The traits of a conspiracy theorist

[puckluck]

I've always been amazed with conspiracy theorists. They always stick out to me as being pretty naive and very gullable. What are some traits that you've found conspiracy theorists to have?

I have some friends on facebook who pretty much will believe any conspiracy theory, and these are the same people who post the "if you don't forward this to 10 people you are going to die!!11" statuses or the link to an anonymous website about 9/11 or the moon landing.

Not trying to be insulting, but there just seems to be some screws missing from their brains.

So in summary

- post "you are going to die if you don't forward this to 10 people" type statuses

- very gullable

- naive

- screws missing

- links to anonymous websites

Anything else you guys notice about conspiracy theorists?

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by puckluck

I've always been amazed with conspiracy theorists. They always stick out to me as being pretty naive and very gullable. What are some traits that you've found conspiracy theorists to have?

I have some friends on facebook who pretty much will believe any conspiracy theory, and these are the same people who post the "if you don't forward this to 10 people you are going to die!!11" statuses or the link to an anonymous website about 9/11 or the moon landing.

Not trying to be insulting, but there just seems to be some screws missing from their brains.

So in summary

- post "you are going to die if you don't forward this to 10 people" type statuses

- very gullable

- naive

- screws missing

- links to anonymous websites

Anything else you guys notice about conspiracy theorists?

Yeah they have lousy friends

[First Lady]

I would take it even a step further. I think there are categories within conspiracy theorists.

There are those who have just their one "pet theory". For whatever reason they seemed to have latched onto one; likely something from personal experience triggers this.

Then there are those who believe every conspiracy out there. I think these people have a very different thought process than the majority of society. For some reason they have blinders on that don't let logic come into the equation.

[missdpuck]

A guy at work is definitely a conspiracy type. He only listens to 2 radio shows. One is Randi Rhodes http://therandirhodesshow.com and that Art Bell/George Noory radio show thing--CoasttoCoast AM.http://coasttocoastam.com Don't know if you guys are familiar with those. Coast to Coast can actually be quite interesting, with guests like physicist Michio Kaku but there is a lot of over-the-top stuff there too.
My co-worker really doesn't have any friends because he alienates people with his political rants. He's sweet to me so I feel bad about telling him he's a bit off. He's basically a nice guy. But if you disagree with him, he will come back with this amazingly well thought out argument, complete with quotes and sources. And he will also tell you you're crazy.

What's interesting is that there is a grain of truth in some of what he says. I guess it's like a cult thing. These people just get lured into it.

[Zevo]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I would take it even a step further. I think there are categories within conspiracy theorists.

There are those who have just their one "pet theory". For whatever reason they seemed to have latched onto one; likely something from personal experience triggers this.

Then there are those who believe every conspiracy out there. I think these people have a very different thought process than the majority of society. For some reason they have blinders on that don't let logic come into the equation.

I have a neighbor that believes pretty much every conspiracy out there.

He is an older guy, approaching 80 I think, and is a really nice guy. He just believes everything he reads on the internet. I don't think he really understands that any moron can write a blog. For some reason, to him, if a website looks newsy, it must be true.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Zevo

I have a neighbor that believes pretty much every conspiracy out there.

He is an older guy, approaching 80 I think, and is a really nice guy. He just believes everything he reads on the internet. I don't think he really understands that any moron can write a blog. For some reason, to him, if a website looks newsy, it must be true.

I think you just described every Fox News viewer.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by First Lady

I would take it even a step further. I think there are categories within conspiracy theorists.

There are those who have just their one "pet theory". For whatever reason they seemed to have latched onto one; likely something from personal experience triggers this.

Then there are those who believe every conspiracy out there. I think these people have a very different thought process than the majority of society. For some reason they have blinders on that don't let logic come into the equation.

I agree with this.

I think sometimes it is reasonable for someone to believe in a conspiracy theory, but the ones that believe them all are total wackos.

It's one thing to maybe think that somethng like the Kennedy assassination was covered in a conspiracy or that Area 51 was an alien crash site, but it seems like every so often there are people who will believe them all.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by puckluck

I've always been amazed with conspiracy theorists. They always stick out to me as being pretty naive and very gullable. What are some traits that you've found conspiracy theorists to have?-

I think they probably have a deep seated inability to trust, and tendency to be somewhat cynical. I would say this is caused by environmental factors, or is part of their inherited nature...or a combination of the two.

[tenyardrambo]

I just would feel sorry for those people who invest money and time into trying to prove something.

[Kipper is King]

You've been sucked into the anti-conspiracy theorist movement! They've gotten to you, man! It's all a big conspiracy, I tell ya!

