Why Do We Embrace Conspiracy Theories?[views:4203][posts:25]____________________________________ [May 8,2011 10:27pm - arilliusbm ""] http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/20...embrace-conspiracy-theories/?hpt=C2 Front page of CNN, with mention of the Bilderberg meetings. 'And anyway, the idea that a finance minister or a banker would say something with a group of 150 people that is any different than what he would say in public is crazy in today's world where everything leaks instantly. In my experience, they say the same fairly banal platitudes inside as they say outside." Quite a crude statement on his part. If it doesn't really matter, why have it behind closed doors with no media allowed in? What is he trying to justify? by Fareed Zakaria, CNN A number of you on Facebook and Twitter have been asking me about the “birthers” and “deathers” (the former question Obama’s birth; the latter question bin Laden’s death). These questions got me thinking about the prevalence of conspiracy theories in America and around the world. Here’s what I think: The propensity of Americans to embrace conspiracy theories has long been attributed to their great suspicion of state authority. America was founded as a revolt against centralized power and there has always been a fear of coordinated action taking place in the dark behind closed doors. American conspiracy theories implicate Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. government, the intelligence community and many others. But conspiracy theories are certainly not confined to the United States. Pakistan is rife with them. A leading Pakistani journalist, Jugnu Mohsin (who will be on GPS this Sunday at 10am ET/PT), attributes conspiracy theories in her country to a population that feels deeply disenfranchised. There are so many double and triple games being played on them by the Pakistani military and the Pakistani establishment that it breeds conspiracy theories. The Arab world is also full of conspiracy theories and many analysts blame them on the prevalence of dictatorships. Conspiracy theories are indeed an odd phenomenon since they are widely present in the world’s leading democracies and the world’s leading dictatorships. They can’t be entirely related to political institutions. There must be something deep in the human psyche that makes us believe there are patterns to events – order, purpose and meaning. The simplest alternate explanation to a conspiracy theory is usually incompetence. When people say, “Why did these things happen?” and then point to a series of seemingly implausible events, it’s usually because the government messed up. The right arm didn’t know what the left arm was doing. Government is made of human beings. They are remarkably ordinary in their ability to make mistakes. There is also a certain amount of life which is luck, chance, coincidence and happenstance. You can’t always divine some larger pattern from the fact that two events seem related or happened in the same month. Often it is just chance. As you see, I’m not particularly partial to conspiracy theories. I can’t tell you how many times people ask me about the conspiracy of the Bilderberg Group. It is a conference I’ve occasionally been invited to and have attended once or twice. If only the people who wrote the alarmist treatises on the Bilderberg Group were allowed in. They would be so utterly disappointed. It’s just a conference like dozens of others around the world. And anyway, the idea that a finance minister or a banker would say something with a group of 150 people that is any different than what he would say in public is crazy in today's world where everything leaks instantly. In my experience, they say the same fairly banal platitudes inside as they say outside. So on the few occasions in my life when I’ve been inside centers of the conspiracy, I’ve been disappointed and relieved to find they were pretty much like the world on the outside. Those are my thoughts. I invite you to join me on Facebook and Twitter to pose questions and continue the conversation. |
| ______________________________________ [May 8,2011 11:10pm - the_reverend ""] didn't read, but I assume cause they are true |
| ___________________________________ [May 9,2011 7:15am - arilliusbm ""] Ive got a theory that school buses are purposely put on the roads to make people late for work. FUCK SCHOOLBUSES |
| ________________________________ [May 9,2011 7:15am - reimroc ""] 1.) Its fun to come up with alternate scenarios 2.) As the saying goes "we have minds of our own" 3.) Sometimes we don't like the truth Pick one or two or all three |
| _____________________________ [May 9,2011 7:24am - Yeti ""] arilliusbm said:Ive got a theory that school buses are purposely put on the roads to make people late for work. FUCK SCHOOLBUSES it's not so much the school buses, it's that there are hardly any community bus stops anymore. Little Skyler has to be picked up at his doorstep because his mother is a cunt. |
| ___________________________________ [May 9,2011 7:28am - arilliusbm ""] Only going around a school bus when it's caution lights are blinking is real. |
| _____________________________________ [May 9,2011 8:03am - thirdknuckle ""] reimroc said:1.) Its fun to come up with alternate scenarios 2.) As the saying goes "we have minds of our own" 3.) Sometimes we don't like the truth Pick one or two or all three 4.) We like to feel that we're smarter than the stupid people |
| _____________________________________ [May 9,2011 8:17am - Skinsandwich ""] James Woods likes to sniff school bus seats. |
| ____________________________ [May 9,2011 8:21am - pam ""] arilliusbm said:Only going around a school bus when it's caution lights are blinking is real. Bonus points for when you cross into the wrong lane of the street to do so. I don't have time to wait for the ALWAYS 400lb bus aid to amble her way back into the short bus. |
