Remember the gullibility test

[Travis]

Remember the Gullibility Factor test?

http://www.newstarget.com/gullibility.html

I got a 49 which makes me a Sheeple, and that was voting against a lot of my views! It's suggestion to me:

You need a complete belief system overhaul and a new perspective on line. Start by unplugging yourself from television. Next, start reading independent information sites on the 'net. Educate yourself to be a critical thinker, then question your old, outdated belief systems.

So many of the questions were vague and leading. Really shameless.


I note they are going nuts for this at both LCF

http://z10.invisionfree.com/Loose_Change_Forum/index.php?showtopic=10005

and at Prisonplanet

https://prisonplanet.tv/forum/index.php?topic=538.0

 

[uk_dave]

Well apparently I am a Learner at 58 and the site owner is a paranoid delusional with a score way off the scale.

 

[Orphia Nay]

I remember taking that test a while ago. If brains could vomit, mine would have.

 

[KoihimeNakamura]

Taking it reveals that the guy writing it has not yet learned what critical thinking is either. (I got a 58, for the record)

(A cursory check notes the the chicken thing is 1997, for instance.)

The history taught to American children in public school is true and accurate.
FALSE. American history, as taught to American schoolchildren, is more a collection of lies and distortions than actual history. From Columbus to the Vietnam War, politically correct American history consistently paints Americans in a glorious light while ignoring shocking accounts of actual historical events. Read, "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn to learn real, uncensored American history.

While he's right, Zinn also exaggerates in the opposite direction. Of course, the revision of history can be politicized. YMMV.

Overexaggerates control of the US Gov on Media, like most CTists..

His drug company thing is false, but that's because of costs for these diseases is .. prohibitive. Only a few spend massive advertisment budgets.. (like, most ED drugs)

Surgical procedures must be proven safe and effective before being practiced on patients.
FALSE. There is absolutely no requirement that surgical procedures be proven safe or effective before being performed on any number of patients. Unlike drugs, surgical proecedures are not "approved" by any centralized safety agency. As a result, literally millions of unnecessary (and dangerous) surgical procedures are performed on Americans each year. Learn more at the NewsTarget surgery page.

I wonder if he's heard of the Hippocratic Oath? Incidently, he may mean surgeriy scams for money, but those are supposed not to be allowed, by the same oath. One bad apple does not the barrel make.

His gambling thing is both. Some people wanted it gone because they think it'll get them votes, and they wanted to do the right thing (Conservatives..) but this veers into Political thought.

As for the hot dog thing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_nitrate. Only took me three seconds. :/

His Japan thing is an utter lie. What a surprise... at this point, I cut out. I'm not dealing with it anymore.

 

[gumboot]

Just for a laugh I selected "false" for every single point, without reading any.

I got "Free Thinker" 85%, which (apparently) puts me in the top 5%.

Frankly, that says it all. But in case anyone is still in doubt about how worthless this survey is...

Welcome to the top 5%. You're a true free thinker and a person who is well informed about the reality in which you live. Although you may have been easily manipulated earlier in life, you eventually gained lucidity and developed a healthy sense of skepticism that you now automatically apply to your observations and experiences. You are endlessly curious about human behavior and the nature of the universe, and you have one or more lifestyle habits that most people would consider odd or unusual. You are not only of very high intelligence, you are also extremely creative in one or more areas (music, art, software development, inventing, etc.)

If you were in The Matrix, you would have taken the red pill, completed the combat training, and started fighting (and beating) agents from day one.

-Gumboot

 

[AZCat]

As a counterpoint to gumboot, I selected "true" for every point. I did accidentally read point #1, but did not stray thereafter.

I am a "Mind Slave", with a GF score of 16.

You are a total mind slave, utterly controlled by corporate and government interests. Even though you think you are a free person living in a free society, all your beliefs, decisions and behaviors have been decided for you. You are easily to manipulate and represent the "ideal consumer" desired by Big Business and organized medicine. Government likes you, too, as you will always do what you are told and rarely question the reality constructed for you by authority figures. If you were in The Matrix, you would definitely take the blue pill. In fact, you are much like all coppertops: you think you're living in the real world, but you're actually plugged in to a propaganda machine that shapes your reality for you.


