Posted on 05/29/2013 10:37:07 PM PDT by neverdem
In the days following the bombings at the Boston Marathon, speculation online regarding the identity and motive of the unknown perpetrator or perpetrators was rampant. And once the Tsarnaev brothers were identified and the...
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And that’s a problem. Because while believing George W. Bush helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks might make you feel in control, it doesn’t actually make you so. Earlier this year, Karen Douglas, a University of Kent psychologist, along with a student, published research in which they exposed people to conspiracy theories about climate change and the death of Princess Diana. Those who got information supporting the theories but not information debunking them were more likely to withdraw from participation in politics and were less likely to take action to reduce their carbon footprints.
Alex Jones, a syndicated radio host, can build fame as a conspiracy peddler; politicians can hint at conspiracies for votes and leverage; but if conspiracy theories are a tool the average person uses to reclaim his sense of agency and access to democracy, it’s an ineffective tool. It can even have dangerous health implications. For example, research has shown that African-Americans who believe AIDS is a weapon loosed on them by the government (remembering the abuses of the Tuskegee experiment) are less likely to practice protected sex. And if you believe that governments or corporations are hiding evidence that vaccines harm children, you’re less likely to have your children vaccinated. The result: pockets of measles and whooping-cough infections and a few deaths in places with low child-vaccination rates.
Psychologists aren’t sure whether powerlessness causes conspiracy theories or vice versa. Either way, the current scientific thinking suggests these beliefs are nothing more than an extreme form of cynicism, a turning away from politics and traditional media — which only perpetuates the problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I’m finding more and more that the ones who yell “conspiracy theory” are bigger kooks than the conspiracy theorists themselves
Anything that the mainstream media does not like, or want to be known....its always a “Conspiracy Theory”.
The ones who yell “conspiracy theory” just keep giving attention to folks like Alex Jones
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean somebody’s not out to get you.
***a turning away from politics and traditional media — which only perpetuates the problem.
*******************
Are they saying eat your peas? It’s a conspiracy!***
I suspect the above is a Libtard Whine about the ‘little people’ ignoring their intellectual ‘betters’ in Old Media such as the Old Grey Lady.
It is a whimpering death bed admission of the ‘little people’ now having access to data and news uncontrolled by them.
Exactly.
Yes, some conspiracies are real. Notice that this is being published by the NYT. Why do you suppose they decided to publish this now? Do you suppose that the Zippy myth is about to unravel? If they can discredit “conspiracy nuts” in advance, it will be easier to perpetuate the lies for a much longer time.
The flip side of this is that people hang on to their beliefs long after the sell date. For example, people hang onto losing investments, a boss will keep an terrible employee he hired, etc. for much longer than is rational. An outsider can much more easily see that the stock is tanking or the employee is horrible than the person who bought/hired.
This is why Zippy voters defend Zippy long past the time it is obvious to the rest of us that he is evil / corrupt / failing.
Articles like this in the NYT are just a further example of the lenghts people will go to in order to defend an earlier poor decision.
Benedict Arnold didn’t conspire to give West Point over to the British?
Amberdawn wrote: “IF we had politicians who simply called a spade a spade we’d have less conspiracists.”
A.M.E.N.
Thank you! I did not know most of those details. Very enlightening.
“Some ideas are so absurd only an intellectual could believe them.”
- George Orwell
Wow! So many great points made here this morning.
NYT position: Conservatives are conspiracy kooks. Liberals are investigative reporters.
Just for the record:
1. I believe Zippy is ineligible for the office he holds.
2. I believe that many people in both parties know that and have covered it up, either actively or by failure to act.
3. I am a birther, and not afraid to say so. I don’t necessarily believe that Zippy was born in Kenya, but I do believe that we have never seen a genuine BC. There is something on his BC he is covering up.
4. I believe that Hillary is covering up more than just her failure to act in Benghazi. There is more to this than meets the eye.
5. I believe that pervasive corruption and abuse of power goes right to the top. Zippy may not know about all the illegal activities in his administration, but even president passerby would have to be aware of enough of them for him to be impeached.
6. I believe that Zippy, Holder, and many others in this administration are guilty of multiple felonies and treason.
7. I believe we actually did land on the moon, that it was not faked.
8. I believe that TWA 800 was not an accident.
9. I am undecided on Vince Foster, but I lean toward foul play rather than suicide.
10. I believe that there is someone or some group pulling Zippy’s strings. He is too stupid and too lazy to be the mastermind of all the evil coming out of his administration. He’s evil enough, but not smart enough.
Maybe conspiracy theories correlate with stupidity and low information consumption and retention.
I like your list, but on #10 I think he is both evil and smart enough, but I agree it is unlikely he is directly pulling many strings. I believe he is not industrious enough. Lazy and shiftless, actually, is what I think he mostly is and so I think he just gives Henry II kind of commands (”Who will rid me of this [irritating problem]”) and then goes back to whatever game he was playing.
Because it’s irrational to believe that people with the ability to conspire never do.
“7. I believe we actually did land on the moon, that it was not faked”.
I think part of the reason for younger deniers is that they reject the idea that something so “awesome” and “amazing” could have happened before their time.
If it doesn’t involve them, it might as well never have happened at all...Except for Vietnam and Watergate, that is.
BECAUSE WHEREVER THE LEFT GATHERS... EVIL DEEDS TAKE PLACE AND ARE LIED ABOUT AND COVERED UP... LIKE AT THE NY SLIMES... YOU BUNCH OF ANTI-AMERICAN TRASH.
LLS
Show me any truth out of this administration... no partial truths... no deflection and obfuscation... just the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It isn’t there.
LLS
I remember at the time, the media was attacking all these conspiracy theories; White Water, Tainted Blood, Clinton Chronicles, Vince Foster; etc., as completely worthless, ignorant and evil. Then Hillary proposed the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy at here Pretty in Pink press conference, which the media then accepted as a directive and immediately went out there and investigated the evil Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
And why didn't this author comment on the conspiracy theory of President Barack Hussein Obama, that Rush Limbaugh and the Republicans are obstructing all the good things that Obama wants to do.
I distrust the media with the NY Times at the top of that list. Whenever they go after conspiracy theorists, the Democrat President has been caught in sleazy, evil and illegal activities.
The Fast and Furious / Mexican gunrunning was a second amendment assault. All these new scandals are a concerted effort to undermine the first amendment.
And in the case of the IRS, an effort to prevent the Tea Party from effectively organizing. If true, that is a conspiracy to throw the election itself.
Unlike the finality of truth, the participative nature of conspiracy theories makes them fun and entertaining... not unlike an online game.
Conspiracy ideas shared on the discussion threads become the fields of play in which participants present their theories about JFK’s assassination, 9/11 or some other other cataclysmic event and wait for reactions from the other “players.”
My favorites are the JFK-related theories, which implausibly tie the Mafia, military, right-wing groups, Bush 41, Nixon, the USSR and Fidel Castro all together into one huge operation.
The most laughable are the goofy “Bush blew up the Twin Towers” claims. Somehow, in the first eight months of his administration, GWB spearheaded the emplacement of explosives throughout both buildings of the World Trade Center and one section of the Pentagon without detection.
This is not to say conspiracies don’t occur... one look at the current scandals surrounding Benghazi, the IRS and DOJ present plenty of evidence of skullduggery.
Thank you for that information! I take time to defend Senator Joe McCarthy whenever I can. I will add this to my list of corrections.
I don’t know why you’re catching flack about this article. I appreciate it.
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