Welcome to another edition of “Elephant in the room” here at Shoot The Damn Messenger, where I blog about unpopular opinions in conservatism, fire off the occasional rant, and other discuss unpopular feelings that you may share too but no one else dare write.
This week, I will talk about that oh so lovable, stereotypical and at times, ridiculously counterproductive guy online that I like to call the “exposed guy”.
The funny thing about the exposed guy though is that he is not just one guy, he is usually several and they grace our online presence usually under a pseudonym and always under the guise of anonymity (likely as to not be sued tracked down by those he is exposing). The exposed guy likewise always has information that “they” don’t you to know about, yet rarely can reveal how they got the information, back it with documentation or reveal their sources.
Before anyone thinks that I am criticizing every whistler-blower, patriot or alternative researcher, let me stop you right now and specify that I am not. I have immense respect for the work of people like William Cooper and several others outside of the mainstream information sphere. I even read and listen to information from some people whose views may be considered a tad “extreme”. But this post is a criticism specifically geared towards those who stretch the truth, use fallacious arguments, fail to provide documentation for their claims or use other methods of deception to trick people into following their own cult of personality, delusions of grandeur or fatten their bank account.
I think it is the aforementioned deception that is the heart of the problem, because it makes everyone who dares look outside of mainstream narratives look stupid, uneducated and incapable of deciphering true information from hearsay or tampered proof. It’s as if some people want to desperately to think outside of one box that they will jump quickly into another just because there is a question mark painted on it. I find the phenomenon of the exposed guy also incredibly dangerous because on the drop of a dime they can send said people into a frenzy to attack someone, just like the mainstream media, while ironically missing the fact that it is that type of recklessness that has caused us to fight the mainstream media in the first place.
It’s obvious to me that the exposed guy is capitalizing on the popularity of popular alternative media personalities like William Cooper, Alex Jones, Julian Assange, Aaron Russo, Jeff Rense and others, yet would never claim to be doing so, as they build their following off of their own cult of personality mixed with a synthetic shroud of mystery to add to their appeal. Coincidentally, some even go as far as stealing the aesthetic and theories of some of the aforementioned only to insinuate later that the person they undoubtedly borrowed from was a “shill”, long after they’ve used what they could from them.
The exposed guy can be tricky and I think everyone has fallen for his tricks at least once – either on Facebook via a meme, curiously well edited YouTube videos or blog posts. Like so, I think that it is up to all of us to be watchful when we read a story as to research it ourselves and never take it at face value unless we can tie the evidence together for ourselves. Be watchful, that’s truly the name of the game. Research a diverse array of opinions and information but please do not let any exposed guy gain your trust unless their information lives up to the scrutiny and analysis of your own research, opinion or observations.
Finally, to everyone out there who has or truly does expose the wrong doings of others, digs deep for legitimate facts that no one else can find and dares to challenge the mainstream media or Frankfurt school narrative through honest, factual rebuttal and not through fallacious arguments and hurling insults on social media, I applaud you. You’re what makes the internet great.
Thanks and God bless,
– TDM