conspiracy's cold comfort

[daws101]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on November 27, 2005 by sheila


The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as coincidences in the middle of a conspiracy theory. When I’ve been in love with someone, and he hasn’t loved me back … I tend to read into all the coincidences – he likes this and so do I – therefore THAT means that we should be together … etc. I draw conclusions based on COINCIDENCES. This is a very human thing, but I certainly wouldn’t want to LIVE in that mind-space. Where everything means something, and every random event means something. It must be what it feels like to be an end-of-the-world apocalyptic Christian. The wind blows from the East … Therefore, the end of the world is coming. It is a place of CERTAINTY. I know that human beings, in general, are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Of course. It’s awful to just accept that you CAN’T know what is going to happen. But that’s the deal, that to me is one of the points of life: to be able to BEAR uncertainty. Conspiracy theorists absolutely cannot bear uncertainty. And the truly paranoid ones are the ones who just can’t deal with reality. The reality sometimes is quite simple. But it’s NEVER simple to a conspiracy theorist.
The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories | The Sheila Variations





Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

New psychological research helps explain why some see intricate government conspiracies behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombing

By Sander van der Linden



Did NASA fake the moon landing? Is the government hiding Martians in Area 51? Is global warming a hoax? And what about the Boston Marathon bombing…an “inside job” perhaps?

In the book “The Empire of Conspiracy,” Timothy Melley explains that conspiracy theories have traditionally been regarded by many social scientists as “the implausible visions of a lunatic fringe,” often inspired by what the late historian Richard Hofstadter described as “the paranoid style of American politics.” Influenced by this view, many scholars have come to think of conspiracy theories as paranoid and delusional, and for a long time psychologists have had little to contribute other than to affirm the psychopathological nature of conspiracy thinking, given that conspiricist delusions are commonly associated with (schizotype) paranoia.

Yet, such pathological explanations have proven to be widely insufficient because conspiracy theories are not just the implausible visions of a paranoid minority. For example, a national poll released just this month reports that 37 percent of Americans believe that global warming is a hoax, 21 percent think that the US government is covering up evidence of alien existence and 28 percent believe a secret elite power with a globalist agenda is conspiring to rule the world. Only hours after the recent Boston marathon bombing, numerous conspiracy theories were floated ranging from a possible ‘inside job’ to YouTube videos claiming that the entire event was a hoax.

So why is it that so many people come to believe in conspiracy theories? They can't all be paranoid schizophrenics. New studies are providing some eye-opening insights and potential explanations.

For example, while it has been known for some time that people who believe in one conspiracy theory are also likely to believe in other conspiracy theories, we would expect contradictory conspiracy theories to be negatively correlated. Yet, this is not what psychologists Micheal Wood, Karen Douglas and Robbie Suton found in a recent study. Instead, the research team, based at the University of Kent in England, found that many participants believed in contradictory conspiracy theories. For example, the conspiracy-belief that Osama Bin Laden is still alive was positively correlated with the conspiracy-belief that he was already dead before the military raid took place. This makes little sense, logically: Bin Laden cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. An important conclusion that the authors draw from their analysis is that people don't tend to believe in a conspiracy theory because of the specifics, but rather because of higher-order beliefs that support conspiracy-like thinking more generally. A popular example of such higher-order beliefs is a severe “distrust of authority.” The authors go on to suggest that conspiracism is therefore not just about belief in an individual theory, but rather an ideological lens through which we view the world. A good case in point is Alex Jones’s recent commentary on the Boston bombings. Jones, (one of the country’s preeminent conspiracy theorists) reminded his audience that two of the hijacked planes on 9/11 flew out of Boston (relating one conspiracy theory to another) and moreover, that the Boston Marathon bombing could be a response to the sudden drop in the price of gold or part of a secret government plot to expand the Transportation Security Administration’s reach to sporting events. Others have pointed their fingers to a ‘mystery man’ spotted on a nearby roof shortly after the explosions. While it remains unsure whether or not credence is given to only some or all of these (note: contradicting) conspiracy theories, there clearly is a larger underlying preference to support conspiracy-type explanations more generally.



http://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-faked-why-people-believe-conspiracy-theories

 

[candycorn]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on November 27, 2005 by sheila


