Why does everyone believe in conspiracy theories nowadays?

Just because a conspiracy is unproven it doesn't mean it's not a valid conspiracy nonetheless, simply because many crimes that are committed are obviously committed by more than one person, because there's no way one person could have orchestrated it.

Crimes committed that are impossible to be committed by one person are indisputably a conspiracy, not a theory.

On the other hand crimes that could possibly be committed by a single person may or may not be a conspiracy and therefore have a strong probability of being simply a theory if more than one person is suspected or implicated.

Like I said most people don't understand the concept of conspiracy theory versus conspiracy versus simply a criminal action.

All conspiracies start out as a theory that remains to be proven with the exception of the example I just gave above.

 

any crime that 'requires' 2 or more people to pull off IS a conspiracy, that is logic 101. the perps may be unknown but that is besides the point.

Neither of those could have been caused by a shooter in the Texas School Book Depository. More than one shooter defines that a conspiracy took place.
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/...hots-prove-jfk-assassination-was-a-conspiracy

 

Even if there's not a crime, there can be "conspiracy". Chicks conspire with each other all the time for the purpose of manipulating some outcome or other.

And don't forget the song "Winter Wonderland" - later on, we'll conspire, as we dream by the fire, to face unafraid the plans that we've made etc.

 

Yes thats exactly right and if you were part of a group of 10 people and 2 people decide to do the crime the remaining 8 can also be prosecuted. Virtually every criminal charge starts out as a theory that must be proven.

A good example is a missile launch that requires 2 keys separated by 10 feet between them that need to be rotated at the exact same time. If a missile is illegally launched there is no question that a conspiracy took place to accomplish such a feet. Because the perps arent known or convicted people seem to think a conspiracy is only a 'theory' like the second key can turn itself lol

Any time the government is involved there is alawys a patsy and you will never prove otherwise the sweepers fix everything .

 

Not sure I agree with that, MeAgain. The many conspiracies of the republican party undermining the US government , the working people of the US, and anything and everything concerning the usual corporations and the super rich that keeps them from participating in financing anything thing but themselves. The conspiracies are how they plan in secret to do so--the manifestations are the proof that they DO-DO SO.

 

Oh you mean like 19 hijackers did magical things defying all laws of physics changing all the standard NORAD, military and FAA protocols on 9/11? Oh yeah and an Airbus that supposedly crashed into the ground and buried itself completely? Like that conspiracy theory?

 

That's typical because you get arrested if you're plotting a crime but there's no requirement that it remains a secret

 

I disagree that is a conspiracy not proven. As I have explained many times and actually cited an example from a website that if it takes more than one person to do the crime by default it's a conspiracy not proven not a conspiracy theory not proven.

In fact that's very easily provable using a logic truth table, likewise your version is very easily disproven using a logic truth table.

 

I dont believe every conspiracy(i know most of them) and connecting them all............I also do believe some have a good core of truth(history/evidence/ect)

But these days if you say/believe/think this or that...............you automaticlly get labelled and put in a box.(left/right).



Mzzls

 

I screwed that up.
It should have said: if it takes more than one person to do the crime by default it's a conspiracy the guilty parties not proven, not a conspiracy 'theory' not proven.

It loses its 'theory' status once we know for a 'fact' the only possible way a crime of that magnitude could be commtted is if it required 2 or more, then its a proven conspiracy, perps not proven.

'Facts' trump 'theory', the knowledge it takes 2 or more makes a conspiracy a 'fact'.

 

I think we need some clarity on the topic. Of course conspiracies are real. They happen every day, and at least twice on Sunday. As Shy One points out, they even have a legal definition: "an agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act, along with an intent to achieve the agreement's goal". conspiracy Most jurisdictions also require an overt act toward furthering the agreement. And of course the prosecutor must prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. And until they're proven, we can call them theories within the normal usage of the English language.

But I don't think that's what we're talking about on a thread about conspiracy theories. We're talking about the widely believed but wacky ones, like Covid being an attempt by Bill Gates to implant microchips in our brains (believed by some 28% of Americans) Coronavirus: Bill Gates ‘microchip’ conspiracy theory and other vaccine claims fact-checked . Or Hillary and the Dems being part of a pedophile ring holding children captive in the basement of a (basementless) pizza parlor, etc. Contrary to the OP, not everyone believes in them. Certain people seem to be more susceptible to them: those with limited educations, critical knowledge skills, cultural influences, strong ideological convictions and/or certain psychological profiles that make them more susceptible to such messages. Of course, they also result from deliberate manufacture by persons or groups with axes to grind, like Fox, Tucker Carlson, 4-chan (and other chans), Q-Anon and various free lancers.

We have some on HF now, but one who's been gone long enough for me to feel comfortable talking about was Six-eyed Shaman, who originally used the Pepe Frog atavar until that became too well associated with the AltRight and white nationalism. He preferred AltLite as an identity, and he pushed the message of the Great Replacement, using Breitbart, InfoWars, Russia Today or any source that served his purpose to push that line and to attack Black Lives Matter, "Snowflake" progressives, Social Justice Warriors, feminists, Antifa, and George Soros (the latter two serving as all-purpose villains behind just about everything). Interestingly, he was also a frequent contributor to the mental health forums, where he railed against psychologists and psychiatrists, complained about being sent to them as a kid (when he was supposedly perfectly healthy mentally), and about how his mother was creating problems for his father whom he idolized. Bright guy, but I think Freud would have had a field day. Then came that fateful day in (I think) 2020, when he and others started talking about pedophiles (Q-Anon was coming into its own about then), and apparently got booted from HF. Never knew exactly what was going on there. Deep State must have got 'em.

