Conspiracy Theorists are NOT Conspiracy Realists. Uh, sorry guys. Mostly guys, right?

Conspiracy abounds now a days. It's really gotten ridiculous. It used to be just a funny quirk to point out ridiculous theories, but it's grown into a blown out cancer in America. It's become an obsessive past time for some, an addiction, for others, a money making machine for media like Fox News (seriously, check out that link to the Rolling Stone magazine).

There has always been the "Chicken Little's" of the world and there will always be those insecure few who are alarmists. Alarmism is excessive or exaggerated alarm about a real or imagined threat e.g. the increases in deaths from infectious disease. The alarmist prefers intimidation and coercion to reasoned debate, and is often motivated by the desire to bring themselves to the forefront of discussion.

So you will see many of these types, on-line especially, spouting typically sloppy commentary about any who disbelieve them as being "sheeple", in trying to be badly (sadly) humorous and offhandedly offensive to any who don't follow their illogical assumptions. In reality, "sheeple" by definition are these individuals in a disingenuous to intimidate others into not disagreeing with them. They twist reality by giving themselves names like "Conspiracy Realists", "Truthers". It's like those against women's rights who call themselves "Pro Lifers", another disingenuous way to twist reality. "Birthers", who believe Pres. Obama is not an American citizen, fall into this category.

They like to give explanation to things that either have none, or put a twist on events that are found to possibly have an alternate explanation. Not infrequently, the continue to spout their alternate explanations that have repeatedly been shown to be false, disproved with science, if not the simple facts. These alarmists will refute logical counters with more conjecture, "grey" or pseudo science, or simply say they refuse to believe.

Time Magazine has a rather incomplete, "Complete List of Conspiracy Theories". These are at least a list of some of the major ones that have been going around for years. Separating Fact from Fiction:

• • The JFK Assassination
  • 9/11 Cover-Up
  • Area 51 and the Aliens
  • Paul Is Dead
  • Secret Societies Control the World
  • The Moon Landings Were Faked
  • Jesus and Mary Magdalene
  • Holocaust Revisionism
  • The CIA and AIDS
  • The Reptilian Elite

Look, it's not like I don't want to believe in certain things, or that I'm offended by the "Truth". I don't have a problem with how science changes it's mind from time to time. As we learn more facts, we update our understanding of things. But it's based upon a foundation of fact, not conjecture and that makes a huge difference. But CTs (conspiracy theorists) point to this fundemental principle of science, to be the most correct it can be, at all times, and claim that makes it fallacious. It may not be perfect, but it's far more perfect than what the CTs do.

My life has been all about the Truth (no quotes). I'm not like many CTs who are all about the "Truth" which is tied to their ego and not infrequently, low self esteem and\or fear or a perceived lack of control over their life. 

But information has to be properly vetted. It has to be put in perspective and not just abused as it usually is by amateurs and even now a days, professionals with a bully pulpit (Fox News usually but others too). 

The kind of nonsense CTs are pushing. If you want
to be taken seriously, you have to use vetted information

A vacuum of data leads CTs to judgments. Agendas lead them to judgments. Picking on certain parties over others does the same. For instance a Repub. does something, no noise. A Democrat does the same thing next election, oh my god the sky is falling.

To turn the tables on CTs: This just in... conspiracy theorists who believe 9/11 was an inside job are misdirecting. They are the insiders who did the job. How else could they possibly know. Think about it....

Well, could be, right? Following CT theory anyway....

Poor Erin, but then when you're in the spotlight....

Believing in pseudo science, fads, fallacious trends, fallacious facts, it goes on and on. Twisting true data into absurd things. Taking data that can point two ways and pointing the more absurd way when human nature dictates it wouldn't happen, so much needs to be considered and even when you do find something terrible, shit happens and it frequently isn't a conspiracy just government doing it's job with no ill intent, just ill conclusions or results.

This is not to say however that most of the crazies running around
that we hear of have anything whatsoever to do with this statement

Relax. The world isn't ending. Yes bad things happen. But try putting a positive spin on things when it does more good than harm. Because then when you really DO find something juicy and it makes your mouth salivate onto your keyboard, NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE YOU!

Conspiracy Theorist (from the Urban Dictionary):

1) Someone with a very open mind... it just happens that they are too open for their own good. 

2) A swell way to become an attention whore. 

3) A perfect way to waste away years of your life to find no reliable evidence what-so-ever.

Example: A classic 9/11 conspiracy-

Fold a $20 bill in half, then fold one half up perpendicular to the other half, do the same thing with the other half, *BING*
You found the Pentagon burning down!
Now flip it, you see the twin towers ablazing (which is disturbingly similar though...)
Since the $20 bill's design was conceived in 1928 (over 4 decades when the towers were built), that's nothing more but a coincidence.

>PS, Conspiracy Theorist, haha.
[end Urban Dictionary quote]

More Americans Than You Might Think Believe In Conspiracy Theories. NPR

I think this is important to mention. It's not just nuts out there and having no consequences. It was sad yesterday, seeing a doctor reporting on TV about how disease rates in a certain group in America are seeing an increase in preventable diseases through vaccinations. The same group who most adamantly disbelieves and has been avoiding, vaccinations for some time now. Thanks in part to celebrities and misinformation that is going around.

