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Conspiracy Theories (1 Viewer)

timschochet

Footballguy
During my adult lifetime, countless hours of discussion in this country have been devoted to conspiracy theories. There’s no way to measure it, but it feels like almost 20% of all politics have centered around conspiracies. Just off the top of my head: 

JFK’s assassination. 

The Moon Landing. 

The Death of Vince Foster. 

9/11 Truth movement. 

Birthers. 

False Flag movements. 

Q Anon. 

These are just the big ones that come to mind- I’m sure there are many I’m forgetting about. 

Sometimes (often) I find myself caught up in these, both fascinated and repelled at the same time. I’ve never understood what attracts people to such theories, and why they are so eager to believe them. Thoughts? 

 
I wrote an article on this at one point.   We're hardwired to be uncomfortable, especially under stress, where there is a lack of information.   In that situation, our brains will accept any factual information that fills that gap, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.   And based on the relief we get from alleviating the stress, we're hardwired to pass that information on to others.   Once the false information is in place, it is very difficult to replace it with contrary facts.

Overall, at least 50% of all Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory.   Even among college educated and higher, 25% believe in at least one conspiracy theory.

University of Miami political science professors Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent in their book, “American Conspiracy Theories” define the four characteristics of a conspiracy theory as: “(1) a group (2) acting in secret (3) to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility (4) at the expense of the common good.”

“Researchers have found that inducing anxiety or loss of control triggers respondents to see nonexistent patterns and evoke conspiratorial explanations” and that in the real world “there is evidence that disasters (e.g., earthquakes) and other high-stress situations (e.g., job uncertainty) prompt people to concoct, embrace, and repeat conspiracy theories.”

 
I wrote an article on this at one point.   We're hardwired to be uncomfortable, especially under stress, where there is a lack of information.   In that situation, our brains will accept any factual information that fills that gap, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.   And based on the relief we get from alleviating the stress, we're hardwired to pass that information on to others.   Once the false information is in place, it is very difficult to replace it with contrary facts.

Overall, at least 50% of all Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory.   Even among college educated and higher, 25% believe in at least one conspiracy theory.

University of Miami political science professors Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent in their book, “American Conspiracy Theories” define the four characteristics of a conspiracy theory as: “(1) a group (2) acting in secret (3) to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility (4) at the expense of the common good.”

“Researchers have found that inducing anxiety or loss of control triggers respondents to see nonexistent patterns and evoke conspiratorial explanations” and that in the real world “there is evidence that disasters (e.g., earthquakes) and other high-stress situations (e.g., job uncertainty) prompt people to concoct, embrace, and repeat conspiracy theories.”
Fascinating, great post. 

The only thing that I would slightly disagree with is that it’s not always a lack of information. Take the Moon Landing or the Birther Movement- in both cases there was plenty of information, yet conspiracies were created out of thin air. 

 
There is another category as well- you might call it the “false conspiracy theory.” For instance, climate change is real, yet millions of people appear to be convinced that it’s a conspiracy theory. 

 
There is another category as well- you might call it the “false conspiracy theory.” For instance, climate change is real, yet millions of people appear to be convinced that it’s a conspiracy theory. 
In 2013, Public Policy Polling did a poll to try to determine whether people with certain political affiliations were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories (education, not political affiliation, is the biggest factor).  The numbers for how many people total believed in certain conspiracies are pretty amazing.

Climate change was the biggest political divide:  58% of Republicans agreed that it is a conspiracy, while 77% of Democrats disagreed.

But then again, 4% of people across the board believed that world governments have been infiltrated by lizard people.

link

 
During my adult lifetime, countless hours of discussion in this country have been devoted to conspiracy theories. There’s no way to measure it, but it feels like almost 20% of all politics have centered around conspiracies. Just off the top of my head: 

JFK’s assassination. 

The Moon Landing. 

The Death of Vince Foster. 

9/11 Truth movement. 

Birthers. 

False Flag movements. 

Q Anon. 

These are just the big ones that come to mind- I’m sure there are many I’m forgetting about. 

Sometimes (often) I find myself caught up in these, both fascinated and repelled at the same time. I’ve never understood what attracts people to such theories, and why they are so eager to believe them. Thoughts? 
RFK’s assassination is a pretty fascinating one. I don’t believe it but it’s interesting 

 
There is another category as well- you might call it the “false conspiracy theory.” For instance, climate change is real, yet millions of people appear to be convinced that it’s a conspiracy theory. 
no, it's the same.  The anti-GW crowd believes that there is a group of people who conspire in secret to push an agenda that takes the US down a notch by means of attacking our energy usage patterns.

 
The Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, specifically, are among the most awful.  It is easy to lose hope and faith when you read some of that garbage and the stuff they've put victims' families through.  

 
Wow, found these two kind of neat:

The first lady who ran the country

Conspiracy: A stroke rendered President Woodrow Wilson incapable of governing, and his wife surreptitiously stepped in.

