Anti-Conspiracy Theories #7 Google told me, so it must be true. Sheeep!

[Ensay]

Another interesting article about why some people are willing to believe conspiracy theories:

Why some people are willing to believe conspiracy theories

People can be prone to believe in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying strongly on their intuition, feeling a sense of antagonism and superiority toward others, and perceiving threats in their environment.

www.apa.org

A couple of extracts:

“Conspiracy theorists are not all likely to be simple-minded, mentally unwell folks—a portrait which is routinely painted in popular culture,” said Bowes. “Instead, many turn to conspiracy theories to fulfill deprived motivational needs and make sense of distress and impairment.”

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The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others.

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I thought the 'comfort' aspect was interesting, as I've seen some conspiracy theorists say that people who don't believe CTs do so because they want to feel comfortable in their little bubbles. This article seems to be suggesting those kind of accusations from conspiracy theorists could be a type of projection.

 

[Deeznutslol]

Another interesting article about why some people are willing to believe conspiracy theories:

Why some people are willing to believe conspiracy theories

People can be prone to believe in conspiracy theories due to a combination of personality traits and motivations, including relying strongly on their intuition, feeling a sense of antagonism and superiority toward others, and perceiving threats in their environment.

www.apa.org

A couple of extracts:

“Conspiracy theorists are not all likely to be simple-minded, mentally unwell folks—a portrait which is routinely painted in popular culture,” said Bowes. “Instead, many turn to conspiracy theories to fulfill deprived motivational needs and make sense of distress and impairment.”

---

The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others.

---

I thought the 'comfort' aspect was interesting, as I've seen some conspiracy theorists say that people who don't believe CTs do so because they want to feel comfortable in their little bubbles. This article seems to be suggesting those kind of accusations from conspiracy theorists could be a type of projection.

I agree. To say they’re all mentally deranged and idiotic is obviously wrong, but you definitely get the sense with most of them that something has happened in their life which has caused them to feel incredibly unfulfilled and unhappy. A lot of them come off as bitter and seem like they feel they didn’t quite achieve as much as they wanted to in life (or as much as they thought they deserved to) and are now looking for someone or some sort of outside force to blame for it.

“The researchers also found that people with certain personality traits, such as a sense of antagonism toward others and high levels of paranoia, were more prone to believe conspiracy theories. Those who strongly believed in conspiracy theories were also more likely to be insecure, paranoid, emotionally volatile, impulsive, suspicious, withdrawn, manipulative, egocentric and eccentric.”

Thought this quote was interesting too as I’ve always thought personality was a huge factor in causing people to fall into the conspiracy theorist mindset, I’ve noticed quite a few of the above traits (particularly paranoia) in the CTists I’ve met personally and I often see it online too.

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

My nuttiest CT friend posted a YouTube video yesterday (I don't watch them for fear it'll skew my recommendations/adverts etc!) criticising the concept of 15 minute cities. Like wtf. I then did an incognito search on Google - apparently CT's problems with them is the idea that you'd be fined if you left your district of the city. Give me strength. This girl doesn't even live in a city...

I see a lot of comments about 15 minute cities on local FB groups. I honestly don’t understand the mindset of these people…who generally never leave their own town for anything anyway

I personally think the idea is really interesting and would be great for areas, more infrastructure where they need it rather than all the money being spent in big cities like London and Manchester. I’d love to have everything I need within walking distance, I current commute 4 hours a day and it’s horrendous.

 

[Lovecrisps]

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The researchers found that overall, people were motivated to believe in conspiracy theories by a need to understand and feel safe in their environment and a need to feel like the community they identify with is superior to others.

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This superiority thing is the part that gets me. The people I know who have fallen down the CT rabbit holes definitely think they're geniuses. And as we stop engaging with their posts on social media, their CT friends then think this is evidence that we have no ability to defend our viewpoint and therefore they are right. And the community aspect is very strong, I've a CT friend who over covid has drifted away from most of us to now just be acquaintance level and her closest friends are all people she's in CT groups with.

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

This superiority thing is the part that gets me. The people I know who have fallen down the CT rabbit holes definitely think they're geniuses. And as we stop engaging with their posts on social media, their CT friends then think this is evidence that we have no ability to defend our viewpoint and therefore they are right. And the community aspect is very strong, I've a CT friend who over covid has drifted away from most of us to now just be acquaintance level and her closest friends are all people she's in CT groups with.