The most obvious conclusion on how to fix this issue because of people believing in conspiracies about vaccinations? It may just be to let them keep going on until the disease rates hit a point that even they can't deny it any longer. It's just sad though. And, preventable.

"Conspiracy theory" from Rational Wiki:

“”Modern political religions may reject Christianity, but they cannot do without demonology. The Jacobins, the Bolsheviks and the Nazis all believed in vast conspiracies against them, as do radical Islamists today. It is never the flaws of human nature that stand in the way of Utopia. It is the workings of evil forces.
—John Gray, political philosopher

“”There’s a similar kind of logic behind all [conspiracy theorist] groups, I think ... They don’t undertake to prove that their view is true [so much as to] find flaws in what the other side is saying.
—Ted Goertzel, sociology professor

"A conspiracy theory originally meant the "theory" that an event or phenomenon was the result of conspiracy between interested parties; however, from the mid-1960s onward, it is often used to denote ridiculous, misconceived, paranoid, unfounded, outlandish or irrational theories. The problem is this results in possibly-rational conspiracy theories getting lost in the midst of the noise of newsworthy but disingenuous ideas such as New World Order or the Moon landing hoax."

Here's something interesting to consider, turning the tables on the CT's. The Soviets invented disinformation. MI6 and MI5 learned it from the KGB. We learned it from the UK through the ABC (America, Britain, Canada) coalition during WWII which was a kind of intel service intel sharing group while it was illegal to have, which could have brought America into the war too early at a time we didn't want to be in the war.

The Soviets tried to set up things within the US (this is true), to bring capitalism down. They were successful in some ways and some of their efforts worked.

Was it what we are now seeing in so many conspiracy theories abounding?

Are Conspiracy Theorists merely dupes and pawns of a now defunct and dead Soviet communist regime? Is it something the KGB's successors in the FSB (both something Putin grew up in) are still pushing and good God, why in the world wouldn't they be?

What's better in their twisted Soviet minds (when they still existed) than to have started a cancer in America that would survive beyond them like a cockroach of a concept that could survive even global thermo nuclear war?

Disinformation: False information that is released to the public in order to mislead people into believing things that are not true.

Think about it.

Conspiracy Theories - Incompetence More Than Insight?

There are a few laws or theorems if you prefer,  that need to be applied to Conspiracies before one shouts them to the world. One thing Conspiracy Theorists seldom do is apply the right rules to vetting the subject of their typically ridiculous theories. The conspiracies they hammer us with in the media and online, which are usually more wishful thinking than fact, simply because of the nature of things that fit the theorist's conspiracy mold, typically are not reviewed well.

Or if they are well reviewed with the right filtering factors applied (like Occam's Razor), they simply ignore their findings and continue on; because at some level it makes them feel better because action, even incorrect action, feels better than non-action. Which oddly enough is typically what lead to the situation of a subject of a conspiracy theory in the first place, and not conscious thought, or conspiratorial collusion.

One of the obvious things about conspiracy theories are that they tend to be things that weren't conspiracies to begin with, but after the fact, because of a lack of information or transparency, they appear as there having been a conspiracy. Usually however, there wasn't. It was just how things played out over time. It's similar with recorded history wherein by simply writing out history, changes history, changes what actually happened, and in that small (sometimes large) variation is where conspiracy theories are born.

Occam's Razor is one of the best:

"Occam's razor (also written as Ockham's razor from William of Ockham (c. 1287 – 1347), and in Latin lex parsimoniae) is a principle of parsimony, economy, or succinctness used in problem-solving. It states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better." - Wikipedia

Hanlon's Law is a Conspiracy Theorist's bane: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

There are methods to apply to conspiracy to prove or disprove is to a reasonable degree, something theorists tend to avoid doing as it kills their theories. Theories which are fun for them, cathartic, and spire their inner fears which supports the theory in a never ending cycle.

For those addicted to conspiracies, a form of belief system that is fueled by lack of information and distrust of authority, and underlain by a sense of having little control in life, it is much the same mind type as are those addicted to religious beliefs, what is referred to as a "monological belief system".

My desire (and more importantly, pleasure) to believe in aliens and UFOs as a child in the 60s, became initially inflamed with I started to hear of other conspiracies. I thought those once in charge, in their sharing hidden knowledge, with information once allegedly disallowed to the masses, was a great and exciting thing. My first conspiracy was one by General William Westmoreland who ran the Viet Nam war. After Viet Nam he wrote a book which I read, which spawned many other conspiracies.

It was an interesting theory I cannot now remember and I cannot find that book any longer, which says something in itself. But my first thought after reading his book was not to merely believe or disbelieve, but to study just what conspiracy theories are, how they work, who were attracted to them, and why they happened. This is an important and key point in those who grab on to conspiracy theories and those who don't. Many of those who simply do not pay any attention to conspiracy theories, are not relevant in this consideration, as to ignore them from the start with little or no thought, indicates another type of individual altogether.