 

I already gave you the logic that proves it's a conspiracy with the 'perpetrators' unproven. You are conflating and substituting the substance of an actual conspiracy with a non-substantial theory, which is non-sequitur.
It's not clear why you don't see that?

 

normal usage of the English language, seriously?

In the normal usage of English language you could call them boogie woogies!

I would agree with your choice of usage if it is in fact the theory, but I certainly wouldn't agree with that as normal usage on a philosophy board because much of what is considered normal usage is actually highly abnormal, and much of what many people would call normal is actually derived from lingo and slang. I doubt I need examples to make my point do I?

Calling a conspiracy a theory serves to water down and confuse the facts.

In the example or at least one example that I gave two keys are 10 ft apart they both have to be turned at the same time in order to launch a missile, should a missile be launched illegally which means without authorization there is no doubt that it is the result of a conspiracy that took place because the criminal act absolutely had to be without question committed by two people who chose to commit a criminal act.

911 for instance is a conspiracy not a theory, Waco is a conspiracy not a theory, there are several more.

 

Cultural paranoia and conspiracies USA. Back in 1964, historian Eric Hofstadter wrote an essay entitled :"The Paranoid Style in American Politics",published in Harper's Magazine (November, 1964). It identified "movements of suspicious discontent" that have been a perennial feature of U.S. history, contributing to the nationalist, isolationist, nativist and conspiratorial inclinations of the Republican Party that we know and love today. He was writing when Barry ("extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice") Goldwater had just been nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, and the John Birch Society, founded in 1958, was (and is) active “to expose a semi-secret international cabal whose members sit in the highest places of influence and power worldwide.” Robert Welch, the Society's founder, had accused President Eisenhower of being a communist, taking orders from his brother Milton, his superior in the Communist Party. At the time, the Birchers were considered a right-wing fringe movement, and by the 1980s had given way in prominence to the religious right: Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum, and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition. Before the Birchers were the McCarthyites, looking for commies under every bed, and before that "Who Lost China?" crowd of Republicans blaming subversives in the Truman Administration. But the origins of this style can be traced to pre-right, left-leaning populist roots targeting Masons, Jesuits, munitions makers, and international bankers--and the Nativist "Know Nothing" anti-Catholic reaction to the waves of immigration back in 1830-60.

In fairness to the U.S., other countries have had their bouts with this phenomenon--notably Germany after World War I. But the U.S. seems to have had chronic tendencies in this regard, as a result of three characteristics: immigration, religion, democratic politics, and of course rapid change. (1) Immigration and accompanying fear of "the other" seems to have been a major source--the U.S. being a nation of immigrants. (2) Religion has been another. Christianity has fared much better in the U.S. than in other industrial countries, and Christians place more emphasis on the particulars of belief than other religions. U.S. home grown Protestantism had a distinctively evangelical cast, which emphasized enthusiasm over reason. Protestants didn't react well to waves of Catholic immigration and the new influx of Hispanics and Muslims has been a challenge for the U.S. Christian suspicion of Jews and Jewish bankers fed into populist conspiracy thinking about international banking taking over the country. F. Coughlin's Anti-Semitic radio attacks on Jewish bankers during the 1930s fueled fascist sentiments until FDR put a stop to them. (3) democratic politics. Of course the fact that the U.S. is a representative democracy with a competitive two party system contributed heavily--each party looking for "wedge issues" for sowing division in the ranks of the opposition. It is not accidental, as Marxists say, that the party representing the interests of a privileged minority would be particularly inclined to shift the focus from economics to cultural issues. As Hofstadter put it: "The modern right wing...feels dispossessed: America has been largely taken away from them and their kind, though they are determined to try to repossess it and to prevent the final destructive act of subversion. The old American virtues have already been eaten away by cosmopolitans and intellectuals; the old competitive capitalism has been gradually undermined by socialistic and communistic schemers; the old national security and independence have been destroyed by treasonous plots, having as their most powerful agents not merely outsiders and foreigners as of old but major statesmen who are at the very centers of American power. "
(4). Rapid change. As world leader in technology and industrial development, the U.S. experienced more than its share of technological socio-economic change, particularly following the World Wars, which has been uneven in different parts of the country. Globalization transferred factories and jobs overseas, leaving rust belt ghost towns. Growing socio-economic inequality and economic instability created major social dislocations and uncertainties. Meanwhile, the advent of cable TV and elimination of the fairness doctrine made it possible for people to choose their alternate realities, while the internet, algorithms and the rise of social media opened new avenues for spreading disinformation. Faced with these upheavals and uncertainties in their lives, people were looking for answers, and conspiracy theorists were happy to provide them.

Hoftader's essay has received lots of attention lately, as pundits try to make sense of the polarization in U.S. politics and the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the age of Trump.
Opinion | The Paranoid Style in G.O.P. Politics (Published 2018)
The Paranoid Style in American Politics: Revisiting Richard Hofstadter in the Time of Trump | Library of America
A criticism made of Hofstader's essay is that he relegates cultural paranoia and conspiracy thinking to the fringe of American society when it seems to have assumed a stranglehold on one of our political parties and major sources of the news media. Richard Hofstadter’s Brilliant Essay Misled Us About the Paranoid Style of American Politics | History News Network
Of course, Hofstadter can be excused for not anticipating the internet, Fox News, and Donald Trump.