Why does everyone believe in conspiracy theories nowadays?

I think that you are painting them all with a very broad stroke. The article you referenced seems to be focusing on specific types of people that believe in conspiracy theories, like people that want to take action in one form or another or adult children that refuse to leave their parent's basement. I don't believe this is true of all of them, or even most of them now, maybe in the past before those ideas were so widespread.

I try to keep an open mind about things, science is continually finding new things that we thought differently about before but I do require proof before really believing most things. Somethings I don't require rock solid proof on, I just er on the side of caution where it affects my family directly, like not wanting fluoride in my water and avoiding GMOs. I could listen to experts on either side insisting that its harmless and even good for me or that it causes x, y and z problems but the way I see it is, I would rather not be part of the experiment if I can help it. Humans have lived just fine without it so far and I am sure we can continue without it in the future. As far as all the government conspiracies go, I allow for the possibility that some of it could be true but I have no way of finding out or changing any of it even if it were so I have decided to live my life and whatever happens, happens and I will deal with it the best I can if or when it does. Years ago, when I first found the rabbit hole that is YouTube I was terrified about all the things I was finding out about. People make those videos to try and sound convincing and legitimate, so even sane, rational and intelligent people can be sucked into it. Do I know the "truth"? No, but I am pretty sure there are no lizard people, the earth is in fact round, politicians lie about all sorts of things and that most corporations are greedy and don't really give a crap about the public regardless of what their PR departments try to get us to believe. I don't know if this makes me a conspiracy theorist or not but I personally know several people that are very nice, sociable, dependable people that don't fit the criteria listed who also happen to think that some conspiracy theories are true.

 

Superseded theories in science...Just because something has been around for a while or it is generally accepted as a fact doesn't mean people couldn't be wrong about it. When it comes right down to it, it doesn't matter to me what you believe and it shouldn't matter to you what I believe. I'm not trying to convince you to think the way I do, I was just asking that you don't label all people that think a little differently as undependable, disagreeable, manipulative, deceitful, etc... I can confidently say that your list does not describe everyone who has different beliefs.

 

People who believe in conspiracy theories are usually people who are easily influenced, usually isolated figures and usually have self esteem issues.

They are drawn to conspiracy theories because they usually have a dark view of the world, lack the intelligence to understand matters or feel the need for inclusion.

They will often go to extensive lengths to view content that fuels their beliefs (and choosing to ignore facts) to feel they have superior knowledge or power to the 'uninformed'. Being often loners, they join chat groups, forum threads and comment groups to have the feeling of inclusion.

More often than not, conspiracy theorist are lowly educated and have low self esteem. They also often show signs of having a controlling nature and have a negative view on the world. This often compounds and reinforces their conspiracy views.

So how is that all tied together? So an example is climate change. So a less educated person who finds the science of climate change too much to comprehend (and will make him feel uncomfortable or will hurt his self esteem of his lack of understanding) or he doesn't like the prospect change (maybe he likes diesel trucks and feels defensive and feel it's easier to be dismissive than to comply) will firstly disbelieve the evidence. Then he will delve deeper into the internet to find 'evidence' that fits his theories. He will find likeminded individuals to chat with (inclusion), argue with disbelievers, then probably go on to joining marches and protests. Which in turn will give him the feeling of power and superiority.

These type of people will more than likely be more susceptible to extreme religious beliefs and cult groups.

 

As one who recalls the JFK incident - I've always asked question and sought out clarity of ambiguity

 

i don't think i've yet met everyone. i've had 72 years to do so, and i'm pretty sure i still haven't.

i think i have a pretty good idea why people start rumors and circulate them.

i think its the same reason a lot of people turn to mind altering substances, which is because they're bored, because somewhere in their life they let themselves get talked into throwing out their own imaginations with the bath water.

that's just my take on it and someone else's mileage might very.

there's a lot of being told the same things all the time and a lot of those same things have great big holes in them, or near absolute self contradictions.

and our egos really don't like the idea of there being anything we don't know.

so we hunt around for anything that might maybe be, and then latch onto it,
because it fills the hole in our egos, and therefor it just 'has' to be.

when people are less polarized, i thing they're more ready to recognize that not everything that could be, has to.

and i really think its kind of super self destructive, especially to social institutions, to fail to recognize this, and there are people who do use that as a stratigy, irrisponsibly, with the intention of causing them to fail.

but that's not everyone who opposes anything. most of the time people have other and better reasons. but it is something, that can be and sometimes is used as a form of attack.

