What Drives Conspiracy Theorists?

[FindersKeepers]

I've heard bits and pieces of the Alex Jones trial, and this guy is off-the-charts flipping nuts. He's the guy (one of them, anyway) who said the Sandy Hook shooting was staged.

Now, Jones claims he has a psychosis.

Jones baselessly told his audience in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that the incident was staged. He has since acknowledged the shooting occurred, but only after the lawsuits were filed. He said in a 2019 sworn deposition that a “form of psychosis” caused him to make his false comments.

Jones is just one person, but what about all the others out there who buy into conspiracy theories?

One problem is a lack of trust in the government/media to tell us the truth. Some of that is understandable--to a degree--given that we've been lied to before. Things like saying Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," make all of us leery.

But, to dismiss the shooting of dozens of children as a conspiracy when it would take a massive effort to organize such a stunt crosses the line into madness.

What makes a person believe unbelievable conspiracies? Things like thinking Sandy Hook was staged or that a plane didn't hit the Pentagon? Is it like Jones claims? It is a real psychosis?

Does a lack of education play a role? I ask this because it seems as though these conspiracies thrive primarily (not always) with folks who aren't overly educated.

Thoughts?

[Peter1469]

Typically conspiracies arise when governments, or big business, covers something up. People fill in the blanks.

The term conspiracy theory as derision was coined by the CIA to tarnish the people trying to out MK Ultra. But, as Congress later proved, MK Ultra was real.

[FindersKeepers]

Typically conspiracies arise when governments, or big business, covers something up. People fill in the blanks.

The term conspiracy theory as derision was coined by the CIA to tarnish the people trying to out MK Ultra. But, as Congress later proved, MK Ultra was real.

MK Ultra was a travesty.

But, I agree. When we're not told the whole truth -- people tend to fill in the blanks.

[midcan5]

What drives them is a lack of education and groupthink. Many of the republicans in power today are among the stupidest group in history, consider only the QAnon followers. They remind me of the morons in HS who thought saying stupid shat was funny. Groupthink is dangerous but groupthink among the stupid with power is really dangerous. For the interested reader, a few books.

'Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power' by Anna Merlan

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/20/71521...iracy-theories

And:

'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway

[DGUtley]

What drives them is a lack of education and groupthink. Many of the Democrats today are among the stupidest group in history, consider only the Biden and MSM followers. They remind me of the morons in HS who thought saying stupid shat was funny. Groupthink is dangerous but groupthink among the stupid with power is really dangerous.

[FindersKeepers]

What drives them is a lack of education and groupthink. Many of the republicans in power today are among the stupidest group in history, consider only the QAnon followers. They remind me of the morons in HS who thought saying stupid shat was funny. Groupthink is dangerous but groupthink among the stupid with power is really dangerous. For the interested reader, a few books.

'Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power' by Anna Merlan

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/20/71521...iracy-theories

And:

'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway

I have to question the authenticity of the QAnon thing.

I once researched for a couple of hours and I could not turn up anything that would suggest there was any source these people were gathering around.

And, if there's no source, there's no real group.

And, if there's no real group--they don't present a threat.

I've seen photos of a few folks holding "Q" signs, but nowhere could I find a common link (or links). And, I'm decent at online research.

That said, I have to agree that the under-educated are probably more susceptible to falling prey to conspiracies. Likely because they haven't developed critical thinking skills.

But part of it is also desire. They have to want to believe something.

Fortunately, very few ever get to the point Alex Jones reached. That's just beyond the pale.

[countryboy]

[Peter1469]

You just described yourself and democrats.

What drives them is a lack of education and groupthink. Many of the republicans in power today are among the stupidest group in history, consider only the QAnon followers. They remind me of the morons in HS who thought saying stupid shat was funny. Groupthink is dangerous but groupthink among the stupid with power is really dangerous. For the interested reader, a few books.

'Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power' by Anna Merlan

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/20/71521...iracy-theories

And:

'Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming' Naomi Oreskes, Erik M. M. Conway

[Just AnotherPerson]

MK Ultra was a travesty.

But, I agree. When we're not told the whole truth -- people tend to fill in the blanks.

That's my specialty : )

[Cletus]

I've heard bits and pieces of the Alex Jones trial, and this guy is off-the-charts flipping nuts. He's the guy (one of them, anyway) who said the Sandy Hook shooting was staged.

Now, Jones claims he has a psychosis.




Jones is just one person, but what about all the others out there who buy into conspiracy theories?

One problem is a lack of trust in the government/media to tell us the truth. Some of that is understandable--to a degree--given that we've been lied to before. Things like saying Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," make all of us leery.

But, to dismiss the shooting of dozens of children as a conspiracy when it would take a massive effort to organize such a stunt crosses the line into madness.

What makes a person believe unbelievable conspiracies? Things like thinking Sandy Hook was staged or that a plane didn't hit the Pentagon? Is it like Jones claims? It is a real psychosis?

Does a lack of education play a role? I ask this because it seems as though these conspiracies thrive primarily (not always) with folks who aren't overly educated.

Thoughts?

This is actually relatively easy to answer. Although there may be some relatively small number of conspiracy nuts out there who really are nuts, most are people who simply can't accept the simplest explanation for an event. Look at all the Kennedy assassination conspiracy freaks. They aren't ALL stupid, but the one thing they all have in common is an inability to wrap their heads around the reality that some nobody like Oswald could change the course of history by taking out a President of the United States. There has to be some bigger, powerful force acting behind the scenes and pulling the levers.

When you take things like the Kennedy conspiracy and take a close look at them, they fall apart but people won't or can't accept reality. What do you hear... Oswald could not have made that shot, it was too hard. The shot has been duplicated dozens of times. The blood spurting out of the back of Kennedy's head proves the shot came from the front. Anyone who knows anything about blood splatter and understands hydrostatic shock knows that just the opposite is true. You could go on and on and pick the conspiracy theory apart piece by piece, but people will either ignore the facts or say "Okay, but...".

That doesn't mean conspiracies don't exist. Of course they do. There are plenty of real world conspiracies going on out there all the time, but most of them lack the excitement or glamor of the murder of a President.

The reality is that history can be and often is changed by insignificant people. In a lot of cases, unscrupulous people will jump on the conspiracy bandwagon to capitalize on the gullibility of people and make a buck. I have no doubt that is the case with Jones. He figured out a long time ago there is money to be made in promoting conspiracy theories and he figured out how to do it. He doesn't suffer from some psychosis. He suffers from greed and a lack of integrity.

It is human nature to form a conclusion and then look for "facts" to support that conclusion. That is just the way people are. It is much more difficult to look at something and not form an opinion about cause and effect, start gathering information and then put the pieces of the puzzle together to form a picture of the truth. I have been a licensed PI for 28 years and whenever I start an investigation, I think back to Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and his "Fair Witness" concept. If everyone did the same, most... most, not all, but most conspiracy theories would disappear like a shadow when you shine a light on it.