Board 8 > Dumbest popular conspiracy theory

(+) Yeah! (+)

redrocket posted...

.....No, skepticism of the moon landings is not warranted WTF.

http://www.clavius.org/

Educate yourself please, everyone.

Well yes, once you actually add up the evidence that the moon landing really happened, it's deeply improbable that it didn't happen. But this site starts with occam's razor and it's my opinion that occam's razor immediately defeats every other conspiracy on the list but it's a lot more inconclusive with the moon landing. It's something that demands solid evidence, which it has.

xp1337 posted...

It probably doesn't necessitate it but the 5G nonsense came in many flavors. It could cause cancer, COVID, mind control, I think I once read weather control at one point. It was like real-life magic.

I can absolutely appreciate people voting for flat earth here but Pizzagate and 5G really are some next-level stupidity. Flat earth "just" requires you to be so un-curious that you go "my eyes tell me the earth is flat as far as my eye can see and that never changes!" and, yes, ignoring basic science. But you need to up the crazy several notches from "ignore basic science" to get to those two.

Yeah the 5G thing goes from "ignore basic science" to "actually invent things that science cannot do", like it's one thing to think science is wrong and another to think science is CAPABLE OF MAGIC

Most RPG maps are actually on a torus!

Iirc Secret of Mana's is actually a sphere, though

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Paratroopa1 posted...

Well yes, once you actually add up the evidence that the moon landing really happened, it's deeply improbable that it didn't happen. But this site starts with occam's razor and it's my opinion that occam's razor immediately defeats every other conspiracy on the list but it's a lot more inconclusive with the moon landing. It's something that demands solid evidence, which it has.

should solid evidence not supercede occam's razor?

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Steiner posted...

should solid evidence not supercede occam's razor?

Maybe I need to reword that - my idea here is that "taking the simplest explanation as truth" makes most conspiracies immediately difficult to swallow from the start because they ask for more complicated explanations than the face value one, but the moon landing is different because of the knowably intense political motivations of the time and the fact that faking it would not be that hard EXCEPT FOR the fact that it would require thousands and thousands of people to never leak details which is just fucking impossible, which is easily the most unbelievable part of the conspiracy, but that's still a far cry from thinking the earth is flat

Paratroopa1 posted...

Yeah the 5G thing goes from "ignore basic science" to "actually invent things that science cannot do", like it's one thing to think science is wrong and another to think science is CAPABLE OF MAGIC

Magic is just science we don't understand yet, checkmate atheists, etc...

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Literally Obsessed

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KamikazePotato posted...

I went with Climate Change using this reasoning

so why didn't you call the poll "most harmful conspiracy theory" if even you aren't going to answer your own poll honestly?

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Fuck there are so many good choices here but you can't really beat flat earth

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Flat earth is a movement to discredit other conspiracy theories
9/11 and the JFK assassination were absolutely inside jobs.
There is some truth to pizzagate.
Its good to be skeptical and wary of things provided to us by sources completely outside of our control like vaccines and cell towers.
Moon landing actually doesnt matter at all.
COVID is real but theyre artificially inflating the numbers and they definitely had an agenda with the hyper-dramatized media coverage at the beginning and i believe there are ulterior motives to locking down most of the world.
Climate change deniers have their heads in the sand.
Idk nothin bout no alien thats the least of my concerns.

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MysticBrohan posted...

There is some truth to pizzagate.

And what is that?

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9/11 was an inside job - not the dumbest take because we have had the CIA say that events like 9/11 are a good way to establish government control and we've tried things like this. so this isn't out there, governments have done this, there was a gross level of incompetence, there was a crackdown on data, and thein-fighting that makes this, at surface and a few layers in, seem very plausible. so not that dumb.

Moon landing was faked - this one i think is made a bit unfair because at the time it was much more reasonable, basically everything para said earlier. nowadays, not so much. not that dumb. however it's often tied to...

Earth is flat - ...which is significantly dumber. i don't have much defense here, this one is by far the most confusing one to have lasted as long as it has.