The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as coincidences in the middle of a conspiracy theory. When I’ve been in love with someone, and he hasn’t loved me back … I tend to read into all the coincidences – he likes this and so do I – therefore THAT means that we should be together … etc. I draw conclusions based on COINCIDENCES. This is a very human thing, but I certainly wouldn’t want to LIVE in that mind-space. Where everything means something, and every random event means something. It must be what it feels like to be an end-of-the-world apocalyptic Christian. The wind blows from the East … Therefore, the end of the world is coming. It is a place of CERTAINTY. I know that human beings, in general, are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Of course. It’s awful to just accept that you CAN’T know what is going to happen. But that’s the deal, that to me is one of the points of life: to be able to BEAR uncertainty. Conspiracy theorists absolutely cannot bear uncertainty. And the truly paranoid ones are the ones who just can’t deal with reality. The reality sometimes is quite simple. But it’s NEVER simple to a conspiracy theorist.
The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories | The Sheila Variations





Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

New psychological research helps explain why some see intricate government conspiracies behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombing

By Sander van der Linden



Did NASA fake the moon landing? Is the government hiding Martians in Area 51? Is global warming a hoax? And what about the Boston Marathon bombing…an “inside job” perhaps?

In the book “The Empire of Conspiracy,” Timothy Melley explains that conspiracy theories have traditionally been regarded by many social scientists as “the implausible visions of a lunatic fringe,” often inspired by what the late historian Richard Hofstadter described as “the paranoid style of American politics.” Influenced by this view, many scholars have come to think of conspiracy theories as paranoid and delusional, and for a long time psychologists have had little to contribute other than to affirm the psychopathological nature of conspiracy thinking, given that conspiricist delusions are commonly associated with (schizotype) paranoia.

Yet, such pathological explanations have proven to be widely insufficient because conspiracy theories are not just the implausible visions of a paranoid minority. For example, a national poll released just this month reports that 37 percent of Americans believe that global warming is a hoax, 21 percent think that the US government is covering up evidence of alien existence and 28 percent believe a secret elite power with a globalist agenda is conspiring to rule the world. Only hours after the recent Boston marathon bombing, numerous conspiracy theories were floated ranging from a possible ‘inside job’ to YouTube videos claiming that the entire event was a hoax.

So why is it that so many people come to believe in conspiracy theories? They can't all be paranoid schizophrenics. New studies are providing some eye-opening insights and potential explanations.

For example, while it has been known for some time that people who believe in one conspiracy theory are also likely to believe in other conspiracy theories, we would expect contradictory conspiracy theories to be negatively correlated. Yet, this is not what psychologists Micheal Wood, Karen Douglas and Robbie Suton found in a recent study. Instead, the research team, based at the University of Kent in England, found that many participants believed in contradictory conspiracy theories. For example, the conspiracy-belief that Osama Bin Laden is still alive was positively correlated with the conspiracy-belief that he was already dead before the military raid took place. This makes little sense, logically: Bin Laden cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. An important conclusion that the authors draw from their analysis is that people don't tend to believe in a conspiracy theory because of the specifics, but rather because of higher-order beliefs that support conspiracy-like thinking more generally. A popular example of such higher-order beliefs is a severe “distrust of authority.” The authors go on to suggest that conspiracism is therefore not just about belief in an individual theory, but rather an ideological lens through which we view the world. A good case in point is Alex Jones’s recent commentary on the Boston bombings. Jones, (one of the country’s preeminent conspiracy theorists) reminded his audience that two of the hijacked planes on 9/11 flew out of Boston (relating one conspiracy theory to another) and moreover, that the Boston Marathon bombing could be a response to the sudden drop in the price of gold or part of a secret government plot to expand the Transportation Security Administration’s reach to sporting events. Others have pointed their fingers to a ‘mystery man’ spotted on a nearby roof shortly after the explosions. While it remains unsure whether or not credence is given to only some or all of these (note: contradicting) conspiracy theories, there clearly is a larger underlying preference to support conspiracy-type explanations more generally.



Moon Landing Faked!!!?Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories: Scientific American

It also manifests itself in the constant "paid posters" excuse we hear from time to time. As if any one of us "paid posters" could spill the beans at any time.

 

[editec]

The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events.

That is a profoundly astute observation, in my opinion.

IF our problem can be attributed to a conspiracy?

THEN, presumably we can fix the problem by beating the conspirators.

BUT if the problem is do to structural problems, incompetence or just bad luck?

THEN there might not be an EASY fix...then there might be no fix at all!

 

[eots]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on November 27, 2005 by sheila

The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as coincidences in the middle of a conspiracy theory.