Your architects: The architects of your world are marketing companies, the mainstream media, your peers and government propaganda. Had you been a German citizen in 1939, you would have made a loyal Nazi.


Action steps: If you ever truly wish to be a free individual, you are in desperate need of a belief system overhaul. Disconnect your cable television, stop hanging out with socialite, brain-numbed friends, and start getting your information from independent sources like NewsTarget or other sites mentioned in the explanation below.

[Good German]That Hitler guy, I guess he wasn't so bad after all.[/Good German]

 

[Foolmewunz]

As a counterpoint to Azcat and Gumboot, I answered everything with one thought in my mind: How would Alex Jones respond.

I(well, AJ) got 94!


Unfortunately, I didn't get an exciting new analysis. It's the same as when you score 85.

 

[AZCat]

As a counterpoint to Azcat and Gumboot, I answered everything with one thought in my mind: How would Alex Jones respond.

I(well, AJ) got 94!


Unfortunately, I didn't get an exciting new analysis. It's the same as when you score 85.

Even though you were almost 10% better? Jeez, that sucks - the guy must have been so busy scamming people with whatever snake oil he is selling that he didn't have time to write more amusing descriptions.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Even though you were almost 10% better? Jeez, that sucks - the guy must have been so busy scamming people with whatever snake oil he is selling that he didn't have time to write more amusing descriptions.

Yeah, I thought they'd invite me to join a tinfoil society or offer me a Premium membership at PrisonPlanet. But not a thing.

 

[gumboot]

Well apparantly 85% is in the 95 percentile. I suppose the bell curve is heavily weighted towards the bottom end, reflecting the notion that most people are mind slaves and sheeple.

-Gumboot

 

[Travis]

I wonder what he feels the lie about Columbus is.

Banks offer to finance home loans because they want to help people own their homes.
FALSE. Banks are in business to make money, just like any other business. They loan people money solely to make a profit. That's why they only loan money to people who seem like a safe bet. If banks were in business just to hand out money for the public good, loan officers would never reject a loan application.

Banks want to make money? Good Lord, now I've heard everything.

FDA-approved drugs have killed more Americans than the entire Vietnam War, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and all murders over the last twenty years combined. Even the American Medical Association openly admits nearly 100,000 deaths each year due to approved prescription drugs.

I'd imagine that a lot people do die from misusing FDA approved medication. But a 100,000 a year?

 

[AZCat]

Well apparantly 85% is in the 95 percentile. I suppose the bell curve is heavily weighted towards the bottom end, reflecting the notion that most people are mind slaves and sheeple.

-Gumboot

As a certified Mind Slave, I agree with absolutely anything you have to say.

 

[apathoid]

Your GF score is 43.

(Out of a range of 0 - 100, where 0 = mind slave, and 100 = free thinker.)

Mind slave Free thinker
0 (You) 100
Sheeple
Your score indicates you are relatively easy to manipulate and don't know much about how the real world operates (even though you think you do). But you're in good company: a full 30% of the people in the U.S. are also sheeple. You tend to think life is unfair and doesn't give you an opportunity to shine as an individual, yet you consistently follow the crowd and do what they do. During the dot-com boom, if you were over the age of 25, you were probably invested in technology stocks (and lost a wad of money doing it, too). You believe doctors, drug company ads, and the FDA. You think authority figures should be listened to and believed. Interestingly, you tend to be happier than most people, but that's largely because ignorance is bliss.

If you were in The Matrix, you would probably take the blue pill. In real life, you remain plugged in to a propaganda machine that shapes your reality, even while you think you're in control.

Your architects: The architects of your world are Big Business (food companies, media companies, etc.) and Big Government. You are strongly influenced by advertising, even though you think you're not.