The superiority aspect is a tiresome thing, plus the antagonism, volatility and paranoia already mentioned. All traits I've come across with CTs I know, or have experienced online. There seems to be a link between some people with a CT mindset and a tendency towards stirring, troll-like online behaviour too. Irritating but easy enough to ignore.

 

[Merpedy]

I just need to complain:

I’m sort of over this whole “this story is a distraction” narrative that is coming up a lot with this BBC presenter story. At the end of the day, this has likely made a lot of money for The Sun and has increased their site traffic. It’s sad that stories about all the other problems in the world don’t get the same attention but is it surprising that these news sources are going to want to publish things that the public consumes? The BBC is stuck in this weird place where they have to give this more attention than is perhaps necessary because they are involved in it

Of course stories get lost in all of this too but that’s just the PR people doing their jobs well. It’s even harder to believe that someone kicked up this whole story involving multiple unrelated people for the purpose of hiding a story as I’ve seen some suggest

 

[shadowcat5]

I just need to complain:

I’m sort of over this whole “this story is a distraction” narrative that is coming up a lot with this BBC presenter story. At the end of the day, this has likely made a lot of money for The Sun and has increased their site traffic. It’s sad that stories about all the other problems in the world don’t get the same attention but is it surprising that these news sources are going to want to publish things that the public consumes? The BBC is stuck in this weird place where they have to give this more attention than is perhaps necessary because they are involved in it

Of course stories get lost in all of this too but that’s just the PR people doing their jobs well. It’s even harder to believe that someone kicked up this whole story involving multiple unrelated people for the purpose of hiding a story as I’ve seen some suggest

what annoys me about the “distraction” argument is that it often doesn’t make sense.
Obviously the BBC scandal is going to be headline news in the UK because it’s relevant to us. The floods in India will be headline news in India because it’s relevant to them.
The titanic submersible was major news here cause 3 of them were British. It was major news in France because 1 of them was French. It was major news in america and Canada cause it was on their shores. Our family friends in Europe said that it was briefly mentioned.
I’m not naive enough to believe that there are distractions with things like this but more often than not, it’s just what sells and what is relevant.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

Obviously the BBC scandal is going to be headline news in the UK because it’s relevant to us

TBH I had thought half the hype was 'look the BBC has this problem too', with the other half coming from the 'nuke the BBC' side.

Though noting that at the same time the media are happy to gush over the union of an antique with something barely off the production line. Not that I'm judging much.

OTOH people get annoyed by the obsessive coverage and will tune it out until the subject changes back to the actual news so maybe it's not all that distracting because even with that famous 'bury bad news' story, those responsible didn't get away with it and the story they tried to bury giined greater prominence than if they hadn't tried to do that..


Is there such a concept as Schroedinger's Buried News?
Where we don't know if the thing being distracted from was actually buried or simply not noticed until someone went looking because there was a big story that might be a distraction and without the big distracting story there wouldn't have been anything not to notice or go looking for to find something which might not have been noticed even if there hadn't been a big distracting story.

Which made perfect sense until I tried to put it into words...

 

[Deeznutslol]

The thing is, scandalous news stories which drag on like this BBC nonce business actually do often serve to ‘bury’ other pieces of news. I think a lot of people are now aware that stories like this give the conservative government the perfect opportunity to do a load of disability benefit cuts or something equally as unpopular. However the CTists don’t seem to realize this as they’re too busy being distracted by their conspiracy theories .
Honestly, the tory party must absolutely love CTs. Whilst people are sat online all day crying over vaccines and 15 minute cities, they’re busy shoving through all sorts of horrible legislation, privatising public services, further destroying the welfare state and making life more difficult for the majority of the population.

 

[shadowcat5]

The thing is, scandalous news stories which drag on like this BBC nonce business actually do often serve ‘bury’ other pieces of news. I think a lot of people are now aware that stories like this do often serve as the perfect cover for the conservative government to do a load of disability benefit cuts or something equally as unpopular. However the CTists don’t seem to realize this as they’re too busy being distracted by their conspiracy theories .
Honestly, the tory party must absolutely love CTs. Whilst people are sat online all day crying over vaccines and 15 minute cities, they’re busy shoving through all sorts of horrible legislation, privatising public services, further destroying the welfare state and making life more difficult for the majority of the population.