 

Conspiracies exist , some to fool you . Even if fooled you might not care existentially .
I care about the mind being deceived .

 

A conspiracy theory is just a theory that hasn’t been proven yet. It doesn’t make it good or bad. It doesn’t mean it’s not true, and it’s nothing new to the left. Conspiracy theories have always abounded from both sides, but they’re not a product of political division. They’re just part of the human condition.

Sometimes they’re true. For example, the US testing nuclear weapons on American soldiers was once considered a conspiracy theory, now you can watch documentaries about it.

I also think many conspiracy theories are created as diversions to take our attention off something that’s really going on. For example, alien spaceships at Area 51 keeps us from talking about the top secret aircraft being developed and tested there. Oops, I just started a conspiracy theory

 

We have had recent Congressional hearings on conspiracies like the Steel Dossier, Its not all basement dwellers.

Just to balance things look how far Birtherism got during Mr. Obama's Admin., 4 years ago.

If News is slanted it may fuel distrust, and thus conspiracies.

 

Those are two very good examples.

 

I don't trust the media, They write and televise what they get paid to write and show people.

 

Because conspiracy theories are trendy now. The conservatives took crazy theorist to a whole new level. At least back in the day when people were claiming the moon landing was a hoax and aliens are everywhere, no one got hurt.

 

First of all, conspiracies are very real. (e.g., Watergate; the Gulf of Tonkin incident; the Dreyfus affair ) The ones that are the most effective (and dangerous) are the ones we never hear about. But then there are the fantastic ones, like Pizzagate and the ones circulated by Q-anon. One reason people believe in them might be mental illness. We had a guy who used to post on HF (I'm talking about him cuz I don't think he's with us anymore) who believed in the Pizzagate conspiracy and went round and round with me on the subject. He happened also disclose that he was a diagnosed schizophrenic. If he was of the paranoid variety, that would help to explain his belief in conspiracies. One thing that can lead to beliefs in conspiracies is an excess of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that, inter alia, helps us discern patterns. Too much can cause us to see patterns when none are there. Conspiracy theories also provide people who have a low tolerance of ambiguity with a feeling that they've got a complex, ambiguous world figured out. In technical jargon, it provides cognitive closure. And there is a natural human tendency to attribute ambiguous events to agency. Our prehistoric ancestors, confronting something that might be an alligator or might be a log, would assume alligator (better safe than sorry) and act accordingly. Those who assumed log or suspended judgment pending further data, would be eliminated from the gene pool, so that we probably have an inbuilt cognitive module psychologist Michael Shermer calls "agenticity". Among the biggest reasons today are conspiracies to spread conspiracy theories, for political or economic reasons. Pizzagate was reportedly concocted by a cabal of right wing assholes at a white supremacist, anti-Semitic websiteand spread by right wing pro-Trumpers/ anti-Clintonists during the 2016 election campaign. including Michael G. Flynn (son of Trump ally Michael ("lock 'er up) Flynn." The claim that Hillary Clinton was a pedophile started in a Facebook post, spread to Twitter and then went viral with the help of far-right platforms like Breitbart and Info-Wars." Pizzagate: Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal Social media outlets like 4chan, 8chan and Twitter helped to spread the story like wildfire. Then there are the conspiracies spread for , the History Channel seems to be drawn to them. Why is the History Channel obsessed with conspiracy theories?

 

@PoeticPeacenik Probably because a lot of conspiracy theories are actually conspiracy fact (i estimate to be 50%.)

Feel free to drink as much flouride as you want, but don't force others to consume flouride toothpaste.

He was right to be suspicious of flouride, but it wasn't commies.

Also not sure why modern hippies are so trusting of their gov.

 

Simple.......people need something to believe in and someone besides themselves to blame

 

Hmm, I would have assumed people who blindly trust authority have a lower intelligence.

I guess it depends on the type of conspiracy. Someone who spends 24/7 researching conspiracies, such as the 9/11 conspiracy, probably put a lot of effort in, on the other hand climate change deniers seem to just blindly trust other climate change deniers.

 

you don't have to trust a government to not trust an anti-government. just sayin.

(also i think 7 and 9 in the op are inverted)

 

Given the lies, obfuscation, half-truths and sleaze emanating from the scumbag 'nasty party' government, here in the uk, its a wonder why people still believe anything they have to say.

 

Pretty much the same on this side of the pond.