the 9/11 official conspiracy theory in under 5 minutes.

[Ivan88]

Is that the excuse you're using?

Chris is the one making excuses for his "faith" in the party line from the establishment liars.

[Chris]

Chris is the one making excuses for his "faith" in the party line from the establishment liars.

Leave me out of your conspiracy theory, ivan. Here's a dose of reality:

...As Richard Hofstadter wrote in his seminal 1965 book, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” conspiracy theories, especially those involving meddlesome foreigners, are a favorite pastime in this nation. Americans have always had the sneaking suspicion that somebody was out to get us — be it Freemasons, Catholics or communists. But in recent years, it seems as if every tragedy comes with a round of yarn-spinning, as the Web fills with stories about “false flag” attacks and “crisis actors” — not mere theorizing but arguments for the existence of a completely alternate version of reality.

Since Hofstadter’s book was published, our access to information has vastly improved, which you would think would have helped minimize such wild speculation. But according to recent scientific research on the matter, it most likely only serves to make theories more convincing to the public. What’s even more surprising is that this sort of theorizing isn’t limited to those on the margins. Perfectly sane minds possess an incredible capacity for developing narratives, and even some of the wildest conspiracy theories can be grounded in rational thinking, which makes them that much more pernicious....

While psychologists can’t know exactly what goes on inside our heads, they have, through surveys and laboratory studies, come up with a set of traits that correlate well with conspiracy belief. In 2010, Swami and a co-author summarized this research in The Psychologist, a scientific journal. They found, perhaps surprisingly, that believers are more likely to be cynical about the world in general and politics in particular. Conspiracy theories also seem to be more compelling to those with low self-worth, especially with regard to their sense of agency in the world at large. Conspiracy theories appear to be a way of reacting to uncertainty and powerlessness.

Economic recessions, terrorist attacks and natural disasters are massive, looming threats, but we have little power over when they occur or how or what happens afterward. In these moments of powerlessness and uncertainty, a part of the brain called the amygdala kicks into action. Paul Whalen, a scientist at Dartmouth College who studies the amygdala, says it doesn’t exactly do anything on its own. Instead, the amygdala jump-starts the rest of the brain into analytical overdrive — prompting repeated reassessments of information in an attempt to create a coherent and understandable narrative, to understand what just happened, what threats still exist and what should be done now. This may be a useful way to understand how, writ large, the brain’s capacity for generating new narratives after shocking events can contribute to so much paranoia in this country....

@ Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories

[RtWngaFraud]

Leave me out of your conspiracy theory, ivan. Here's a dose of reality:



@ Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories

So the gooberment shills are taking over on this forum, too? Must be getting to close to the truth!

[Chris]

So the gooberment shills are taking over on this forum, too? Must be getting to close to the truth!

LOL, I'm an anarchist. You couldn't be further from the truth.

[simpsonofpg]

And the South won the war. Let's move on Bush did not do it.

[Micketto]

Must be very passionate about this.... I mean.... to hang your whole identity on the idea of this conspiracy.

YouTube videos... multiple goofy smileys.... how is life going for you offline ?

[Ivan88]

Theory is a hypothesis that is proven to be correct, so a "conspiracy theory" is a conspiracy hypothesis that is proven to be correct/accurate.

Don't know why Chris is so adamant about accepting religious dogma of habitual liars and attempting to ridicule the many detectives ferreting out the truth on what really is going on.

[Chris]

Theory is a hypothesis that is proven to be correct, so a "conspiracy theory" is a conspiracy hypothesis that is proven to be correct/accurate.

Don't know why Chris is so adamant about accepting religious dogma of habitual liars and attempting to ridicule the many detectives ferreting out the truth on what really is going on.

Theory is a hypothesis that is proven to be correct

Is that your theoretical guess?

I'm an atheist.

I haven't ridiculed, I've provided scientific explanations for why people believe in conspiracy theories.

[jillian]

So the gooberment shills are taking over on this forum, too? Must be getting to close to the truth!

one doesn't have to be pro government to be anti-made up stories

[Common]

one doesn't have to be pro government to be anti-made up stories

Thats the truth, I find these whacko conspiracy theories laughable. 911 was an inside job, means that GW Bush plotted and planned to have over 3000 americans with the possibility of murdering thousands upon thousands more in this HUGE PLOT that had to involve thousands of people to be able to make it work and somehow they find it incredulous that umm we dont believe it