Aliens are in Area 51 - so the main thing here is that there's two modifiers to make this specific claim unreasonable but they aren't the ones that really matter at the core. "Government has aliens in a military base" is what's really being said here in the end, whether it's Area 51 or that they used to be there but aren't anymore aren't pertinent to anyone believing this. and at that point it's basically "are aliens real and have we captured them/their materials," of which there's definitely been a lot of government work in searching for and hiding evidence of this, including that recent Pentagon report saying we've got access to material that is not of this planet. so surface level, kinda dumb, what's actually meant/cared about, not dumb at all.

Something something 5G towers - this one's the main fight against flat earthers on this scale. pretty fucking dumb.

Pizzagate - Podesta is a creep, aligned with creepy people, and Epstein/Maxwell have proven there is, at the very least, a notable pedo ring involving global elites and human trafficking, of which Bill Clinton definitely is more involved with than not (see: 27 times on Lolita Express, claims that yes he was on the island). much like the area 51 situation the specifics aren't as pertinent to the claims really being made here but due to a mix of recency bias and the location being a random pizza place, stands out more. but at least the underlying principle here has some truth to it. surface level, pretty dumb, what's meant/cared for, not dumb.

Climate change is a hoax - this one we've seen the goalpost move in our lifetime because it was so dumb. eventually it shifted to "yes there's climate change but how much is man-made?" and i mean, it's still an obvious "a lot" but this is a fair one to use because the initial claim really was that the entire thing was a hoax and only later modified. if you're going for the general spirit of it then that's what you've got and... i guess it's mostly out of ignorance to what we can do to the planet at a massive level? which isn't nearly as bad. initial claim, so dumb it forced a retraction to a not as dumb position.

Vaccines are bad, don't take them - there's some truth to them depending on what it is and where you are. i mean just two months ago the UN gave people polio through oral vaccines by accident. i don't think it's that uncommon to hear something along the lines of 'the only time i've gotten the flu is when i got the vaccine' either, which is a distrust on an unreliable vaccine. but unlike the other cases what's really meant here is actually worse since it's either tied back to mercury due to 1950s stuff, this idea that they need to be more spread out because the body can't handle all of them in the pace they're delivered (which at least sounds plausible on the surface), or autism. at the surface this one's got a bit more pause because there's something to it and you can easily find stuff but deeper down it's worse. biggest point to its favor on the dumb scale is that there at least is a now discredited doctor involved here. surface level makes it not as dumb, deeper in, pretty dumb. but this ties to...

COVID is a hoax, don't wear masks - this is recency bias on full blast. yeah it's dumb. obviously. there isn't even anything to defend this one besides claims that would work for any pandemic. but it's still not as dumb as 5G towers causing COVID and that's already an option.

JFK assassination was an inside job - this is straight up plausible.

edit - two ranking types. ranking based on the specific wording:
climate change >= flat earth > 5G towers >> COVID > pizzagate = area 51 > vaccines > 9/11 > moon landing > JFK

focusing on what's meant by these:
flat earth > 5G towers >> climate change >= COVID > vaccines > 9/11 > moon landing > pizzagate > area 51 > JFK


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redrocket posted...

And what is that?

The pizza place existed

The JFK one doesn't belong here honestly

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The answer is "Earth is flat" because it's an obvious plant. Reminder that a bunch of "conspiracy theories" have been proven 100% correct in the last several years.

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Leonhart4 posted...

The pizza place existed

The JFK one doesn't belong here honestly

Pizza place exists, emails are real, podesta is pretty creepy, and later on everything we know on Epstein all basically lend themselves well to it. The conclusion not so much but I'm assuming he probably means the stuff closer to Epstein.

And def agree on the JFK bit. For a different conspiracy that's dumb...

Chemtrails is probably the standout. Trying to think of a dumber one and failing.


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Kinglicious posted...

Pizza place exists, emails are real, podesta is pretty creepy, and later on everything we know on Epstein all basically lend themselves well to it. The conclusion not so much but I'm assuming he probably means the stuff closer to Epstein.

And def agree on the JFK bit. For a different conspiracy that's dumb...

Chemtrails is probably the standout. Trying to think of a dumber one and failing.

You mean the emails that have absolutely nothing to do with pedophilia until you decide for some reason that "pizza" is code for "child sex ring"?

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Yes.
Which is more than other options on this list have.