The thing about conspiracy denial..its comforting..They assure you that there is little ORDER in the universe, that there are connections no between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as conspiracy in the middle of a coincidence theory

When I’ve been in love with someone, and he hasn’t loved me back … I tend to read into all the coincidences – he likes this and so do I – therefore THAT means that we should be together … etc. I draw conclusions based on COINCIDENCES. This is a very human thing, but I certainly wouldn’t want to LIVE in that mind-space. Where everything means something, and every random event means something.

when I am in love ???..this somehow equates to world politics ??...lol

It must be what it feels like to be an end-of-the-world apocalyptic Christian. The wind blows from the East … Therefore, the end of the world is coming.

Christians belive that if the wind blows from the east the end of the world is comming ??..

It is a place of CERTAINTY. I know that human beings, in general, are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Of course. It’s awful to just accept that you CAN’T know what is going to happen.

people who belive there are corupt and powerful politcal forces in this world some how gain from that a belife they know everything thats going to happen ??...how does that make any sense ?

But that’s the deal, that to me is one of the points of life: to be able to BEAR uncertainty.

if you are aware covert operations exist..you no longer have uncertainty ??

Conspiracy theorists absolutely cannot bear uncertainty.

sounds klike this person has a problem with uncertainty

And the truly paranoid ones are the ones who just can’t deal with reality. The reality sometimes is quite simple. But it’s NEVER simple to a conspiracy theorist.

Sometimes ?....and what of the other times ??

Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

the ol moon landing faked strawman and then link it with the boston bombing ??..pretty funny when ypou consider two ex-defence ministers one from canada and one from britain and 3 moon landing astronauts hve all come forward to say they have been involved in a 40 year conspiracy of silence in regards to ufos and aliens...lol



New psychological research helps explain why some see intricate government conspiracies behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombing

By Sander van der Linden

Did NASA fake the moon landing? Is the government hiding Martians in Area 51? Is global warming a hoax? And what about the Boston Marathon bombing…an “inside job” perhaps?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wah74pZDEc]NASA's Edgar Mitchell "Aliens Exist & Government Cover Up is Real" - Fox News - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvPR8T1o3Dc]Astronaut Gordon Cooper Talks About UFOs - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpfvhdmhQy4]aliens exist says buzz aldrin - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPF1pDfwHtY]UFO cover up! Ex Defence Minister for Canada speaks out! - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_knyro0iZ7A]Former British Defense Minister Discusses UK Landing Incident - YouTube[/ame]

It also manifests itself in the constant "paid posters" excuse we hear from time to time. As if any one of us "paid posters" could spill the beans at any time.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF1SXnTgCY8]Government shills = "sock puppets" - YouTube[/ame]

 

[daws101]

The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events.

That is a profoundly astute observation, in my opinion.

IF our problem can be attributed to a conspiracy?

THEN, presumably we can fix the problem by beating the conspirators.

BUT if the problem is do to structural problems, incompetence or just bad luck?

THEN there might not be an EASY fix...then there might be no fix at all!

you might be right.

 

[daws101]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

edited for lack of relevance, with the exception of proving the point made in the first post.

 

[daws101]

List of conspiracy theories


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


There are many unproven conspiracy theories of varying degrees of popularity, frequently related to but not limited to clandestine government plans, elaborate murder plots, suppression of secret technology and knowledge, and other supposed schemes behind certain political, cultural, and historical events. Some theories have been dealt with censorship and excoriation from the law such as the Holocaust denial. Conspiracy theories usually go against a consensus or cannot be proven using the historical method and are typically not considered to be similar to verified conspiracies such as Germany's pretense for invading Poland in World War II.

List of conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



'Some people' believe conspiracy theories

By Steve Benen

Wed Feb 15, 2012 1:01 PM EST.


when it comes to recent evidence pointing to a stronger economy, the right is clearly concerned that the news will bolster President Obama's re-election odds. That's understandable; Obama's rising approval ratings are not an accident, and are tied directly to recent economic trends.

Republicans have a few options. They can try to change the subject, for example, and shift attention to culture-war fights such as the war on contraception. That's not a good strategy -- the American mainstream is on the other side -- but if talking about the economy is bad for one's electoral strategy, it makes some sense to try to change the conversation. The GOP can also try to make the case that the economy is improving, but it would do even better under Republican rule.



What Republicans shouldn't do is buy into a conspiracy theory.

