Science of Conspiracy Theories.

@kquinn909 said
http://www.chemtrailplanet.com/ Chew on that for awhile

The evidence suggests that most Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory. Most being 50% or more. There's probably one conspiracy theory floating around which is true, but that's not the point, when I started the thread I was interested in why people believe in things like the Lizard People. There are people who simultaneously believe in conspiracy theories which are mutually contradictory. In the mean time the thread's degenerated into a squabble about which conspiracy theory is or isn't true, if that's what the forum wants to do then fine, but it's not what I had in mind.

The classic example of a conspiracy theory that actually was true is MKULTRA, the FBI actually were running around kidnapping people and giving them LSD in mind control experiments. But this doesn't make believing in conspiracy theories anything other than a sign of pathological thinking patterns.

Also Dr. Grande, whose videos I linked to in the OP, has released a new video on conspiracy theories and what personality traits people have who believe in them. See his channel on YouTube.

@deepthought said
The evidence suggests that most Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory. Most being 50% or more. There's probably one conspiracy theory floating around which is true, but that's not the point, when I started the thread I was interested in why people believe in things like the Lizard People. There are people who simultaneously believe in conspiracy theories ...[text shortened]... make believing in conspiracy theories anything other than a sign of pathological thinking patterns.

" But this doesn't make believing in conspiracy theories anything other than a sign of pathological thinking patterns."

Let me get this straight, you acknowledge at least one conspiracy theory while condemning your own way of thinking a sign of pathological thinking patterns because your acknowledgment is flawed most of the time?

HUH? Does that mean you have a pathological thinking pattern part of the time but not most of the time?

@metal-brain said
" But this doesn't make believing in conspiracy theories anything other than a sign of pathological thinking patterns."

Let me get this straight, you acknowledge at least one conspiracy theory while condemning your own way of thinking a sign of pathological thinking patterns because your acknowledgment is flawed most of the time?

HUH? Does that mean you have a pathological thinking pattern part of the time but not most of the time?

I don't believe any conspiracy theory when there's a more straightforward explanation. There's tons of them though, so there may well be one that's true - project MKUltra is the classic example. I can't think of a conspiracy theory that I believe and most of them are pretty implausible.

@deepthought said
I don't believe any conspiracy theory when there's a more straightforward explanation. There's tons of them though, so there may well be one that's true - project MKUltra is the classic example. I can't think of a conspiracy theory that I believe and most of them are pretty implausible.

Until they become fact like many do. Have you heard of Iran/Contra?

Russian election interference in the 2016 elections is a conspiracy theory. Does than mean you do not entertain that conspiracy theory because it is pretty implausible?

Project MKUltra is not a conspiracy theory. It is a conspiracy fact. It is no longer a theory much like Iran/Contra which proves the US armed both sides of the Iran/Iraq war. Iran Contra became a fact after investigations revealed the vast conspiracy.

Project Coast is also a conspiracy that has been proven as fact.
There are actually a lot of conspiracies that have been confirmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

@Metal-Brain
All well and good but your climate change conspiracy is still just a conspiracy theory with no basis in fact. I think that is the one you are most interested in proving true. These others are just distractions from your main goal.

@metal-brain said
Until they become fact like many do. Have you heard of Iran/Contra?

Russian election interference in the 2016 elections is a conspiracy theory. Does than mean you do not entertain that conspiracy theory because it is pretty implausible?

Project MKUltra is not a conspiracy theory. It is a conspiracy fact. It is no longer a theory much like Iran/Contra which proves t ...[text shortened]... ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

The term "conspiracy theory" has no universally accepted definition, but it is usually used to mean a speculative theory that a conspiracy exists for which there is scant evidence. So there is a clear difference between "The Lizard People" conspiracy theory and the writings of an investigative journalist. The dynamic is to do with delusional belief; a delusion is a belief in something for which there is little or no evidence or evidence which is better explained otherwise, most people do not believe, and that the belief does not change in the face of new evidence. The point is that conspiracy theories are driven by paranoia and not reason.

