Poll of the Day > Why do you think people are so attracted to conspiracy theories?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Do you think it's because people don't exercise the creative part of their brain enough but a conspiracy theory allows them the freedom to do so?

Or maybe people are severely bored with their life and the hope of a conspiracy theory being true and the opportunity to one day say "I told you!" is what attracts them?

Maybe something else?

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It's a combination of factors, and can vary from individual to individual. I think some common threads you find in people who subscribe to conspiracy theories are: an emotional reaction to a stimulus, a lack of critical thought, and delusions of self-importance.

As Kurt Vonnegut once said: "People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories."

Here's a Scientific American article that dives into this as well:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-drawn-to-conspiracy-theories-share-a-cluster-of-psychological-features/

they cant picture a simple solution being the actual answer to a "complex" problem

Because nobody's tryna tell us what's "really goin' on"

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It depends on the flavor of conspiracy but I think with stuff like qanon and covid conspiracies, people are too afraid to confront reality. Rather than accepting that bad things are real they have to make up something even more nefarious than the (to them) "fake" reality of the situation.

And more generally, people feel some need to think they're smarter than they actually are, but typical avenues don't give them an outlet for that

Because they're dumb.

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Da troof is owt their

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Largely depends on the conspiracy theory. Bear in mind that most media outlets are more than willing to lend a patina of credibility to just outright nonsensical conspiracy theories, especially with the "Report first, fact check maybe later" approach towards sources making unfounded claims about the Trump administration. And the fact that some things are so mainstream certainly helps, like how people still believe 9/11 was an inside job and the moon landing was faked.

Otherwise I suppose there's the general fact that many scandals, etc, first appear as conspiracy theories before evidence emerges to support the claims. The fact that sometimes there's truth to the claims probably helps keep some of the zanier ones in circulation, while others are plausible.

SpeedDemon20 posted...

Do you think it's because people don't exercise the creative part of their brain enough but a conspiracy theory allows them the freedom to do so?

What?


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JigsawTDC posted...

It's a combination of factors, and can vary from individual to individual. I think some common threads you find in people who subscribe to conspiracy theories are: an emotional reaction to a stimulus, a lack of critical thought, and delusions of self-importance.

As Kurt Vonnegut once said: "People have been hearing fantastic stories since time began. The problem is, they think life is supposed to be like the stories."

Here's a Scientific American article that dives into this as well:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-drawn-to-conspiracy-theories-share-a-cluster-of-psychological-features/

Dang, lonely people struggling to get by and the media praying on their anxieties and underlying emotions.

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they're fun/interesting, and some of the stuff people call conspiracy theories are probably true (e.g. the fbi killing martin luther king jr)

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Reality is chaos. Its scary. Bad things can happen to even the best people, for no rational reason whatsoever.

Conspiracy theories almost always surround some tragic event or concept that is too complex for most people to easily understand. A conspiracy theory usually portrays the chaotic nature of the world as a charade, and some evil or secretive group is firmly in control of events.

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Moon landing was fake
Bush did 9/11
The Earth is flat
Aliens helped build the pyramids
Chemtrails
Something something lizard people
Half Life 3 confirmed

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There are people that think the governments tell the truth?

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btw speed you were in my dream last night. we were sitting on my bed playing NBA JAM with the volume on low so we could discuss anime, and i won every match

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SpeedDemon20 posted...

Why do you think people are so attracted to conspiracy theories?

It's human nature to question things and not believe everything you're told by the media and governments.

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OniRonin posted...

they're fun/interesting, and some of the stuff people call conspiracy theories are probably true (e.g. the fbi killing martin luther king jr)

This. Plus, the JFK assassination likely had some CIA involvement as well. And they actually sought to weaponize the term conspiracy theorist to discredit anyone challenging the official narrative of JFK's assassination

http://www.jfklancer.com/CIA.html

I also subscribe to the conspiracy theory that the CIA actively engages in psy-ops where they flood the internet with a bunch of ridiculous and obviously fake conspiracy theories to attract dummies with the shiny objects and to more easily make anyone questioning any kind of official narrative look ridiculous

OniRonin posted...

btw speed you were in my dream last night. we were sitting on my bed playing NBA JAM with the volume on low so we could discuss anime, and i won every match

I've never played that, so I'd believe you'd win every match! I've been getting back into anime. I'm currently watching this apparently romance anime called "Attack on Titan." Most of my dreams consist of me looking for my mask.