On "Fox & Friends" this morning, Brian Kilmeade noted that good economic news matters a great deal when it comes to the president's fortunes, but only "if you believe these numbers."

A minute later, Gretchen Carlson added, "Unemployment has gone down, more jobs have been created. Now, you can argue about how those numbers, some people say they've been fabricated."

Well, that depends on how one defines "some people." Fox News figures say the economic data has been deliberately manipulated, and folks like Rush Limbaugh and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) apparently agree, but that doesn't make the argument any less ridiculous.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To reiterate a point from a few weeks ago, there is absolutely zero evidence to suggest the unemployment data has been manipulated in any way. The monthly Labor Department report is compiled by career officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who've done nothing to have their integrity called into question, and if Republicans are going to raise the specter of an elaborate rise, it's incumbent on them to offer at least some kind of proof.

Alex Seitz-Wald recently had a good take on this:


If it weren't improper to psychologically analyze strangers, one might think the Fox hosts are displaying a textbook example of cogitative dissonance here, a psychological phenomena in which people who hold on strong belief about something invent (sometimes farfetched) explanations for new evidence that conflicts with their existing views. Obama is bad for the economy, the jobs numbers show the economy is doing better, so there must be something wrong with the jobs numbers. Needless to say, this is hardly the behavior one expects from fair and balanced journalists Fox hosts claim to be.

I am curious about something, though. If the conspiracy theorists on the jobs report were right, why did the Obama administration wait three years to start manipulating the report? In other words, if political and electoral considerations were driving the data, leading officials to "cook the books" as Steve Doocy recently put it, why wait so long? Wouldn't it have been better to show a significant improvement shortly before the 2010 midterms? Why wouldn't the administration just keep the unemployment rate artificially low all along?
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/02/15/10417300-some-people-believe-conspiracy-theories

 

[LA RAM FAN]

3 farts in a row from you Dawgshit.

Oh your lover agent Rat in the ass is trolling the boards right now so I know he'll be here any minute to fart as well.

 

[LA RAM FAN]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on November 27, 2005 by sheila




The thing about conspiracy denial..its comforting..They assure you that there is little ORDER in the universe, that there are connections no between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as conspiracy in the middle of a coincidence theory




when I am in love ???..this somehow equates to world politics ??...lol



Christians belive that if the wind blows from the east the end of the world is comming ??..



people who belive there are corupt and powerful politcal forces in this world some how gain from that a belife they know everything thats going to happen ??...how does that make any sense ?



if you are aware covert operations exist..you no longer have uncertainty ??




sounds klike this person has a problem with uncertainty



Sometimes ?....and what of the other times ??



the ol moon landing faked strawman and then link it with the boston bombing ??..pretty funny when ypou consider two ex-defence ministers one from canada and one from britain and 3 moon landing astronauts hve all come forward to say they have been involved in a 40 year conspiracy of silence in regards to ufos and aliens...lol



New psychological research helps explain why some see intricate government conspiracies behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombing

By Sander van der Linden





NASA's Edgar Mitchell "Aliens Exist & Government Cover Up is Real" - Fox News - YouTube

Astronaut Gordon Cooper Talks About UFOs - YouTube

aliens exist says buzz aldrin - YouTube

UFO cover up! Ex Defence Minister for Canada speaks out! - YouTube
Former British Defense Minister Discusses UK Landing Incident - YouTube




Government shills = "sock puppets" - YouTube

as always,Dawgshit gets his ass handed to him on a platter and he can only sling shit in defeat like the monkey troll he is.

 

[daws101]

as always,Dawgshit gets his ass handed to him on a platter and he can only sling shit in defeat like the monkey troll he is.

REALLY? you and eots have proven the op true ..

 

[daws101]

as always,Dawgshit gets his ass handed to him on a platter and he can only sling shit in defeat like the monkey troll he is.

The psychology of conspiracy theories

Why do people believe sometimes outlandish conspiracy theories? You need to look beyond the individual to start to understand, explains Jovan Byford.

By: Dr Jovan Byford (The Open University, Social Sciences faculty, Department of Psychology)
Duration: 5 mins
Published on: Wednesday 25th January 2012

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you…

There is a curious relationship between psychology and the study of conspiracy theories. Historians, philosophers, sociologists and political scientists often present conspiracy theories as being of an essentially psychological nature. Detail from a mural at Denver Airport Creative commons imageExternal linkExternal linkA detail of a mural in Denver International Airport, subject of much conspiracy theorist interest. A plea for peace, or a plan for future martial law?