What is important is, for all of those who do pay attention at least initially and do look into them, what is the key deciding factor between those who keep going and those who see a conspiracy theory as simply white noise that appears to be something, but in the end logically just isn't. For me, when I read the General's book, I fell into a part mid book that just seemed questionable to me. So I researched it and his theory, for me, began to fall apart. I was stunned. How could such a high level official seriously believe in such nonsense? Was he just trying to make a buck on a book he saw was fictional, but sell-able? Or did he really believe what he was trying go convince others about.

I think he really believed it, at least at the time. But in my finding it was very likely his theory was not true, it brought up the question of how was that possible? That was my break, with conspiracy theories. Rather than try to swallow what he was selling, I instead looked into how it was possible he could believe what he was saying, and how others could believe something that to me appeared to be easily debunked. As it turned out, there was a certain type of personality (which I learned more about a few years later when I got my university degree in psychology) and certain elements needed that support a conspiracy theory as rational to that group of individuals. There are also those who know absolutely that it is an incorrect theory and yet, continue to push that theory for political and financial ends to better their position in some way.

It is important however, to consider the difference between my path and that of those who believe in these conspiracies, the point at which I branched off to learn about the theory of "conspiracy theory", and those who simply eat up the perceived conspiracy and ran with  it. They like to use various techniques to quelch dissent in their beliefs, such as by being demeaning, calling those who don't believe in what they believe in as "sheeple" (for people who are sheep following the flock of the ignorant masses), something which elevates them in their beliefs and objectifies those who disagree with them. Objectifies others as is done by soldiers in war so they can more easily kill the perceived enemy. Except that in this case, the "enemies" are fellow citizens.

What I found in researching what a conspiracy theory is, rather than simply focusing on a specific theory in particular, saved me a lot of time over my lifetime in realizing that the majority of popular conspiracies are simply bunk, and those attracted to them have a certain type of personalty and view of the world, based in a general distrust and perceived lack of control in their lives which affects them deeply and personally. The belief  that our government is a super secret, super capable institution, says more about conspiracy theorists than it does about our government, or their abilities or desires.

I find there seem to be far more people believing in conspiracies in the extreme movements, in the "right" or "left" political arenas, but more so for some reason on the right, in the conservative and Republican movements.

We should indeed pay attention to our world, to find out what's going on out of our view, but we should also realize when it's time to move on, to take other action then complaining and making noise, like removing people from office in a general sense, or protecting ourselves in a more personal sense. It is just important to be on guard that you are not simply of a certain mindset that makes you susceptible to silly conspiracies and focus on what is provable and reasonable and not something that will inevitably turn out to be simply a mass delusion, of which now a days there are so many.

If you are going to shout about conspiracies to the world, before you add to the dissonance in the mainstream, study what conspiracies are, and apply that judiciously to your beliefs. You may think that simply by making noise right OR wrong, it will help regardless as others will also look into it and eventually the truth will come out. Many times, there simply is no "truth" to be found out, just more incompetence and stupidity.

Don't attribute more capability of secrecy and institutional skill where there is none and therefore become one of those on the stupidity side of the argument. Because then you are just doing yourself and the rest of us a disservice, adding to the groundswell of chatter and nonsense, and that helps no one.

For more on this, I highly suggest you research more about conspiracies themselves rather than any one conspiracy. Then apply what you have learned to a particular conspiracy, pick your favorite conspiracy and see if it doesn't begin to fall apart on you. Here are three articles from Scientific American to begin with, but don't stop there, until you have as solid a handle on what conspiracies are as you do believing in them. These are three interesting and useful articles.

• The Conspiracy Theory Detector 
• Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories 
• Insights into the Personalities of Conspiracy Theorists 

From Nov 17, 2010 |by Michael Shermer - The Conspiracy Theory Detector:

The more that it manifests the following characteristics, the less probable that the theory is grounded in reality:

1. Proof of the conspiracy supposedly emerges from a pattern of “connecting the dots” between events that need not be causally connected. When no evidence supports these connections except the allegation of the conspiracy or when the evidence fits equally well to other causal connections—or to randomness—the conspiracy theory is likely to be false.
2. The agents behind the pattern of the conspiracy would need nearly superhuman power to pull it off. People are usually not nearly so powerful as we think they are.
3. The conspiracy is complex, and its successful completion demands a large number of elements.
4. Similarly, the conspiracy involves large numbers of people who would all need to keep silent about their secrets. The more people involved, the less realistic it becomes.
5. The conspiracy encompasses a grand ambition for control over a nation, economy or political system. If it suggests world domination, the theory is even less likely to be true.
6. The conspiracy theory ratchets up from small events that might be true to much larger, much less probable events.
7. The conspiracy theory assigns portentous, sinister meanings to what are most likely innocuous, insignificant events.
8. The theory tends to commingle facts and speculations without distinguishing between the two and without assigning degrees of probability or of factuality.
9. The theorist is indiscriminately suspicious of all government agencies or private groups, which suggests an inability to nuance differences between true and false conspiracies.
10. The conspiracy theorist refuses to consider alternative explanations, rejecting all disconfirming evidence and blatantly seeking only confirmatory evidence to support what he or she has a priori determined to be the truth.