I agree but I think it’s opportunistic most of the time. CTs make out like it’s some huge conspiracy. I doubt the government decided to off a couple of millionaires on a dodgy submersible so we wouldn’t pay attention to the covid inquiry

 

[Deeznutslol]

I agree but I think it’s opportunistic most of the time. CTs make out like it’s some huge conspiracy. I doubt the government decided to off a couple of millionaires on a dodgy submersible so we wouldn’t pay attention to the covid inquiry

Lol, is that what you think? I’ve got it on good authority that Mr Stockton Rush was actually paid by Rishi himself to send that sub down carrying a load of explosives and purposely blow it up !!!
It’s all part of tHe DiStRaCtiOn, and I can see it’s worked a treat on you. TIME TO SHAKE UP WEEPLE

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

Lol, is that what you think? I’ve got it on good authority that Mr Stockton Rush was actually paid by Rishi himself to send that sub down carrying a load of explosives and purposely blow it up !!!
It’s all part of tHe DiStRaCtiOn, and I can see it’s worked a treat on you. TIME TO SHAKE UP WEEPLE

Careful there, Deez, or you might get quote-posted as a Sheeple convert to the CT light...!

I liked Dr Wibble's Schroedinger's Buried News point earlier. Plus the 'distraction' theme meted out by CTs assumes everyone else is thick and unaware of the historic flow and manipulations of tv news & other media. This choosing what topic to focus on (to the detriment of other potentially hot topics) isn't new! It's gone on for decades, centuries even - ever since radio first came out, or news bills were first plastered on walls, or even further back when town criers rang their bells & shouted out the Squire's or Mayor's messages in the village square. Whose points of view were behind these communications? It will have always tended to be the pov of someone in power/leadership. We're fully aware of this, we question what we read and see on tv, we read widely - even the tit CT stuff sometimes so we can critique with knowledge! Here endeth my rant, oyez, oyez!

 

[Deeznutslol]

Careful there, Deez, or you might get quote-posted as a Sheeple convert to the CT light...!

I liked Dr Wibble's Schroedinger's Buried News point earlier. Plus the 'distraction' theme meted out by CTs assumes everyone else is thick and unaware of the historic flow and manipulations of tv news & other media. This choosing what topic to focus on (to the detriment of other potentially hot topics) isn't new! It's gone on for decades, centuries even - ever since radio first came out, or news bills were first plastered on walls, or even further back when town criers rang their bells & shouted out the Squire's or Mayor's messages in the village square. Whose points of view were behind these communications? It will have always tended to be the pov of someone in power/leadership. We're fully aware of this, we question what we read and see on tv, we read widely - even the tit CT stuff sometimes so we can critique with knowledge! Here endeth my rant, oyez, oyez!

BIB: And they’re correct, Owl! There are only two types of people in this world:

1. The intelligent, kind hearted, attractive, open minded, free thinking conspiracy theorists

2. The thick, mRNA ridden, morbidly obese, WEF loving sheeple who know nothing other than how to wear a mask, get injected with vaccines, eat McDonalds, inhale chemtrails, scroll on tiktok using their 5g radiation emitting iphones and worship the MSM.

That’s it. There’s no in-between whatsoever. You’re either awake and aware, or you’re one of those other idiots.



In other news, I saw someone share this cool infographic which shows how effective vaccines have been at reducing different diseases over the years and thought I’d post it here too. It’s from 2017 but I feel it’s relevant given the recent explosion in misinformation about them and the decrease in uptake.

https://www.science.org/content/article/here-s-visual-proof-why-vaccines-do-more-good-harm

 

[Ensay]

Careful there, Deez, or you might get quote-posted as a Sheeple convert to the CT light...!

I liked Dr Wibble's Schroedinger's Buried News point earlier. Plus the 'distraction' theme meted out by CTs assumes everyone else is thick and unaware of the historic flow and manipulations of tv news & other media. This choosing what topic to focus on (to the detriment of other potentially hot topics) isn't new! It's gone on for decades, centuries even - ever since radio first came out, or news bills were first plastered on walls, or even further back when town criers rang their bells & shouted out the Squire's or Mayor's messages in the village square. Whose points of view were behind these communications? It will have always tended to be the pov of someone in power/leadership. We're fully aware of this, we question what we read and see on tv, we read widely - even the tit CT stuff sometimes so we can critique with knowledge! Here endeth my rant, oyez, oyez!