Many such writers describe belief in conspiracies as manifestations of ‘paranoia’, ‘anxiety’, ‘fantasy’, ‘hysteria’ and ‘projection’, or as fulfilling a profound psychological need for certainty in the precarious (post-)modern age. In everyday discourse too, ‘conspiracy theorists’ are often labelled ‘lunatics’, ‘kooks’ or ‘paranoiacs’, implying that they suffer from some intrinsic psychological deficiency or dysfunction.

Yet, surprisingly, little psychological research has been conducted on this topic. In fact, it is only since the 1990s that social psychologists have turned their attention to the conspiracy theory phenomenon and scrutinised its psychological roots in a systematic way.

Investigating the conspiracy theorist

Much psychology research has focused on identifying factors which predispose certain individuals to endorse conspiracy theories. Given that not everyone believes in conspiracy theories, psychological studies have sought to uncover what distinguishes believers from non-believers, and in so doing create a "psychological profile" of conspiracist individuals.

Researchers have explored the relevance of more general demographic factors like gender, socio-economic status, educational level or ethnic background and so on, but also things like disenchantment with political authority, sense of powerlessness, political cynicism, authoritarianism or alienation from society.

They have also looked at personality factors and aspects of cognitive functioning (resistance to disconfirming evidence, tendency to circular thinking, attributional styles, etc.) to see whether conspiracism is underpinned by some intrinsic perceptual or reasoning deficit which leads people to misunderstand or misinterpret causal relations in the world.

Overall, this quest for the psychological profile of conspiracy theorists has yielded modest results. Conspiracy theorists have been shown to be quite similar to sceptics in terms of cognitive functioning or personality. In fact, the only consistent finding is that believers tend to be disenchanted with authority and cynical about the mainstream of politics.

But this is hardly surprising: these are the central motifs of any conspiracy theory!

Look again…

One possible reason why the psychology of conspiracy theories produced so few meaningful results is that researchers have been approaching this phenomenon in the wrong way. They have tended to see conspiracy theories first and foremost as individual beliefs, thereby reducing them to events that are going on inside a person’s mind (information processing biases, personality characteristics, etc.).

But conspiracy theories are not just a set of individual attitudes.

Did you hear about…?

Anyone who has had the opportunity to engage with conspiracy theories will realise that they are, in fact, a dynamic set of stories and shared assumptions about the world which persist and evolve over time. As such, they are continuously exchanged, debated, evaluated and modified as people try to make sense of the world and events around them.

Also, conspiracy theorising is more often than not a shared endeavour and a social activity, performed through organisations, movements, campaigns, or through jointly produced websites and internet forums.

This means that conspiracy theories are least interesting (or least damaging) when they are confined to a person’s head; they are far more interesting when they are in the public domain, circulating as a set of ideas – on the basis of which movements are established, political projects forged and power relations challenged and sustained.

A theory of conspiracy theories

Where does this leave the psychology of conspiracy theories? Clearly, looking for stable psychological characteristics or cognitive biases that differentiate believers from sceptics may not be the most productive avenue for research to pursue. Instead, the focus should be turned to the study of conspiracy theories as a social and ideological phenomenon.

As a number of social psychologists (including Henri Tajfel, Michael Bilig, Keneth Gergen or Serge Moscovici) have argued over the years, psychology ought to be turning its attention away from looking for psychological underpinnings of social phenomena and consider instead how specific ideologies, worldviews and cultural traditions produce particular patterns of thinking and behaviour.

Put differently, it is not that ‘faulty reasoning’ causes people to endorse conspiracy-based explanations, but rather that something within those explanations, within their thematic configuration, narrative structure and explanatory logic, leads people to exhibit these seemingly ‘faulty’ patterns of thought.

This suggests that the central object of study should be the structure, logic and evolution of conspiracy theories, with a view to explaining how and why this tradition of explanation persists in modern society, and how it sustains distinct forms of individual and collective thought and action.

The psychology of conspiracy theories - OpenLearn - Open University

 

[eots]

REALLY? you and eots have proven the op true ..

then why are you afraid to responed to the rebutle with anything but more of your denial ?