[FlamesAddiction]

I was doing a series of environmental site assessments for an Egyptian company that is putting up cell towers all over Canada right now and during one of these, an old man came up to me and started going on about how the towers were being put up by the Egyptians to spy on us on behalf of the Russians. He went on and on about it and during the discussion it was revealed that he grew up in East Germany where the Russians really did encourage people to spy on each other. I know many people who grew up in those environments and it is easy to see how they still have a hard time trusting governments and corporations.

[Hanna Sniper]

Not everything is black and white,

Some things are seem sound and something things are very fabricated but just being a sheep being lead to you slaughter, thinking you are going to greener pastures really isn't any better or more enlightened

[bc-chris]

i live in a province of conspiracy theorists.... they all still believe that bettman wanted the cup to go to boston and that's the reason they 'nucks lost in game 7... seriously - i hear this all the time!

i guess your "screws missing" point is correct!

[Cowperson]

"Conspiracy theories are one way to make sense of what happened and regain a sense of control. Of course, they're usually wrong, but they're pyschologicaly reassuring. Because what they say is that everything is connected, nothing happens by accident, and that there is some kind of order in the world, even if it's produced by evil forces. I think psychologically, it's in a way consoling to a lot of people." - Michael Barkun, a political scientist at Syracuse University who has written books on the culture of conspiracies

If its one thing I've learned on this board since 9/11, it's to avoid the bother of arguing with a conspiracy theorist.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever satisfy their ability to connect unrelated dots and make a seemingly straight line.

The difficulty is that arguing, in their mind, validates the argument, implying there is something to argue about when, in fact, in most cases that isn't the truth.

There's actually no one more gullible and less open to differing opinions than a committeed conspiracy theorist. The irony is, of course, that they view everyone outside their belief set as Sheeple when the reverse is actually true.

.

In his 1954 classic, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, historian Richard Hofstadter hypothesized that conspiracy thinking is fueled by underlying feelings of alienation and helplessness. Research supports his theory. New Mexico State University psychologist Marina Abalakina-Paap has found that people who endorse conspiracy theories are especially likely to feel angry, mistrustful, alienated from society, and helpless over larger forces controlling their lives.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/artic...ist-dark-minds

And the famous essay from 1964, The Paranoid Style In American Politics:

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/conspir...oid_style.html

Although we tend to point at Americans for stuff like this, the truth is they're cupcakes compared to populations in the rest of the world.

Hugo Chavez last week wondering out loud if America was inducing cancer in South American political leaders was only the tip of the iceberg.

Sometimes a conspiracy theory might turn out to be true. Its not to say all conspiracy theories should be automatically mocked.

The problem with conspiracy theories is they require at least two people to function and one of them is almost always guaranteed to talk at some point. A commonly used conspiracy theorist term like "the government" tries to slide over the fact "the government" is actually dozens, hundreds and thousands of unique individuals where a conspiracy requires every single one of them to keep their mouths shut and act in a uniform manner, even in the most vile of circumstances.

It's far more interesting to talk about the pyschology of conspiracy theorists than it is to consider their conspiracy theories.

Cowperson

[SHOGUN]

I think you might confuse someone who is a conspiracy theorist to someone who simply is skeptic.

[missdpuck]

I don't believe you ^

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by puckluck

I've always been amazed with conspiracy theorists. They always stick out to me as being pretty naive and very gullable. What are some traits that you've found conspiracy theorists to have?

I have some friends on facebook who pretty much will believe any conspiracy theory, and these are the same people who post the "if you don't forward this to 10 people you are going to die!!11" statuses or the link to an anonymous website about 9/11 or the moon landing.

Not trying to be insulting, but there just seems to be some screws missing from their brains.

So in summary

- post "you are going to die if you don't forward this to 10 people" type statuses

- very gullable

- naive

- screws missing

- links to anonymous websites

Anything else you guys notice about conspiracy theorists?

Not siding with either side, but your characteristics could just as easily be used by conspiracy theorists to point out the people they consider sheep.

Believes anything (gullible)
Naive
Can't think for themslves
Links to propaganda media outlets

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by Hanna Sniper

Not everything is black and white,

Some things are seem sound and something things are very fabricated but just being a sheep being lead to you slaughter, thinking you are going to greener pastures really isn't any better or more enlightened

You want to try that again? I don't have a clue what you intended to write.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Not siding with either side, but your characteristics could just as easily be used by conspiracy theorists to point out the people they consider sheep.

Believes anything (gullible)
Naive
Can't think for themslves
Links to propaganda media outlets

Don't forget an aversion to Achem's razor

[getbak]

Originally Posted by bc-chris

i live in a province of conspiracy theorists.... they all still believe that bettman wanted the cup to go to boston and that's the reason they 'nucks lost in game 7... seriously - i hear this all the time!

That's ridiculous, there's no way Bettman would attempt to do that twice in less than a decade. He barely got away with it once.