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It's exciting to think you have secret or privileged information, even if that information doesn't make any sense.

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I think The Wizard's First Rule explained it best. "People are stupid. They believe things mainly because they either want them to be true or fear them to be true."

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SpeedDemon20 posted...

I've never played that, so I'd believe you'd win every match! I've been getting back into anime. I'm currently watching this apparently romance anime called "Attack on Titan." Most of my dreams consist of me looking for my mask.

i don't actually watch very much anime, so maybe you were explaining attack on titan to me in the dream. the last one i watched all the way through was madoka magica and htat was like a decade ago.

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SpeedDemon20 posted...

romance anime called "Attack on Titan."

Haha

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My favorite explanation of why people believe conspiracy theories comes from Alan Moore.

The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory, is that conspiracy theorists believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic. The truth is that it is not The Iluminati, or The Jewish Banking Conspiracy, or the Gray Alien Theory.

The truth is far more frightening - Nobody is in control.

The world is rudderless.

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I think its an innate desire among humans to try and understand things they cannot explain, and if they cant then to make up something that makes sense to them. Other people hear the story and it makes sense to them do they believe it.

It is not much different from our ancestors believing the sun revolved around the earth, or that the constellations are gods, or practically every religion.

It's weird. Devious shit never happens behind the scenes. Don't know why they are so paranoid.

False sense of superiority?

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Literally so many reasons, different for diff people

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dedbus posted...

It's weird. Devious shit never happens behind the scenes. Don't know why they are so paranoid.

This too. Our world leaders don't exactly give us a lot of reason to ever trust what they're telling us lol.

DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC posted...

The truth of the world is that it is actually chaotic.

The world isn't just total chaos though. Certain aspects sure. And a lot of conspiracy theories involve highly controlled events in a very orderly system

OhhhJa posted...

The world isn't just total chaos though. Certain aspects sure. And a lot of conspiracy theories involve highly controlled events in a very orderly system

To say nothing of larger groups holding secrets from everyone else or coordinating projects together. It's like, dude, do folks not realize how unfeasible it is for more than ten people to work on a single vision, let alone keep that vision or intent out of prying eyes? By the time you'd have a secret or shadow society in the background, more people would know about it than Batman's secret identity throughout the comics, and more of said society would have their own personal agendas, disrupting the endgame entirely on their own, than there are stories about such "political intrigue" by this point. The whole thing would collapse on itself, and the world as a whole would have reason to laugh at it like some 90s movie embarrassing moment plot twist.

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Entity13 posted...

To say nothing of larger groups holding secrets from everyone else or coordinating projects together. It's like, dude, do folks not realize how unfeasible it is for more than ten people to work on a single vision

May i direct you to the Tuskegee experiment or operation Northwoods?

Far-Queue posted...

Because they're dumb.

A bit direct but...

JigsawTDC posted...

a lack of critical thought

I would say that this is more precise. People just turn on their preferred network and think that they are informed. At the very least, you should try to get information from more than a single source and from more than just your preferred viewpoint. Because then, instead of simply being passive and eating the shit that is being spoon fed to you, you would have to think about what is being reported on both sides, maybe even think about what the agenda is, and then come to your own conclusion on what to believe. It also helps if you understand what is objective and fact based and what is just conjecture. Unfortunately, I think this is what a lot of people are having a hard time grasping.

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OhhhJa posted...

May i direct you to the Tuskegee experiment or operation Northwoods?

Yes...