| _________________________________ [May 9,2011 8:22am - ShadowSD ""] arilliusbm said:The simplest alternate explanation to a conspiracy theory is usually incompetence. When people say, “Why did these things happen?” and then point to a series of seemingly implausible events, it’s usually because the government messed up. The right arm didn’t know what the left arm was doing. Government is made of human beings. They are remarkably ordinary in their ability to make mistakes. There is also a certain amount of life which is luck, chance, coincidence and happenstance. You can’t always divine some larger pattern from the fact that two events seem related or happened in the same month. Often it is just chance. Zakaria has it exactly right. I also like to put it this way: if a conspiracy theory is far more complex than the standard explanation it's meant to replace - and it's a standard explanation which originally only came into question because it seemed too complex to believe - it's obviously time to bail on the conspiracy theory. For example, it would have been more of a challenge at this point to create the illusion of Bin Laden's death and deal with all those witnesses in the compound not leaking than it would have just been to find and kill the guy. Neither would be easy, but the former would have been harder, so it's hard to embrace it under the logic that the latter would be more difficult. When the conspiracy is even more far-fetched than the reality, the conspiracy is a fallacy. |
| ______________________________ [May 9,2011 9:41am - Mutis ""] I'm not sure if I believe this thread. |
| __________________________________________ [May 9,2011 9:45am - FuckIsMySignature ""] arilliusbm said:Only going around a school bus when it's caution lights are blinking is real. i got flipped off by a school bus driver for doing that. |
| ______________________________ [May 9,2011 10:55am - ark ""] Problem is that when dealing with the US government and following the money, conspiracy is fact. |
| ___________________________________________ [May 9,2011 11:04am - FuckIsMySignature ""] ark said:Problem is that when dealing with the US government and following the money, conspiracy is fact. correct. this has directly lead to my distrust in all aspects of government. |
| ______________________________________ [May 9,2011 12:36pm - ArrowHeadNLI ""] I saw this article and thought about posting it here. Aril beat me to it. It's odd, how much this article reflects my OWN statements in the recent Alex J thread. Hmm, a little TOOOOO odd. Conspiracy? Is Arrowhead a minion of the NWO global media organization? Hmmm. |
| ______________________________________ [May 9,2011 12:42pm - ArrowHeadNLI ""] ShadowSD said: arilliusbm said:The simplest alternate explanation to a conspiracy theory is usually incompetence. When people say, “Why did these things happen?” and then point to a series of seemingly implausible events, it’s usually because the government messed up. The right arm didn’t know what the left arm was doing. Government is made of human beings. They are remarkably ordinary in their ability to make mistakes. There is also a certain amount of life which is luck, chance, coincidence and happenstance. You can’t always divine some larger pattern from the fact that two events seem related or happened in the same month. Often it is just chance. Zakaria has it exactly right. I also like to put it this way: if a conspiracy theory is far more complex than the standard explanation it's meant to replace - and it's a standard explanation which originally only came into question because it seemed too complex to believe - it's obviously time to bail on the conspiracy theory. I've tried the occam's razor argument. The typical conspiracy fan's rebuttal is that the answers that are "too simple" are the ones most in need of questioning, since it's clearly being fed to us to shut us up. I saw a great one the other day. It was a lady,. doing an interview in the desert. In the background, all of a sudden, a freaking ALIEN MONSTER goes ambling by. They show it over and over in slow mo. So I adjust the contrast on my monitor and what is the monster? A dude like a mile in the background, WALKING HIS DOG. bennyhillifier I pointed this out to the conspiracy nut person, and they honest to god replied with "that's what they WANT you to believe!" /facepalm |
| ___________________________________________ [May 9,2011 12:45pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] i will agree that is pretty stupid. |
| ___________________________________________ [May 9,2011 12:46pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] i think the main problem is labeling anyone who questions the motives or information being provide to them as being a "conspiracy nut" |
| _____________________________________ [May 9,2011 1:01pm - ArrowHeadNLI ""] FuckIsMySignature said:i think the main problem is labeling anyone who questions the motives or information being provide to them as being a "conspiracy nut" No. that's not the label. That's like people that call ALL noodles Ziti. Or all grated cheese parmesan. A conspiracy nut is someone who questions the mainstream info, yet will blindly accept the wildest stories from websites that dramatize and draw even more conclusions that the major media outlets. Question everything. Anyone that truly believes that there is more factual and researched reporting on Above Top Secret than there is on CNN is honestly and truly delusional, and a conspiracy nut. |
| __________________________________________ [May 9,2011 1:03pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] Okay now we are on the same page. |
| _____________________________ [May 9,2011 1:19pm - Yeti ""] or maybe Arrowhead is a lizard monster from Sirius trying to infiltrate RTTP by making us question conspiracies. HMMMMM???!!!! |
| _________________________________ [May 9,2011 1:20pm - brian_dc ""] a daywalker reptilian alien? ... go on... |
| _____________________________ [May 9,2011 1:23pm - Yeti ""] maybe "NLI" is a ruse and it really means "Not Lizard Infiltrator" |
| _____________________________________ [May 9,2011 1:33pm - ArrowHeadNLI ""] Yeti said:maybe "NLI" is a ruse and it really means "Not Lizard Infiltrator" FUCK, my cover is blown. |
| ___________________________________ [May 9,2011 2:27pm - arilliusbm ""] There are smart conspiracy theorists and dumb ones. Most are dumb. Don't confuse the two. |
| ________________________________________ [May 9,2011 4:41pm - conservationist ""] OSAMA BIN LADEN? MORE LIKE OBAMA BIN BUSH amirite |