Reply With QuoteJust an fyi... there actually are such things as conspiracy.Originally Posted by Howey
Inside A Conspiracy Theorist's Mind
I mentioned this article elsewhere and remembered a piece I'd done on this elsewhere so I thought I'd republish it here.
Inside A Conspiracy Theorist's Mind
I thought I'd look for something explaining the insanity of the conspiracy theorist crowd after reading some of the latest conspiracy theories. Fortunately, I found this article from Psychology Today yesterday. It's a compelling explanation and IMO spot-on. The following is but a portion of the article...the full piece is worth a read.
A friend of mine recently convinced me to watch "Loose Change", a documentary about the alleged conspiracy and cover-up of the 9/11 terrorist attacks by the U.S. government. I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories, and I knew little of the specific theories surrounding 9/11, but I watched the film with the most open mind I could muster.
I found the film to be very engaging, and though I didn't buy the film's conspiracy and cover-up hypotheses, it did make me question whether something important was being kept secret. Seeing the conspiracy theories laid out so confidently and so sensationalistically also helped me to understand why one-third to one-half of Americans believe that our government either was somehow involved in the attacks or covered up information about them.
One reason I generally have trouble accepting conspiracy theories is that they're usually based on far-fetched claims that are nearly impossible to disprove, or prove. My skepticism is further strengthened by the fact that we humans have an assortment of cognitive biases that can distort our judgments and allow us to maintain beliefs despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Some of these biases include the tendency to see patterns where none exist, and to interpret new information and recall old information in ways that confirm our expectations and beliefs. However, most of the time we're unaware of these biases and overly confident that our perceptions represent the objective truth.
Melley proposes that conspiracy thinking arises from a combination of two factors, when someone: 1) holds strong individualist values and 2) lacks a sense of control. The first attribute refers to people who care deeply about an individual's right to make their own choices and direct their own lives without interference or obligations to a larger system (like the government). But combine this with a sense of powerlessness in one's own life, and you get what Melley calls agency panic, "intense anxiety about an apparent loss of autonomy" to outside forces or regulators.
When fervent individualists feel that they cannot exercise their independence, they experience a crisis and assume that larger forces are to blame for usurping this freedom. "For one who refuses to relinquish the assumptions of liberal individualism, such newly revealed forms of regulation frequently seem so unacceptable or unbelievable that they can only be met with anxiety, melodrama, or panic."
For one thing, conspiracy theories help us cope with distressing events and make sense out of them. Conspiracies assure us that bad things don't just happen randomly. Conspiracies tell us that someone out there is accountable, however unwittingly or secretly or incomprehensibly, so it's possible to stop these people and punish them and in due course let everyone else re-establish control over their own lives. Conspiracies also remind us that we shouldn't blame ourselves for our predicaments; it's not our fault, it's them! In these ways, believing in conspiracies serves many of the same self-protective functions as scapegoating.
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12.It should be particularly attended to, to avoid any and all mention of descriptive encounters with children. It is unacceptable to bring that onto the board in any context. Do not suggest encounters with another poster and a child, or with yourself and another poster's child.
Nicotine Deprived...
JPP Staff
Just an fyi... there actually are such things as conspiracy.
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
- -- The Buddha
Never said there wasn't. But when an obsession with "everything's a conspiracy" happens, it's most likely not.
WHY ISN'T 007 BANNED?
12.It should be particularly attended to, to avoid any and all mention of descriptive encounters with children. It is unacceptable to bring that onto the board in any context. Do not suggest encounters with another poster and a child, or with yourself and another poster's child.
Mind Pretzel Biting Fly
OMG, they're gonna take away your diner's club card if you keep empathizing with wackos.
Morality is a set of attitudes and behaviors which facilitate voluntary, cooperative and mutually beneficial relationships. --AssHatZombie
"Men think in herds, go mad in herds, but recover their senses one by one." -- Charles Mackay
"AssHat rocks and is fun to have around." -- Damocles
That's just a theory.
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Darla-----><----Grind
“A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither” Thomas Jefferson
Seen on the internet ~ I carry a gun; because a cop is to heavy.
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