The truth: Wilson did suffer a debilitating stroke towards the end of his presidency—but the government felt it was in the country’s best interest to keep things quiet. The public didn’t learn about the stroke for months, during which time his wife, Edith Wilson, was making most executive decisions. Despite Mrs. Wilson claiming that she acted only as a “steward,” historians who have analyzed the Wilson term in office confirm that for well over a year, Mrs. Wilson was effectively president.

====================

Conspiracy: A secret society that rules the world—the Illuminati—and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) are in cahoots.

The truth: We’re here to tell you that a link does, in fact, exist. Of course, that “link” is actually a hyperlink (i.e., an electronic link between two Internet sites). If you type Illuminati backward—Itanimulli—into a web browser, you will land on the NSA website. Click this link if you dare: Itanimulli.com

 
Global warming/cooling/climate change

Y2K

WMDs 

Fake News

Gender confusion.

We evolved from apes.

Politicians and the government are working for you and your best interests.

Full Frontal labotomies can help people.

Killing a fetus and selling its tissue is freedom.

Censorship is free speech.

Bombing people with depleted uranium and moving them to Europe is  humanitarian.

 
The Iraq war buildup was one of the biggest conspiracies of all time.  The media, political and intelligence establishments all collaborated to convince the American public that Saddam was an imminent threat.  It was a "slam dunk."  They knowingly cooked up a false pretense to launch an endless war against an idea.  

People rightfully lost a lot of faith in legacy press and the authority figures after that.   The foreign policy blob that wanted Iraq and didn't mind lying to the public to get us there didn't just magically leave when Bush left office, and it probably never will.   These people are absolute cretins and every citizen of this country should be eternally vigilant that they don't use deception this way again.  

I actually have a lot of contempt at how quick some are to gaslight others as conspiracy theorists.  I don't think it accomplishes nearly as much for preservation of the truth as it does to insulate power from questioning.  There's a pretty huge gap between Alex Jones tier tinfoil and honest skepticism about government claims.  

And I'll give you a very specific example.  In the Syria thread, it was all but confirmed that Assad had used chemical weapons to gas his own people in Douma.  These claims were mostly based on social media videos produced by western-backed NGOs in Syria.  This sort of stuff gets bigtime coverage on CNN.  

 Some people would have otherwise had reservations about Trump bombing Syria, but we had an international coalition with the U.K. and France, and so some moderates supported it.  Most of them were onboard with the strikes, Trump bombed Syria, and that was that.  This all happened BEFORE the OPCW conducted its investigation of course.  

This isn’t like Saddam and WMDs. Responsible people don’t have any question about this. 
There was just one problem: there was no evidence of a nerve gas attack.  

Anyone who questioned why Assad would cross the one line that would inevitably backfire and draw a huge western response was gaslighted and painted as a huge conspiracy theorist.  

Did the independent investigation of the scene and its victims get the same airtime as the accusation that Assad gassed his own people?  No, it didn't.  Not even close.  

But here we are.  Trump bombed Syrian targets based on a lie and most people are none the wiser.  

 
The Iraq war buildup was one of the biggest conspiracies of all time.  The media, political and intelligence establishments all collaborated to convince the American public that Saddam was an imminent threat.  It was a "slam dunk."  They knowingly cooked up a false pretense to launch an endless war against an idea.  

People rightfully lost a lot of faith in legacy press and the authority figures after that.   The foreign policy blob that wanted Iraq and didn't mind lying to the public to get us there didn't just magically leave when Bush left office, and it probably never will.   These people are absolute cretins and every citizen of this country should be eternally vigilant that they don't use deception this way again.  
....and Trump just made the #1 Iraq War cheerleader, John Bolton, his new National Security Advisor.

Yay.

 
There is another category as well- you might call it the “false conspiracy theory.” For instance, climate change is real, yet millions of people appear to be convinced that it’s a conspiracy theory. 
Kind of like it used to be called Global Warming, but since this didn't take off with the falsifying of data, the MSM changes it to climate changes.  I live in a climate that has four seasons, of course it is changing.

 
Kind of like it used to be called Global Warming, but since this didn't take off with the falsifying of data, the MSM changes it to climate changes.  I live in a climate that has four seasons, of course it is changing.
Yay, a new alias for a troll.   I'm sure this one will last as long as the one that got banned yesterday.

 
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@timschochet you don't believe in in a single one of the ones you listed, or that there could be some truth to any of them?
Of the ones I listed? Not one. How about you? 

Actually I can’t think of any conspiracy theories that I’ve ever believed in before it was proven in the mainstream media. That includes, BTW, the Trump Russia collusion theory. 

 
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Soooo...you just blundered across this fantasy football site on the net, but have had no interest in the Shark Pool and instead have posted almost exclusively in the Politics Subforum (with one post in the FFA)? Yeah, right.

 
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Soooo...you just blundered across this fantasy football site on the net, but have had no interest in the Shark Pool and instead have posted almost exclusively in the Politics Subforum (with one post in the FFA)? Yeah, right.
I never said I was an alias.  I just said I have no idea about someone getting a banned account yesterday.

