You mentioned use of conspiracy theories to influence political or social agendas this is something I saw has a sectionIt is an interesting article but I think it misses one very obvious phenomenon; the use of conspiracy theories to influence political or social agendas. I'm thinking of things like QAnon. I don't believe that the originators of many of the CTs disseminated through these channels believe them for a second. They are simply a tool aimed at a certain section of the population that are disposed to believing them. I'm not sure that these people believe CTs because they are 'over-confident' so much as a range of psychological needs.
They do make sense! To me at least.That’s a very interesting article and I agree with a lot of the thoughts put forward on this thread tbh.
I think the overconfident CTist described in the article describes perfectly the ones who are the most obnoxious and vocal, and the ones who tend to be successful at shoving their views onto others. However as others have pointed out, it’s reductive to say that all CTists are like this, it’s often easy to paint this caricature of this type of CTist and then apply it to all of them, but that isn’t the case. I think there’s a huge silent majority out there who are actually for the most part extremely normal people, however they all lack one thing which makes them vulnerable to CTs.
For me this thing that they lack is an understanding of logical reasoning. When you listen to some of the arguments they put out, they’re often based on premises which aren’t true or are completely circular. You can be as intelligent and as educated as you like, but if you do not possess the tools required to be able to differentiate between an argument which is logical and one which is not, then how on earth are you supposed to critically evaluate all of the information we’re constantly bombarded with on social media in order to figure out what’s true and what isn’t? I think you become extremely vulnerable to falling for CTs when you can’t do this.
This blog deconstructs some of the common arguments put forward by CTists about the vaccine and shows some of the fundamental logical flaws in their thinking. I’ve also linked this scientific article which goes deeper into it but it’s a bit long haha.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7509825/
https://youcanknowthings.com/2022/02/05/10-logical-fallacies-used-in-vaccine-arguments/?fbclid=IwAR0TaEOTIFLJZ6XNhDR62YlHgjqpiK6cATHZ69qSICWQ6t_IvUO8A5KVrqQ&
I’m not saying that the solution to help someone who has gone down the CT rabbit hole is to just sit them down and force them to read a book about logic though. I’m also not saying that a fundamental lack of understanding of logic alone is the only reason people become CTists. Obviously there are so many other factors, like if you don’t really understand how vaccines work or when you’re confronted by an argument which despite being logically sound, is false because it uses statistical analysis from data which has been misinterpreted, manipulated or just downright fabricated, you’re still vulnerable to falling for CTs. You need to have a certain level of trust in professionals as well. However, I do think a decent understanding of how to critically evaluate arguments and figure out if they’re true or not is something which can really help.
In fact, I really recommend looking into logic in general to everyone, it’s not something which comes naturally to me and once I started to learn about it, it really helped with my anxiety. Being able to see which of my worries were rational and which were irrational completely changed my perspective of the world and genuinely helps me to reduce anxiety.
But I digress, as others have said, there are a multitude of different factors and life experiences which lead to someone becoming a CTist.
Anyway, I hope my morning thoughts makes sense and sorry for the ramble and any spelling/grammar errors lmao. Time to get the fuck out of bed and take my ADHD meds
I think the fundamental issue is that most of them aren’t really interested in evidence based arguments or logical reasoning. They operate on gut instincts and suspicious feelings rather than factual evidence like, you know, scientific data.They do make sense! To me at least.
I agree about a lack of logical reasoning, because they often make links that are tenuous at best, but act like their view is irrefutable. As we keep seeing time and time again, covid vaccines are seen by many conspiracy theorists as being the be-all-and-end-all for many current ailments and deaths.
I'm not saying the vaccines are without risk (no medication is - after all, look at the big long list of side effects on leaflets that accompany all medication) but I don't believe they are responsible to the extent many CTists think they are.
I'm unfortunate enough to have lost many family friends to cancer - as pretty much everyone else has done. Four close family members spring to mind - my dad, my aunt and two uncles. All of them were diagnosed before covid vaccines, in fact before covid itself (the latest diagnosis of those listed was June 2019). They were a range of ages - youngest late 50s, most in their 60s and one in their early 70s.
Due to the timing of their diagnoses, I can categorically rule out covid vaccines as the cause. I understand that if someone is diagnosed with cancer today then a vaccine could be a cause, but given how many people were diagnosed pre the vaccine, it's equally as possible that the vaccine had no impact on their illness.
While that viewpoint is perfectly logical, I find if I raise it with a CTist who's convinced covid vaccines are responsible, they will just call me names (e.g. a sheep), tell me I've got my head buried in the sand and that "some of us can see the truth" or just act like I'm plain stupid. There's rarely ever a reasonable reply that acknowledges potential shortcomings in their theory. And that could point back to the overconfidence aspect already raised.
These two links are really good, Deeznuts. I recognise every single one of those 10 'logical fallacies' used in vaccine arguments, in the interactions I've been part of/observed on twitter and elsewhere, including on here. Facinating to see them analysed.That’s a very interesting article and I agree with a lot of the thoughts put forward on this thread tbh.
I think the overconfident CTist described in the article describes perfectly the ones who are the most obnoxious and vocal, and the ones who tend to be successful at shoving their views onto others. However as others have pointed out, it’s reductive to say that all CTists are like this, it’s often easy to paint this caricature of this type of CTist and then apply it to all of them, but that isn’t the case. I think there’s a huge silent majority out there who are actually for the most part extremely normal people, however they all lack one thing which makes them vulnerable to CTs.