 

[daws101]

then why are you afraid to responed to the rebutle with anything but more of your denial ?

what's responed and rebutle ?
if you mean that wall of nonsensical shit you posted there is no need, as all you did was prove the Op to be fact..
were you trying to say that conspiracy theories don't exist?
They do! just not the ones you wish did.. that's what those articles and this thread are about. you'd have known that if you had read them, but then again it's been proven that you misinterpret and misrepresent everything you read or write.
your intentional misrepresentation of the NIST report makes that crystal clear.
as to fear and denial that's all you...

 

[eots]

List of conspiracy theories

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


There are many unproven conspiracy theories of varying degrees of popularity, frequently related to but not limited to clandestine government plans, elaborate murder plots, suppression of secret technology and knowledge, and other supposed schemes behind certain political, cultural, and historical events. Some theories have been dealt with censorship and excoriation from the law such as the Holocaust denial. Conspiracy theories usually go against a consensus or cannot be proven using the historical method and are typically not considered to be similar to verified conspiracies such as Germany's pretense for invading Poland in World War II.

List of conspiracy theories - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
so the reitzstag conspiracy is true only because wikki editors agree but other conspiracy are untrue because wkki editors dont like them...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x2DFnGI9Ac]Wikipedia - Israel is paying internet workers to manipulate online content - YouTube[/ame]



'Some people' believe conspiracy theories

By Steve Benen

Wed Feb 15, 2012 1:01 PM EST.

when it comes to recent evidence pointing to a stronger economy, the right is clearly concerned that the news will bolster President Obama's re-election odds.

and now there is a right - wing conspiracy to not have a strong ecpnomy

That's understandable; Obama's rising approval ratings are not an accident, and are tied directly to recent economic trends.

really? and the evidence of this is what ??

Republicans have a few options. They can try to change the subject, for example, and shift attention to culture-war fights such as the war on contraception.

there is new conspiracy ...the right wing war on contraception
!!!!

That's not a good strategy -- the American mainstream is on the other side -- but if talking about the economy is bad for one's electoral strategy, it makes some sense to try to change the conversation. The GOP can also try to make the case that the economy is improving, but it would do even better under Republican rule.

does daws even realize what a paranoid conspiracy loon this man is ?

What Republicans shouldn't do is buy into a conspiracy theory.

ya you republicains there is nothing to see here ..return to your war on contraception and gun shootin while you still can and never mind your theorys

On "Fox & Friends" this morning, Brian Kilmeade noted that good economic news matters a great deal when it comes to the president's fortunes, but only "if you believe these numbers."

A minute later, Gretchen Carlson added, "Unemployment has gone down, more jobs have been created. Now, you can argue about how those numbers, some people say they've been fabricated."

Well, that depends on how one defines "some people." Fox News figures say the economic data has been deliberately manipulated, and folks like Rush Limbaugh and Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) apparently agree, but that doesn't make the argument any less ridiculous.

this freak thinks Goverments dont cook the books and play word games to give favorable outlooks and only the evil rightwingers say they do as part of the right wing conspiracy

To reiterate a point from a few weeks ago, there is absolutely zero evidence to suggest the unemployment data has been manipulated in any way. The monthly Labor Department report is compiled by career officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who've done nothing to have their integrity called into question, and if Republicans are going to raise the specter of an elaborate rise, it's incumbent on them to offer at least some kind of proof.

lol....


Alex Seitz-Wald recently had a good take on this:

If it weren't improper to psychologically analyze strangers, one might think the Fox hosts are displaying a textbook example of cogitative dissonance here, a psychological phenomena in which people who hold on strong belief about something invent (sometimes farfetched) explanations for new evidence that conflicts with their existing views. Obama is bad for the economy, the jobs numbers show the economy is doing better, so there must be something wrong with the jobs numbers. Needless to say, this is hardly the behavior one expects from fair and balanced journalists Fox hosts claim to be.

so Fox is conspiring against Obama ?..its a corporate media conspiracy
are you sure ?...can I find it in wikki ??

I am curious about something, though. If the conspiracy theorists on the jobs report were right, why did the Obama administration wait three years to start manipulating the report? In other words, if political and electoral considerations were driving the data, leading officials to "cook the books" as Steve Doocy recently put it, why wait so long? Wouldn't it have been better to show a significant improvement shortly before the 2010 midterms? Why wouldn't the administration just keep the unemployment rate artificially low all along?

its the strawman dorthy say hello !!!

'Some people' believe conspiracy theories - The Maddow Blog

omfg...dawgshit is this whats become of you ?