The clandestine operations you've mentioned may have happened, but there needs to have been a theory current among the general population not driven by journalism that the conspiracy was happening for their existence to justify conspiracy theories. Iran/Contra was not the subject of a conspiracy theory, it was leaked to a Lebanese Periodical Ash-Shiraa by a senior official in the Revolutionary Guards.

The notion that the Russians hacked the DNC server does not count as a conspiracy theory because the servers were hacked, no one disputes this. The allegation is that it was a Russian cyber-attack. Whether the allegation that it was Russian State sponsored is true is not is irrelevant, the emails were leaked. There is no delusional component to this.

@deepthought said
The term "conspiracy theory" has no universally accepted definition, but it is usually used to mean a speculative theory that a conspiracy exists for which there is scant evidence. So there is a clear difference between "The Lizard People" conspiracy theory and the writings of an investigative journalist. The dynamic is to do with delusional belief; a delusion is a beli ...[text shortened]... red is true is not is irrelevant, the emails were leaked. There is no delusional component to this.

Your perception of a conspiracy theory has a negative connotation that is extremely biased against. You think of it like a wacky theory like the belief in lizard people or extremely improbable stuff like that. That is a stereotype to the extreme.

We all know that Iran/Contra started out as a conspiracy theory before it became an indisputable conspiracy fact. How convenient that once they are exposed they are rarely called a conspiracy, which Iran/Contra is. In fact, it is a pretty elaborate conspiracy involving lots of people that later received pardons so they were not held fully accountable for their crimes.

We call confirmed conspiracies scandals. That is what propaganda got you into believing. You think it is a scandal, not a conspiracy. The truth is it is both. Now, are scandals rare? Are they all wacky theories like that of David Ike and weirdos like that think up?

Accept that most scandals are conspiracies, most of which are confirmed. Oliver North was part of a wide conspiracy to traffic in drugs (heroin and cocaine) and help arm both sides of the Iran/Iraq War. After this was revealed Reagan called him a hero.

@Metal-Brain
Sure, like Flat Earth, like nobody landed on the moon, like 9-11 was an inside job by the CIA. Like the Mafia shot Kennedy. Conspiracy theories like THOSE?

@sonhouse said
@Metal-Brain
Sure, like Flat Earth, like nobody landed on the moon, like 9-11 was an inside job by the CIA. Like the Mafia shot Kennedy. Conspiracy theories like THOSE?

You forgot your Russian hacking the DNC conspiracy theory.
Do you have any idea how many times the DNC has been hacked? Literally dozens of times. It could have been anyone.

https://time.com/4620806/julian-assange-russia-hack-fox-hannity/

@metal-brain said
Your perception of a conspiracy theory has a negative connotation that is extremely biased against. You think of it like a wacky theory like the belief in lizard people or extremely improbable stuff like that. That is a stereotype to the extreme.

We all know that Iran/Contra started out as a conspiracy theory before it became an indisputable conspiracy fact. How conve ...[text shortened]... ine) and help arm both sides of the Iran/Iraq War. After this was revealed Reagan called him a hero.

Yes, that's what conspiracy theory means. Find some evidence that anyone was speculating about Iran/Contra before Ash-Shiraa published their report. The point I'm making is that there was no conspiracy theory about it. There was no theory that such a conspiracy existed.

@deepthought said
Yes, that's what conspiracy theory means. Find some evidence that anyone was speculating about Iran/Contra before Ash-Shiraa published their report. The point I'm making is that there was no conspiracy theory about it. There was no theory that such a conspiracy existed.

No conspiracy theory about what?

https://www.globalresearch.ca/mercenaries-advisers-fight-wars-uk-wont-own/5701144

"US mathematician John von Neumann, in liaison with the US Department of Defense, started his research on weather modification in the late 1940s at the height of the Cold War and foresaw ‘forms of climatic warfare as yet unimagined’. During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail."

https://www.globalresearch.ca/does-the-us-military-own-the-weather-weaponizing-the-weather-as-an-instrument-of-modern-warfare/5608728

@Metal-Brain
I heard this guy on RHP, Metal-Brain, says Earth is flat. Could this be true?