As once a wise man said, "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't after you." Oh wait that was Kurt Cobain, not a wise man.

I was already growing certain that we, the sensible majority, owe plenty of so-called crackpots a few apologies.

Oh no, you don't. Just like you shouldn't apologise for not using a broken clock, even if right twice a day.

Because being right is not enough - you need to be consistently right, and that's only going to happen if you keep yourself rational, unlike those crackpots. The "Mormon elder" was probably talking about chips as a sign of the beast, and believed in bullshit like Christ coming back; and the "ex-Army ranger" likely saw civilian society with a military "hunt or be hunted" mindset. (Perhaps the gf and actor deserve the apologies?)

What matters here are who, why, and how. And I think that most people in Lemmy know those three.