The latter was a proposal by a select number of men within the US government, and shot down by JFK before it could be enacted. US History is in no short supply of similar plots so as to come into conflict with other countries, and this rejected proposal is documented as well.

The former went so long in part because it targeted a specific demographic in the US that hadn't received its share of civil rights for most of the time this study went on, and too many didn't care about them especially in 1960s Alabama. Then civil rights and Vietnam flooded the public eye, so it was unlikely anyone would have thought anything was wrong, compared to usual for the state of Alabama in the 1960s, until the whistleblower came along and inevitably unveiled the whole thing in 1972. So yes, this was almost an exception, but it's also no secret that blacks were mistreated and not given proper care in this country. I suppose it's like hiding an aging plutonium-based weapon inside a hill of garbage for a few decades, and someone finally pointing it out when new regulations for said garbage enter the works.

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Entity13 posted...

Yes...

The latter was a proposal by a select number of men within the US government, and shot down by JFK before it could be enacted. US History is in no short supply of similar plots so as to come into conflict with other countries, and this rejected proposal is documented as well.

The former went so long in part because it targeted a specific demographic in the US that hadn't received its share of civil rights for most of the time this study went on, and too many didn't care about them especially in 1960s Alabama. Then civil rights and Vietnam flooded the public eye, so it was unlikely anyone would have thought anything was wrong, compared to usual for the state of Alabama in the 1960s, until the whistleblower came along and inevitably unveiled the whole thing in 1972. So yes, this was almost an exception, but it's also no secret that blacks were mistreated and not given proper care in this country. I suppose it's like hiding an aging plutonium-based weapon inside a hill of garbage for a few decades, and someone finally pointing it out when new regulations for said garbage enter the works.

your argument seems to boil down to "all the conspiracy theories we know about were eventually revealed and documented, so that means there aren't any hidden conspiracy theories"

i mean i agree with your point that conspiracies with hundreds of people aren't very likely to stay secret. but there's plenty of evil stuff powerful people can do in secret without involving a lot of mouths. and something being kept mostly under wraps for just a few months can sometimes do a lot of damage (for example, the lies that got us into the iraq war)

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OniRonin posted...

your argument seems to boil down to "all the conspiracy theories we know about were eventually revealed and documented, so that means there aren't any hidden conspiracy theories"

i mean i agree with your point that conspiracies with hundreds of people aren't very likely to stay secret. but there's plenty of evil stuff powerful people can do in secret without involving a lot of mouths. and something being kept mostly under wraps for just a few months can sometimes do a lot of damage (for example, the lies that got us into the iraq war)

No? I was saying that the in one case the thing that could have happened didn't because the men who'd come up with it were told no by the commander in chief, and the second case isn't so much a conspiracy theory as a bad history for the US hidden in plain sight.

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Entity13 posted...

Yes...

The latter was a proposal by a select number of men within the US government, and shot down by JFK before it could be enacted. US History is in no short supply of similar plots so as to come into conflict with other countries, and this rejected proposal is documented as well.

The former went so long in part because it targeted a specific demographic in the US that hadn't received its share of civil rights for most of the time this study went on, and too many didn't care about them especially in 1960s Alabama. Then civil rights and Vietnam flooded the public eye, so it was unlikely anyone would have thought anything was wrong, compared to usual for the state of Alabama in the 1960s, until the whistleblower came along and inevitably unveiled the whole thing in 1972. So yes, this was almost an exception, but it's also no secret that blacks were mistreated and not given proper care in this country. I suppose it's like hiding an aging plutonium-based weapon inside a hill of garbage for a few decades, and someone finally pointing it out when new regulations for said garbage enter the works.

Keep in mind this is only what has been uncovered and declassified. I think you'd be naive if you think something like Operation Northwoods is the only plot the CIA has cooked up just because we know of its existence. If you read about something like that and you don't forever distrust the CIA and our government as a whole after that then I think you've got your head in the sand tbh.

Basically, your logic is that the CIA only ever tried something this nefarious this one time and it was stuffed by JFK and they've been relatively above the floor after that

Maybe if the governments(and the giant corporations that influence them) didn't screw us over so much and lied to our faces about it then maybe not as many would've been as suspicious towards them.

