rant · moment 9 of 25
Zero Dark Thirty, Hollywood, and Sober vs. Raving Conspiracy Thinking
from Our Best Episode (Inside the CIA with John Kiriakou) · #136
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
5 minHe describes topics covered with Kiriakou (CIA-Hollywood ties, Zero Dark Thirty), then draws a sharp line between people who want the truth versus people who need reality to be corrupt, comparing conspiracy obsessives to religious believers.
- 29:26Zero Dark Thirty was a hunk of shit.
- 29:41Hollywood movies like Zero Dark Thirty have their narratives guided by the CIA, who end up being the good guys.
- 30:01Tim describes the interview as a very sober, rational discussion.
- 30:43The guest discusses pre-intelligence failures leading up to 9-11 and the dysfunction between the CIA and FBI.
- 31:36Tim wanted to move away from conspiracies because he got tired of people trying to prove increasingly absurd theories to him.
- 32:00Many people in the conspiracy realm don't have truth as their main goal—they want to be right.
- 32:23The difference between instinctually feeling things are corrupt and being sober and rational about what the actual truth is.
- 32:42People have a deeply emotional relationship to reality and ignore facts that counter their beliefs, cherry-picking only those that support their worldview.
- 33:05People who believe Hillary Clinton is eating children get angry when presented with lack of proof because it's part of their worldview.
- 33:36Some people need to believe in conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton eating toddlers the same way others need to believe in heaven and hell and religious mythology.
CIAJohn BrennanJohn KiriakouZero Dark ThirtyHillary ClintonBarack Obama