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9/11 and not debatable

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Almost all of these are really dumb, usually alt-right held beliefs. Imagine that! Hard to pick just one...
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The dumbness of the JFK one depends on what exactly is meant. If by inside job you literally mean that some part of the US government was actually behind it, thats a bit more out there, though still very mild compared to the other options in this poll. If all you mean is that Lee Harvey Oswald didnt act alone, thats more common sense than conspiracy at this point!

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Oh, there are some really dumb JFK theories, like the driver shot him with a special type of gun/bullet, but it's the one thing listed here where there are easy holes you can poke in the "official" explanation.

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Pizzagate for sure out of all these, when it comes to sheer lack of intellect.

Flat Earth is something that is completely rational to believe through your own perception of the world. People believed it for thousands of years. Other ones also do same some form of thinking that could lead to the conspiracy, from just your own perception or basic scientific education.

Pizzagate though is just 100% a fever dream, the final proof that online conspiracy-chasers treat their own worldview like a virtual game, which can and should be manipulated to get that sense of purpose and belonging. There is absolutely no chance that anyone who believe in Pizzagate cares about truth or reason.

For similar reasons, Trump's 4D chess would be up there as well. That one at least has a self-defense wishful thinking aspect to it though. I don't even know what the goal of Pizzagate is.

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I thought of "9/11 was not only an inside job, but involved explosives and holograms." Like why not just hire the attackers to do what they did?

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I think Aliens in Area 51 is the dumbest one. Like, how how are you suspicious enough to believe the government keeps secret alien tech but also trust that they keep it in the exact one place everyone already thinks it at? That shit would be on an unlisted island underground
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My favorite conspiracy theory trope is that everything is named by a secret code that reveals its TRUE PURPOSE, like the UN=ONU=UNO=One World thing above. Like, at least the hypothetical Pizzagate people were smart enough to talk about something completely innocuous like pizza, but it's more entertaining to imagine somebody coming up with the name "covid-19" for the express purpose of nudge nudge wink wink with their fellow conspirators because it really means SEE A SHEEP SURRENDER!! Or all the numerology ones where Obama's name makes 666 or whatever.

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paperwarior posted...

I thought of "9/11 was not only an inside job, but involved explosives and holograms." Like why not just hire the attackers to do what they did?

Oh fuck I forgot about the planes were holograms to mask the actual planted explosives version
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You forgot the circle/okay sign in nowadays being a racist secret signal. That's a funny conspiracy theory also.

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Corrik7 posted...

You forgot the circle/okay sign in nowadays being a racist secret signal. That's a funny conspiracy theory also.

That started as a joke but then became real
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Mysterio tech exists in real life who knew

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9/11 was an inside job: Possible, but very unlikely. I haven't seen an convincing argument for this yet, probably because it's not true.

Moon landing was fake: This is dumb. If you don't believe the moon landing happened for any other reason, believe it for this. Russia would have LOVED to expose the fuck out of us if we faked it. Easiest dunk of the century. Instead they admitted defeat. So the landing happened.

Earth is flat: This is super dumb because of how long this conspiracy theory is... despite it being dunked ages ago.

Aliens in Area 51: Honestly, this is just a fun harmless one. Lots of people want to believe in stuff like this. It's goofy but... cmon, them them have their fun.

5G: Probably the dumbest one. At least FlatEarthers had a valid theory.... centuries ago. This is just fucking stupid, and not even the "Oh, wouldn't it be cool if this existed?" like aliens. Like what the actual fuck? This doesn't even begin to approach reasonable misunderstanding.

Pizzagate: Gateway to abject stupidity(Well technically FlatEarth is, but politicians and trolls at least understand that no one gets into a frenzy over FlatEarth). Also the first very dangerous one as it convinces lunatics to shoot up places. "For the children".

Climate Change: This is dumb, but this is a combination of a lack of education... and fossil fuel companies intentionally blocking research on the issue. It seems like more young people believe in this, too bad old people are in charge. Old people who will be dead before the environmental bill comes.

Vaccines are bad: The most dangerous out of all of these. There's """technically""" some truth to it... in the sense that some people can have an allergic reaction to vaccines, but any logical person understands that doesn't mean vaccines overall are bad. There's a very rare people out there allergic to water, but we don't say "water is bad".

