?

Who does the cheapest car insurance?

How much do you pay for full coverage car insurance?

i'm 19 and going to buy a car soon but i'm trying to get a ball park figure on how much i can expect to pay

How can I get medical insurance if I have a history of pancreatitis?

I've never had medical insurance b/c I've never had a reason too. Never had any major sickness before now, never a broken bone and never sprained anything. My pancreas suddenly became inflamed. It wasn't caused by drinking, I hate the stuff! I believe it was caused by smoking. I've had a few episodes of pancreatitis and was hospitalized once in which it cost an arm and a leg. Should have went to the hospital this last time, but I was so scared of the extra costs. Your pancreas is a major organ. You can't live without it. Am I going to just have to grin and bare it and leave a debt to my family when I die?! I tried applying for the discount but I wasn't eligible b/c I don't have a job. I haven't had one in 4 years. What are you to do. No insurance company will accept me due to the medical problems. I'm scared of what I'll be charged, but even more scared of the pancreas killing me.""

Where can I get cheap kite insurance?

Here's the hypothetical situation. I'm flying my kite at the local park. Then someone's RC plane hits the kite line. The RC plane stalls and falls 100 feet, hitting a soccer player and killing him. Then my kite, which has been cut loose, hits the windshield of a car causing it to have a collision with a pedestrian... So, where can I get insurance to cover a situation like that?""

Insurance expensive car?

well i was comparing insurance prices on gocompare on a 1989 205 1.0 and when i priced it at 2500 the insurance was 4k but when i put the real price at 650 the insurance went up to 6k. shouldnt it be cheaper if car is worth lesss?

How to get cheap car insurance for a 17 year old?

I'm a 17 year old male and i've recently passed my driving test and done IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) I live in the UK and need to know of any cars for cheap insurance or any ways to get cheap insurance WITHOUT putting myself as a named driver on my parents car. Many thanks. :).

""Should you be allowed to buy car insurance only AFTER you have a car accident, and save your money beforehand?""

Isn't denying car insurance AFTER a car accident denying it for a pre-existing condition ? If this health care bill passes, I don't know why anyone would car insurance on an undamaged car or house insurance on a house that isn't on fire. Save your money until the event happens and then fight them on the legality of coverage denial for pre-existing conditions. This is the lunacy that Obama wants to bring to America.""

Auto insurance company lied about coverage?

I was hit by a guy and he says his policy is 15000. His insurance company said it was 5000. What if he's telling the truth? And they are not. It's been 2.5 months since I was hit and still nothing has been done. They are waiting for a quote or some bs

Why do we NEED car insurance?!?

Why is it the LAW that we have car insurance?? I honestly think it's stupid. Shouldn't we, as free Americans, be able to make the choice of whether or not we want insurance, and still legally drive a vehicle, as long as we have a license, at our own risk? Kind of like if you go skiing or snowboarding, you go at your own risk, you're not forced to get skiing insurance , or boarding insurance , or anything like that. I mean, think of this situation: I have no insurance, and I wreck into somebody. They have insurance, so they are covered. I don't, so I will either have to get rid of my car, or pay for repairs myself; that's the risk I took and this is how I'm paying for it, by being car less or spending tons of money on repairs. But why must we be forced by law to have it, or NO DRIVING FOR YOU says big ole' government?? This is angering me because I'm currently in college, without a car, and while I can walk to my work and school, it's still about 30-45 minutes each way to walk, and if I could get an old car for cheap, it would make my life MUCH easier and less of a hassle.""

Can a change in surname increase car insurance prices UK?

I obtained a quote for a car a couple of weeks back by putting in some fake details that were relatively similar to mine so I wasn't inundated with insurance company spam. The quote was for my mum and I was to be a named driver. The only thing that was noticeably different from reality were the names and email I used. Today, I went to get the quote again, this time for real and so typed in our real names and the quote went up by 600! I then changed the names back to the fakes but kept everything else the same and it went back down!! What's going on? Or do Aviva have something against people with Celtic surnames - I sincerely hope not! Just to clarify, I have previously never obtained a quote in my name with Aviva before this nor have either of our marital status' changed from the fake details. Any help would be great! Thanks in advance!

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/health-insurance-my-wife-low-rate-fenton-zoa"