 

[eots]

what's responed and rebutle ?
if you mean that wall of nonsensical shit you posted there is no need, as all you did was prove the Op to be fact..

So does that mean you accept what the astronuats and defecence minsters say ? as a real conspiracy by the government ?

were you trying to say that conspiracy theories don't exist?
They do! just not the ones you wish did..

You often claim building 7 could not of been a controlled demolition because secrets can not be kept but if these astronauts and defense ministers are to be believed then a vast conspiracy of epic proportions has been effectively kept secret for a very long time..you also mock the Idea of any slightly advanced tech being used and again if these men are to be believed there would be technology withheld from the public well beyond the scoop of advanced building demo

that's what those articles and this thread are about. you'd have known that if you had read them, but then again it's been proven that you misinterpret and misrepresent everything you read or write.
your intentional misrepresentation of the NIST report makes that crystal clear.
as to fear and denial that's all you..

and now your just making vague accusations...so please tell me who do you think is conspiring and why...the government or the NASA astronauts and defense ministers ?

 

[LoudMcCloud]

I have a great song for this thread.

[ame=http://youtu.be/uelHwf8o7_U]Eminem - Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna - YouTube[/ame]

 

[whitehall]

The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories

Posted on November 27, 2005 by sheila


The thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some ORDER in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but ALL events. There are no such things as coincidences in the middle of a conspiracy theory. When I’ve been in love with someone, and he hasn’t loved me back … I tend to read into all the coincidences – he likes this and so do I – therefore THAT means that we should be together … etc. I draw conclusions based on COINCIDENCES. This is a very human thing, but I certainly wouldn’t want to LIVE in that mind-space. Where everything means something, and every random event means something. It must be what it feels like to be an end-of-the-world apocalyptic Christian. The wind blows from the East … Therefore, the end of the world is coming. It is a place of CERTAINTY. I know that human beings, in general, are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Of course. It’s awful to just accept that you CAN’T know what is going to happen. But that’s the deal, that to me is one of the points of life: to be able to BEAR uncertainty. Conspiracy theorists absolutely cannot bear uncertainty. And the truly paranoid ones are the ones who just can’t deal with reality. The reality sometimes is quite simple. But it’s NEVER simple to a conspiracy theorist.
The Comfort of Conspiracy Theories | The Sheila Variations





Moon Landing Faked!!!—Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories

New psychological research helps explain why some see intricate government conspiracies behind events like 9/11 or the Boston bombing

By Sander van der Linden



Did NASA fake the moon landing? Is the government hiding Martians in Area 51? Is global warming a hoax? And what about the Boston Marathon bombing…an “inside job” perhaps?

In the book “The Empire of Conspiracy,” Timothy Melley explains that conspiracy theories have traditionally been regarded by many social scientists as “the implausible visions of a lunatic fringe,” often inspired by what the late historian Richard Hofstadter described as “the paranoid style of American politics.” Influenced by this view, many scholars have come to think of conspiracy theories as paranoid and delusional, and for a long time psychologists have had little to contribute other than to affirm the psychopathological nature of conspiracy thinking, given that conspiricist delusions are commonly associated with (schizotype) paranoia.

Yet, such pathological explanations have proven to be widely insufficient because conspiracy theories are not just the implausible visions of a paranoid minority. For example, a national poll released just this month reports that 37 percent of Americans believe that global warming is a hoax, 21 percent think that the US government is covering up evidence of alien existence and 28 percent believe a secret elite power with a globalist agenda is conspiring to rule the world. Only hours after the recent Boston marathon bombing, numerous conspiracy theories were floated ranging from a possible ‘inside job’ to YouTube videos claiming that the entire event was a hoax.

So why is it that so many people come to believe in conspiracy theories? They can't all be paranoid schizophrenics. New studies are providing some eye-opening insights and potential explanations.