For me this thing that they lack is an understanding of logical reasoning. When you listen to some of the arguments they put out, they’re often based on premises which aren’t true or are completely circular. You can be as intelligent and as educated as you like, but if you do not possess the tools required to be able to differentiate between an argument which is logical and one which is not, then how on earth are you supposed to critically evaluate all of the information we’re constantly bombarded with on social media in order to figure out what’s true and what isn’t? I think you become extremely vulnerable to falling for CTs when you can’t do this.
This blog deconstructs some of the common arguments put forward by CTists about the vaccine and shows some of the fundamental logical flaws in their thinking. I’ve also linked this scientific article which goes deeper into it but it’s a bit long haha.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7509825/
https://youcanknowthings.com/2022/02/05/10-logical-fallacies-used-in-vaccine-arguments/?fbclid=IwAR0TaEOTIFLJZ6XNhDR62YlHgjqpiK6cATHZ69qSICWQ6t_IvUO8A5KVrqQ&
I’m not saying that the solution to help someone who has gone down the CT rabbit hole is to just sit them down and force them to read a book about logic though. I’m also not saying that a fundamental lack of understanding of logic alone is the only reason people become CTists. Obviously there are so many other factors, like if you don’t really understand how vaccines work or when you’re confronted by an argument which despite being logically sound, is false because it uses statistical analysis from data which has been misinterpreted, manipulated or just downright fabricated, you’re still vulnerable to falling for CTs. You need to have a certain level of trust in professionals as well. However, I do think a decent understanding of how to critically evaluate arguments and figure out if they’re true or not is something which can really help.
In fact, I really recommend looking into logic in general to everyone, it’s not something which comes naturally to me and once I started to learn about it, it really helped with my anxiety. Being able to see which of my worries were rational and which were irrational completely changed my perspective of the world and genuinely helps me to reduce anxiety.
But I digress, as others have said, there are a multitude of different factors and life experiences which lead to someone becoming a CTist.
Anyway, I hope my morning thoughts makes sense and sorry for the ramble and any spelling/grammar errors lmao. Time to get the fuck out of bed and take my ADHD meds
Mine will be spent on a holiday somewhere warm, but it has to be somewhere with good wifi, so I can carry on my job!Honestly, sometimes it seems like they actually want there to be a huge number of people dying from the vaccine just so they can be vindicated. Of course that hasn’t happened, but it’s scary how they’d rather be right and loads of people die than wrong and nothing happen… I feel like as time has gone on they’re just making up more and more diseases and injuries that this vaccine is supposedly causing and their theories are becoming more bizarre.
But anyway, in other news I just checked the old bank account and I can see that the monthly 15 grand we get from being paid BigPharma internet trolls has landed in the old bank accountwhat you guys gonna spend yours on? I’m thinking a PS5, a BBL and maybe a holiday to Dubai?
Enjoy mate, honestly, shout out to the CTists for keeping us in the job and THANKYOU BIGPHARMAMine will be spent on a holiday somewhere warm, but it has to be somewhere with good wifi, so I can carry on my job!
The NB theorists are genuinely vicious, like I really fucking hope that the family are able to sue some of the ones on twitter because what they’re doing is just straight up defamation at this point.Not sure if it’s been mentioned on here because I’ve literally just had a quick read through but the Nicola Bulley case was turned in to a media frenzy by conspiracy theorists concerning her disappearance. There’s a particular account on Twitter which is bordering on lunacy and making me think that the poster is actually unwell.
Regarding vaccines I had both of mine but I have to admit I went through a phase where I was curious and read a bit about them. I didn’t go down the rabbit hole as such but a few people local to me died from heart related illnesses. One very healthy 58 year old dropped dead in his local pub. A couple of others had heart issues and were hospitalised but they had suffered a serious bout of Covid. I can see why people get caught up in some of it, it’s especially common in people who lose loved ones as you obviously don’t want to accept they are no longer here. I’ve a friend who is deep in the hole, he regularly photographs the sky (full of Chem trails) and posts it to his SM. I just completely avoid those subjects and stay friendly on other topics.
true crime ct are getting more and more worrying tbh. there was quite a weird encounter on the crime thread here about nicola b and the stuff about the recent idaho murders has been equally awful.Not sure if it’s been mentioned on here because I’ve literally just had a quick read through but the Nicola Bulley case was turned in to a media frenzy by conspiracy theorists concerning her disappearance. There’s a particular account on Twitter which is bordering on lunacy and making me think that the poster is actually unwell.
i think this is exactly it. but then, like you say, everyone wants to be the one to “win the game” and be the one to solve it - as if it is an online mystery game and not a real thing.I've mentioned this before but I think a lot of the issue nowadays with online detectives is that sleuthing was genuinely really helpful in the gabby petito case. Now everyone wants to be the guy that solved the crime
That page is hilarious man
It's the inner part of a bicycle tyre valve!
Exactly what i think!The CTs surrounding the government's emergency test alert to all smartphones on 23 April are hilarious. Just set your phone to reject emergency alerts and you won't be bothered by it or any future such alerts. Took me 45 seconds.
Also, I wonder why someone so deep into CTs that they seriously think the goverment is trying to track/monitor/video their every move, influence every aspect of their life, why the heck would they even own a smartphone? And why use that very 'instrument of the devil' to scroll through social media spreading CTs!
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