Most of the time when people come up with what they think is an original thought, they immediately play devil's advocate to 'check' that thought's validity. Whereas with conspiracy theorists it doesn't seem to get to that second stage. It's just "this is a distraction!" without thinking how plausible that actually is.
---

BIB: And they’re correct, Owl! There are only two types of people in this world:

1. The intelligent, kind hearted, attractive, open minded, free thinking conspiracy theorists

2. The thick, mRNA ridden, morbidly obese, WEF loving sheeple who know nothing other than how to wear a mask, get injected with vaccines, eat McDonalds, inhale chemtrails, scroll on tiktok using their 5g radiation emitting iphones and worship the MSM.

That’s it. There’s no in-between whatsoever. You’re either awake and aware, or you’re one of those other idiots.



In other news, I saw someone share this cool infographic which shows how effective vaccines have been at reducing different diseases over the years and thought I’d post it here too. It’s from 2017 but I feel it’s relevant given the recent explosion in misinformation about them and the decrease in uptake.
View attachment 2303435

https://www.science.org/content/article/here-s-visual-proof-why-vaccines-do-more-good-harm

They certainly do say they're kind hearted, but your description of the second category (which is spot on by the way) shows they're sometimes anything but.

They're 'kind hearted' if you 100% agree with them, but if you don't, they're often quite the opposite.

 

[caroleffinbaskin]

Most of the time when people come up with what they think is an original thought, they immediately play devil's advocate to 'check' that thought's validity. Whereas with conspiracy theorists it doesn't seem to get to that second stage. It's just "this is a distraction!" without thinking how plausible that actually is.
---

They certainly do say they're kind hearted, but your description of the second category (which is spot on by the way) shows they're sometimes anything but.

They're 'kind hearted' if you 100% agree with them, but if you don't, they're often quite the opposite.

Oh I think a few of us have been the recipients of their kind heartedness

 

[Ensay]

Oh I think a few of us have been the recipients of their kind heartedness

I know they'll act like it's a two way street, but I think it's different because most people who don't support conspiracy theories don't engage with the conspiracy theorists themselves or even pass comment on them. They just don't share the views and it doesn't factor into their thinking.

However, I think you'll struggle to find a conspiracy theorist who hasn't slated non conspiracy theorists at some point. It's not all mean spirited, as I think some of them genuinely can't understand why others wouldn't share their view, so it can be from amazement rather than insults. (I'm trying to be charitable!)

I don't take it to heart because I've got a thick skin. I think what I think and I'm happy to be challenged and discuss my views. That's why I visit sites like Tattle. But that doesn't really exonerate those who are on the ruder end of the spectrum when others disagree with their opinions. It won't change, though.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

Earlier I wasted several minutes on a youtube piece thinking I was going to see some false false false flag theorising (often fascinating) but was disappointed that it turned out to be some guy just parroting the narrative of the mainstream media on the subject of the 'special military operation'.
It was then that I was struck by the realisation that this was absolutely fine because he was not parroting the *western* mainstream media narrative.

Ordinarily wouldn't bother moaning about it but I had just been snorkeling through a load of Kremlin output and it seemed like I had accidentally hit the 'read this aloud' button on one of their summaries.

MSM is MSM is MSM, it doesn't gain 'truth' by virtue of being someone else's.

 

[caroleffinbaskin]

Is t’other thread defunct now? I haven’t been on there for ages so decided to take a look. No posts since May!

 

[shadowcat5]

Is t’other thread defunct now? I haven’t been on there for ages so decided to take a look. No posts since May!

they moved it to the chatter section. It’s still going

 

[daydreamer95]

Is t’other thread defunct now? I haven’t been on there for ages so decided to take a look. No posts since May!

You can select watch button at the top then it will be saved in list so it’s easier to find as Shadow mentions it’s been moved to chatter

Conspiracy Theories #22 Distractions, distractions, distractions

Such a shame people won't watch this Lisdiz They see anyone talking along these lines as a CT and they can't let themselves listen to or watch anyone who is a CT. Old thread...

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