Action steps: You need a complete belief system overhaul and a new perspective on line. Start by unplugging yourself from television. Next, start reading independent information sites on the 'net. Educate yourself to be a critical thinker, then question your old, outdated belief systems.

I'm all about that blue pill.....as long as it's FDA certified.

 

[NeoRicen]

52.

However I have a strong feeling the 'free-thinker' answers expected are a total load of crap by a paranoid delusional idiot. (cure for cancer, ADHD)

PS: Oh my God!

I just answered as if I were a deranged lunatic and got 100!

I said ADHD wasn't genuine, there was a cure for cancer, the US isn't a democracy, having a baby is a patent violation, meat products cause cancer etc.

This is a disgrace, bust since it appears most of you are familiar with this test you already know this.

 

[Wainscotting]

I scored 61 making me a 'learner.'

I would have gotten more, but where I come from, mercury fillings were always called mercury fillings, not silver.

 

[MRC_Hans]

Weeeh, I'm a "free thinker", at 82%, and I answered honestly. Honest, that is, to my interpretation of the questions. I didn't bother to wade through the answer list, but I have a nagging supicion that I don't really agree with the constructor of the test on anything much. But then, that's supposed to be part of being a free thinker, heheh.

Hans

 

[Travis]

Yeah, the questions are open to a lot of interpretation. So many times I felt there needed to be a True & False, or False & True. Some of the questions are just dumb. Like the one about the government always telling the truth. No one believes their government has been 100% truthful on everything always but that also doesn't mean you should automatically disbelieve everything the government says.

 

[Dave Rogers]

I got 76, "Free Thinker" status, and some patronising rubbish about how I rejected the lies my parents fed me - apparently the fact that my parents were (and still are) intelligent critical thinkers who taught me to think for myself is outside the experience of the woo-ish. Do I get bonus points, then, for critical appraisal of the reasons given for the "correct" choices in the quiz? Do I 'eck as like. Even when the answers are right, the reasons are usually wrong.

Dave

 

[NeoRicen]

Also several questions are US specific making it more difficult for us foreigners.

 

[Larry Lovage]

Weeeh, I'm a "free thinker", at 82%, and I answered honestly. Honest, that is, to my interpretation of the questions. I didn't bother to wade through the answer list, but I have a nagging supicion that I don't really agree with the constructor of the test on anything much. But then, that's supposed to be part of being a free thinker, heheh.

Hans

I did pretty much the same. I know the owner of this site appears to be deranged on certain topics, nontheless it's actually in my view not that bad a test for true skeptical thinkers, and I scored 64 (also I answered "false" when I honestly didn't know the answer). Being a true skeptical thinker I (unlike the site owner) recognised that his own blanket statements are far more sweeping, unsourced and outright lying, than anything the Government ever tells you. (I was tickled by the sodium nitrite thing, where this is the first thing Wikipedia tells you abotu sodium nitrate, the stuff actually used to preserve hotdogs etc "not to be confused with ... sodium nitrite"). On the other hand, I have no objection whatsoever to honestly answering the question "Anything that hasn't been scientifically proven isn't true" with FALSE. That's exactly the kind of learning all of us real skeptics have gone through to get to the position we are in.

It's also, for a European like myself, quite an interesting survey into what the American public believes based on what they have been told. Many of which are issues which simply don't figure elsewhere.

For what it's worth, I'm definitely on his side when it comes to the overactive drugs industry in the States, not to mention the overly processed world of food, drug and vitamin intake concomitant with the modern world.

Incidentally, I first heard the theory about the Hiroshima bomb from that paragon of sensible, skeptical and informed scientific thinking, Isaac Asimov. The Soviet Union was due to (and did) declare war on Japan on August 15th or thereabouts, and any land war to defeat them would have given the USSR equal credit. The timing of the bombs was no coincidence. "As it turned out, everybody knew who had defeated Japan. The United States had." (rough quote from memory.) Of course, this is a debatable issue, but I ought to point out that newstarget actually acknowledges that very thing in his explanation.