 
Good list.  Biggest one missing is the Trump collusion conspiracy.
You know only Trump cares about collusion, right?  The rest of us just care about criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

It's like if I murdered someone and I was getting arrested kept yelling "I wasn't stealing his soul!"

 
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I never said I was an alias.  I just said I have no idea about someone getting a banned account yesterday.
And you haven't said that you aren't an alias either, not that anyone would probably believe you at this point.

 
squistion said:
And you haven't said that you aren't an alias either, not that anyone would probably believe you at this point.
Technically we are all an alias, unless your parents hated you and actually called you squistion.

 
-fish- said:
But then again, 4% of people across the board believed that world governments have been infiltrated by lizard people.

link
That poll also says 29% believe in aliens, which I don’t really consider a conspiracy. 

Believing that aliens walk among us, or that the government hides their existence - those would be conspiracies

Full disclosure: I believe that there is life elsewhere. I’m not crazy. You’re the crazy one. 

 
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-fish- said:
I wrote an article on this at one point.   We're hardwired to be uncomfortable, especially under stress, where there is a lack of information.   In that situation, our brains will accept any factual information that fills that gap, regardless of whether it makes sense or not.   And based on the relief we get from alleviating the stress, we're hardwired to pass that information on to others.   Once the false information is in place, it is very difficult to replace it with contrary facts.

Overall, at least 50% of all Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory.   Even among college educated and higher, 25% believe in at least one conspiracy theory.

University of Miami political science professors Joseph Uscinski and Joseph Parent in their book, “American Conspiracy Theories” define the four characteristics of a conspiracy theory as: “(1) a group (2) acting in secret (3) to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility (4) at the expense of the common good.”

“Researchers have found that inducing anxiety or loss of control triggers respondents to see nonexistent patterns and evoke conspiratorial explanations” and that in the real world “there is evidence that disasters (e.g., earthquakes) and other high-stress situations (e.g., job uncertainty) prompt people to concoct, embrace, and repeat conspiracy theories.”
I think a similar psychological need explains anti-immigration fever and other forms of virulent hate. People are dissatisfied with their lot and have a need to blame some other “tribe” for their woes. 

 
That poll also says 29% believe in aliens, which I don’t really consider a conspiracy. 

Believing that aliens walk among us, or that the government hides their existence - those would be conspiracies
You believe in advanced alien life? Not necessarily walking among us.

 
That poll also says 29% believe in aliens, which I don’t really consider a conspiracy. 

Believing that aliens walk among us, or that the government hides their existence - those would be conspiracies

Full disclosure: I believe that there is life elsewhere. I’m not crazy. You’re the crazy one. 
I think the bigfoot (14%) and alien beliefs aren't conspiracy theories, but there was a separate question involving the government covering up the crash of an alien spacecraft at Roswell.  

 
(1) The lone holdout juror in the Manafort case was being paid by Team Trump and the Russians.  How else can you explain it?  Even the hat wearing Trumper on the jury said it was obvious that Manafort was guilty.

(2) Trump's presidency is the result of a non-violent coup d' etat, coordinated by the Russians, the Republican party, the NRA, the intelligence community (Comey), and Fox News.  This one becomes less of a conspiracy theory and more of a factual reckoning every day.

 
I wish I was super rich.  I would not deny myself fancy living or exorbitant toys and with the excess I would willingly use my fiances and financial clout to try and figure out solutions to real world problems.  All while drinking excessively on my private island.

One can dream...

 
You left off the biggest conspiracy theory of our generation.

Muh Russian collusion. 

A political party "colluded" with Russia to obtain oppo research that was then used as a reason to spy on an opposing party's presidential candidate, unfortunately they lost the election, then tried to frame that candidate for "colluding" with Russia. :lmao:

And the MSM pushed this propaganda to low info people who could not accept reality, their candidate sucked and their party is heading in the wrong direction. 

Fortunately most reasonable people have moved on but there are still fringe pockets here and there who actually believe in the Russia collusion conspiracy. 

 
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(1) The lone holdout juror in the Manafort case was being paid by Team Trump and the Russians.  How else can you explain it?  Even the hat wearing Trumper on the jury said it was obvious that Manafort was guilty.

(2) Trump's presidency is the result of a non-violent coup d' etat, coordinated by the Russians, the Republican party, the NRA, the intelligence community (Comey), and Fox News.  This one becomes less of a conspiracy theory and more of a factual reckoning every day.
:lmao:

Not sure if you are presenting this as a conspiracy that only tin foil hatters would believe in or if you are presenting this as a conspiracy that you actually believe in. 

 
You left off the biggest conspiracy theory of our generation.

Muh Russian collusion. 

A political party "colluded" with Russia to obtain oppo research that was then used as a reason to spy on an opposing party's presidential candidate, unfortunately they lost the election, then tried to frame that candidate for "colluding" with Russia. :lmao:

And the MSM pushed this propaganda to low info people who could not accept reality, their candidate sucked and their party is heading in the wrong direction. 

Fortunately most reasonable people have moved on but there are still fringe pockets here and there who actually believe in the Russia collusion conspiracy. 
Keep fighting the good fight, buddy.  :boxing:

 

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