Corvid hoax: This is absolutely fucking stupid, and like climate change it's a combination of uneducated people and someone making money off of it(Not being taken seriously). The one positive is that it shows how chickenshit so called "patriots" are. They have wet dreams over killing people to "defend their country", but the task of wearing a mask while out in public is too much for them.

Also everyone can stop fantasizing about the zombie apocalypse now. Corvid has proven that humanity wouldn't survive it. If you think wearing a mask is tough now, imagine having to do it when the air is tainted with rotten flesh everywhere(God help you if the hypothetical zombie virus is airborne).

JFK was an inside job: Honestly... the killer may not even be alive now.

Going with pizzagate because it's both extremely stupid and dangerous. 5G is a close second for how stupid it is.

The others really stupid stuff can at least be somewhat believable if you were never educated on the subject regarding it, or had someone personally gaining from keeping people uneducated regarding it.


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Then again, some Corvid deniers are actively dying from Corvid and the rest of them still think it's "fake news" so maybe them after all. It's certainly an utter lack of survival instinct.

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I'm still upset Lizard People isn't here. It's all so stupid and every time someone has a new idea they make it into some bizarre hodgepodge of lore.

There are just so many questions which each part of the lore too that make it hilarious that people think about it.

Easily the dumbest one people buy into.

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Honorable mention to Wayfair smuggling children in their furniture for pedophiles

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Iirc Secret of Mana's is actually a sphere, though

And it's a pain in the ass to navigate.

Voted Pizzagate. Most of these are at least understandable how someone might arrive at the conclusion. Pizzagate, and the fact that it spawned QAnon, is just absurd.

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Dark Young Link posted...

Corvid

wut

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Earth is flat is so ridiculous it shouldn't be on the poll, so I decided to go with the moon landing.

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foolm0r0n posted...

wut

DYL always calls it Corvid, for some reason.
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DYL must be from the south where they add unnecessary Rs to words.

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I'll echo the other votes for Flat Earth, as it is the option most categorically disproved. If COVID is a hoax means that it literally does not exist, that is obviously disproved as well. There's too much proving a negative with the others to qualify for my vote, although to be clear, I don't remotely believe any of these or find any of them really justifiable.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Because the most popular current conspiracy theory, QAnon, is based on the idea that Donald Trump is still secretly fighting the secret Democrat satanic child abduction ring

Just how common are QAnon?
Are people IRL really believe that or it's just 4chan bullshit?
Do you know anyone like that in person?

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Nanis23 posted...

Just how common are QAnon?
Are people IRL really believe that or it's just 4chan bullshit?
Do you know anyone like that in person?

I know many

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Flat earth and the moon landing being fake were basically test runs for what we know as fake news/misinformation campaigns today. We don't ever get QAnon if those two didn't come first.

"Dumbest" probably is 5g and Pizzagate. Most dangerous was probably the moon landing, because it was basically proof of concept that you could convince a population of anything.

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Corrik7 posted...

I know many

:|

I feel like you Americans have bigger problems than Trump winning
Seems like a lot of people...just..lost it
And while you can replace the president, you can't replace the citizens

So good luck lmao

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Nanis23 posted...

Just how common are QAnon?
Are people IRL really believe that or it's just 4chan bullshit?
Do you know anyone like that in person?

Its like a quarter to a third of Republicans, who are themselves about a third of the country.

I dont know any personally, no
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The flat earth one is the oldest one and the one where we could have testable experiments and evidence for centuries that prove it wrong that are fairly easy to understand in comparison to the other ones. Some of the other claims in other theories might seem more outlandish, but the explanations are harder to grasp or the theory is simply more complex to trick people more.

Nanis23 posted...

Just how common are QAnon?
Are people IRL really believe that or it's just 4chan bullshit?
Do you know anyone like that in person?

There is a Republican running for federal office that is a part of it.

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I know one person who is publicly a QAnon guy. Obviously I don't know if there are others who just keep it to themselves.

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I think we can mostly say that JFK is the most plausible

And there is someone very close to me that believes in almost all of these.

Imagine putting up with this crap almost daily.

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lordjers posted...

And there is someone very close to me that believes in almost all of these.

Imagine putting up with this crap almost daily.

butter the floor

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