(ADMIN NOTE: This post is the OP from another thread, merged as it's on the same topic)
Just to make it clear for any anti-"chemtrail" activists reading this thread and finding it suspicious:
- This is not any sort of "operation" for "targeting" the anti-"chemtrail" movement or any of its participants.
- Any eventual information in this thread expressing interest to participate in the "march" is solely the thoughts of individual users wishing to participate.
- This is not something 'Metabunk' or their administrators are organizing.
- Any expressed desires to participate in any "march" on the 25th is for the purpose of an open, respectful and honest debate about facts. If anyone might express desires to ridicule the "march" that is not my intention of creating this tread.
With that said I would like to ask other users on Metabunk if anyone is planning to attend any of the "marches", either for simple curiosity, or in attempt to start a conversation about the subject with other participants?
I am actually planning on attending myself in my town, and try to start a debate on the subject with people who are open for discussion. It even seems like I'm lucky to find an esteemed anti-"chemtrail" celebrity as a guest speaker for this particular rally, but I don't think there is much point trying to debate this guy judging by his usual style of "debating". He is the kind you know would never sway in opinion even with mountains of counterarguments stacked against him. There is simply too much emotional investment involved it seems, but who knows? But I do hope I can start a debate with others at least, and have participants with me listening to my story. Perhaps even talk about what the sceptic movement online actually is—people interested in the untangling of misconceptions and errors. That there are actually many people out there who dedicate their spare time doing this without any sort of pay.
Because too often when trying to start a debate online you find it difficult to reach out to certain people simply because of the obscuration of whatever internet interface you interact through. In general, it's quite easy, if not say tempting, to accept the notion that people who seek to inform about misconceptions are actually "paid shills", or "disinfo" agents operating from some kind of government office. I would say meeting someone in person might not encourage such cheap reasons to avoid discussion from these people. Some might even realize that we are in fact ordinary people just like them, except with different views.
I've been thinking about things like; what kind of material would be good to bring to this march? I don't think simply stating "contrails can and do persist" will convince too many people. For example, would printing and handing out papers with the ten most common misconceptions about contrails be too provoking? I do believe that many of the attendees will take any chance they get to discard the information as "disinfo". Simply providing a link to Contrail Science would probably not convince many either (despite a very factual and informative site in my opinion), because from my experience these people have such a short attention span that education through independent study is simply too much to ask for. But they might have attention to follow an irl discussion face-to-face.
(Wearing a "Ask me about Contrails"-tshirt would probably not be a good idea either
)
However, as we are having a speaker I do think reading up on the speaker's arguments is a very good idea to see if there is any validity behind the claims or there are obvious errors you can point out.
So, does anyone else have plans to attend the "march"?
Edit: Just realized there is already a thread about this... Perhaps I could merge this post into the other one.