For example, while it has been known for some time that people who believe in one conspiracy theory are also likely to believe in other conspiracy theories, we would expect contradictory conspiracy theories to be negatively correlated. Yet, this is not what psychologists Micheal Wood, Karen Douglas and Robbie Suton found in a recent study. Instead, the research team, based at the University of Kent in England, found that many participants believed in contradictory conspiracy theories. For example, the conspiracy-belief that Osama Bin Laden is still alive was positively correlated with the conspiracy-belief that he was already dead before the military raid took place. This makes little sense, logically: Bin Laden cannot be both dead and alive at the same time. An important conclusion that the authors draw from their analysis is that people don't tend to believe in a conspiracy theory because of the specifics, but rather because of higher-order beliefs that support conspiracy-like thinking more generally. A popular example of such higher-order beliefs is a severe “distrust of authority.” The authors go on to suggest that conspiracism is therefore not just about belief in an individual theory, but rather an ideological lens through which we view the world. A good case in point is Alex Jones’s recent commentary on the Boston bombings. Jones, (one of the country’s preeminent conspiracy theorists) reminded his audience that two of the hijacked planes on 9/11 flew out of Boston (relating one conspiracy theory to another) and moreover, that the Boston Marathon bombing could be a response to the sudden drop in the price of gold or part of a secret government plot to expand the Transportation Security Administration’s reach to sporting events. Others have pointed their fingers to a ‘mystery man’ spotted on a nearby roof shortly after the explosions. While it remains unsure whether or not credence is given to only some or all of these (note: contradicting) conspiracy theories, there clearly is a larger underlying preference to support conspiracy-type explanations more generally.



Moon Landing Faked!!!?Why People Believe in Conspiracy Theories: Scientific American

All those PHD's couldn't figure out that the radical political affiliated people rely on conspiracies that tend to promote their skewed version of their political agenda?

 

[MisterBeale]

Put differently, it is not that ‘faulty reasoning’ causes people to endorse conspiracy-based explanations, but rather that something within those explanations, within their thematic configuration, narrative structure and explanatory logic, leads people to exhibit these seemingly ‘faulty’ patterns of thought.

This suggests that the central object of study should be the structure, logic and evolution of conspiracy theories, with a view to explaining how and why this tradition of explanation persists in modern society, and how it sustains distinct forms of individual and collective thought and action.

Precisely. Bravo.

I would say excellently put, however it rests upon a faulty assumption; that being, "‘faulty reasoning." In fact, it is the actors, or the elites themselves by their own admission which are the cause of this problem. When they themselves ADMIT that there is a conspiracy, well then. . .

Where do you get off looking up articles or researching documentation that hypothesize that it is the culture? What are you, in the dark? Obtuse?

They have admitted it. Ever hear of Jekyll Island? How about Bilderberg meetings? What do you think goes on here? If they were so innocuous, why not have them recorded for posterity and then released to the public? After the main stream press was ignoring it for decades, only now do they decide, "Gee, what we are doing looks shady, maybe we should post who is going and what we are talking about, it get's leaked anyway." These are the most powerful and influential people in the world. And yet the world press stays silent. Who the hell do you think you are fooling? Really?

And it turns out, elite members of the press go to these things. But do they publish articles about what they talk about? Oh hell no. People would realize how little their votes and the representatives actually mattered. Boy, would that blow the whole game out of the water. lol Let's let our feudal masters lord over us in private, picking our presidents and financial masters for us. . . .

http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/index.php

Guilderberg

Your diatribes hardly warrant reading because you are so poorly educated. Try doing some reading. Some none cognitively un-biased reading.

And wise up to the realities of the world. Yes, there are interest groups. And just as there are public interest groups, there are private covert interest groups that wish to remain anonymous or relatively unknown. These are the ones that the press does not publish stories about.

 

[eots]

the thing about conspiracy theories are … they are comforting. They assure you that there is some order in the universe, that there are connections between not just some events, but all events.

that is a profoundly astute observation, in my opinion.

If our problem can be attributed to a conspiracy?

Then, presumably we can fix the problem by beating the conspirators.

But if the problem is do to structural problems, incompetence or just bad luck?

Then there might not be an easy fix...then there might be no fix at all!

there is a complete lack of specifics in this statement

 

[daws101]

So does that mean you accept what the astronuats and defecence minsters say ? as a real conspiracy by the government ?




You often claim building 7 could not of been a controlled demolition because secrets can not be kept but if these astronauts and defense ministers are to be believed then a vast conspiracy of epic proportions has been effectively kept secret for a very long time..you also mock the Idea of any slightly advanced tech being used and again if these men are to be believed there would be technology withheld from the public well beyond the scoop of advanced building demo




and now your just making vague accusations...so please tell me who do you think is conspiring and why...the government or the NASA astronauts and defense ministers ?

everything you've posted in this thread is proof the OP is fact..
your mixing of two entirely separate conspiracy fantasies is text book definition conspiracy belief.
as always there is no evidence proving either is fact..