Talk:1274: Open Letter

If you believe in a shadow government, it seems likely that you would actually see a goverment shutdown as part of the conspiracy. 108.13.108.44 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Is this another shadow fact? http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1272 --MauroVan (talk) 09:33, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Actually, theoretically speaking, a government shutdown would be part of the conspiracy. Think about it. If there was a shadow government, then the only thing that can stop them is the people uniting against them. So, in order to keep the people from finding out, you would have to destroy their unity. And, unity in the US is at an all time low with people vehemently fighting amongst themselves. So, I don't think that the argument in this strip is valid. An orchestrated chaos would certainly be a tool of a shadow government. Theoretically speaking, of course. Kwyjibo (talk) 20:13, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

I guess Randal is only right as long there is only ONE group involved ;-). --DaB. (talk) 11:01, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Randall knows exactly which group is in control, but has been forced by them to leave their name completely off of the aforementioned list. 178.98.212.190 13:25, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

I removed the words 'Self-proclaimed' from the description of Scientology. It's so vague to be meaningless. Aren't most religions and churches self-proclaimed? Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc all started with somebody claiming secret knowledge. It should either be applied to all religions, or none.154.20.80.41 13:50, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Is "Sincerely, A Concerned Citizen" really a Half-Life 2 reference? The phrase is generic enough that it actually appears before Half-Life 2 was released (example). --75.119.250.35 15:21, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, people have been using the "Concerned Citizen" phrasing for years. Mattflaschen (talk) 17:41, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

It's not just the wording, but the context, so it does seem to be a reference. 108.13.108.44 18:22, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

The context being that of somebody concerned about their government? That seems a wee bit broad to be a contextual reference.154.20.80.41 03:01, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

Wow! The actual group secretly running the government is so powerful they had themselves removed from the explanation table, apparently! (There's no Trilateral Commission entry right now.) Imperpay (talk) 16:29, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Fixed. :) Mattflaschen (talk) 17:41, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

No mention of what an open letter is? 76.106.251.87 04:08, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

I just added something. It got wordy. Probably could be improved (and/or wiki-link to at least their page on Open Letters). But it's there, FWIW. 178.98.212.190 13:36, 9 October 2013 (UTC)