To them, wealth is the only thing that matters.
Get the corporations out of politics and start doing stuff that actually benefits the people.
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OhhhJa posted...

I think you'd be naive if you think something like Operation Northwoods is the only plot the CIA has cooked up just because we know of its existence.

Something I'd never assume, let alone say in seriousness. In fact, I think my sarcasm couldn't deliver such a line. The CIA is a known entity with known habits, even if given examples are not always known. To this day, they have a reputation even for giving money to terrorist organizations, which is a head-scratcher since I don't think Antifa has gotten a single check since being declared as terrorists here in the US?

OhhhJa posted...

Basically, your logic is that the CIA only ever tried something this nefarious this one time and it was stuffed by JFK and they've been relatively above the floor after that

No, my approach is to elaborate on the one example brought up before me, not on anything else. See, here would be like you asking me about a specific kind of apple, and I respond in terms of its color, texture, and flavor, and now you're saying that by my logic, somehow, all apples are crisp and tart because I dared say anything of substance about the one kind of apple you'd brought up.

OhhhJa posted...

then I think you've got your head in the sand tbh

Such an ironic idiom since it's used to compare a manmade behavior of hiding from the truth to a separate behavior of a bird seeking to leave their eggs somewhere relatively safe. But by all means keep using said idiom.

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Entity13 posted...

Something I'd never assume, let alone say in seriousness. In fact, I think my sarcasm couldn't deliver such a line. The CIA is a known entity with known habits, even if given examples are not always known. To this day, they have a reputation even for giving money to terrorist organizations, which is a head-scratcher since I don't think Antifa has gotten a single check since being declared as terrorists here in the US?

So are you conceding that its possible that 10 or more powerful people can keep a secret for extended periods of time? It was your claim that this was somehow unlikely even though history has shown us otherwise. Let's also point out that people are less likely to be reckless and gossip when their lives or the lives of their loved ones are on the line.

Entity13 posted...

No, my approach is to elaborate on the one example brought up before me, not on anything else. See, here would be like you asking me about a specific kind of apple, and I respond in terms of its color, texture, and flavor, and now you're saying that by my logic, somehow, all apples are crisp and tart because I dared say anything of substance about the one kind of apple you'd brought up.

No. You were attempting to make a very common argument about people being incapable of keeping secrets to debunk any conspiracy theory. I'm simply here to say that there is proof that large groups of powerful people have kept many documented events secret for many years

Entity13 posted...

Such an ironic idiom since it's used to compare a manmade behavior of hiding from the truth to a separate behavior of a bird seeking to leave their eggs somewhere relatively safe. But by all means keep using said idiom.

Will do

In the case of the people I know who get all up in that stuff, it's because they're idiots. Plain and simple. One of them was a really shitty business person and rather than actually do something useful like know how much expenses were and how much money was coming in, she hired a shaman to cleanse the evil spirits within the building. I am not joking.

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OhhhJa posted...

So are you conceding that its possible that 10 or more powerful people can keep a secret for extended periods of time? It was your claim that this was somehow unlikely even though history has shown us otherwise. Let's also point out that people are less likely to be reckless and gossip when their lives or the lives of their loved ones are on the line.

Nice strawman or weak man fallacy--I'll let you decide which--because there is no need to make such concession.

OhhhJa posted...

No. You were attempting to make a very common argument about people being incapable of keeping secrets to debunk any conspiracy theory. I'm simply here to say that there is proof that large groups of powerful people have kept many documented events secret for many years

This shows a lack of understanding on your part in regards to what I'd said. Feel free to re-read and write entire theses on why you continue to think I'm wrong, but I'm about to shave my legs and take my shower, so... I won't be available to respond for at least a little while.

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Entity13 posted...

It's like, dude, do folks not realize how unfeasible it is for more than ten people to work on a single vision, let alone keep that vision or intent out of prying eyes?