The Conspiracy Theory Mind

Philosophy Forums Psychology and Mind
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I’ve read this interesting article recently:

and it made me wonder why, in an age where information is so readily available, and literally in the palm of anyone’s hand, many still cling desperately to conspiracy theories of their own creation or those sanctioned by public approval, making a fool of themselves and of anyone who wastes time interacting with them.

Like any community on the internet, this place has had and still has its share of conspiracy theorists. One user here brought to discussion the most (in)famous and easy to debunk conspiracy, the flat earth. Since he disappeared, I figure he had nothing else to say. This guy strikes me as a good example of a reasonably intelligent person who goes to the utmost limits to prove his beloved theory is right- no matter the evidence, which he has none to offer except what passes in his mind for valuable advice- “learn to look at things differently, trust your senses!” As if it was not one’s senses that proved astral bodies like the earth are round. But the important detail here is not even that flat-earthism is ridiculous (it is) but how the person puts all her intelligence (?) to work in favor of an idea which most everyone else recognizes as preposterous.

Another typical example are the conspiracies involving Jews. I think “Jew” must be the most repeated word in the history of this community, maybe someone could do this research! In case of doubt, blame it on the Jew! This ever-favorite object of ridicule and scapegoating, the Jew, could not be absent in the realm of conspiracy, could he? But what on earth is a Jew, after all? The word is so popular and repeated so many times in these times that it’s losing any meaning. The Jew can be everyone, can be everywhere, and, obviously, can do anything. Like the witches burned by the inquisitorial flames, anyone can fit the shoes of a Jew, because anyone can know, sooner or later, what it means to be persecuted for nothing, for belonging to a target group with which one can have little to no identification.

Here somebody asks: what about Gaza?? To whom you might respond: learn the difference between Israeli and Jew first, then come back later.

So, what happens with the conspiratorial mind? Why do these guys derive so much pleasure concocting make believe theories where they are invariably the lucid one trying to bring others to reason, despite looking and sounding like the one who needs to know what reason is in the first place?

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Paranoia is natural in a world that is inherently violent. Yes, somebody is out to get you in one way or another. This is true for everyone.

However, the scale of the conspiracy and the type of person that holds it can be questioned. Most of the big conspiracy types are zeros who, if the world were any different (a 1984, a jewish takeover, a maoist china, whatever) wouldn’t suffer or succeed anymore than they are now in this world order. Which is to say they’d have nothing really to lose.

Real conspiracy is happening when you could, should, and would be living differently if some hostile force wasn’t stopping you.

The jews and the Illuminati and the flat earthers and the aliens could come down from the skies right now, and maybe two out of a thousand of these goons would have anything to lose. They’d be doing the same shit every day whether the president was an alien or not. That’s why i don’t pay any attention to em (the conspirators).

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Wherever there is power there is ongoing conspiracies against the weak or powerless. If you need evidence simply read a world history book of politics. Tyranny, oppression, and exploitation relies on conspiracy or conspiring against others.

I also make no apologies for not kissing the asses of Jews on this forum. The rest of you can kiss their asses if you want to, I simply won’t.

“Don’t criticize those religious supremacist and genocidal Jews man, that’s discriminatory! That’s not kosher!”

:clown_face:

1000003236

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For someone who acts like an amoral nihilistic anarchist you seem pretty concerned about criticizing Jews or conspiratorial thinking, why is that? If nothing truly matters on your line of thinking, then nothing truly matters…

:clown_face:

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I knew you’d pay a visit to this topic, consumate conspiracy theorist that you are.

And now, besides the clown, there is a laughing Buddha? Good for you that Buddhists are most of the “peace and love” type.

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You made some good points. Really, it seems to be related to the paranoia of modern over-populated times. I’d say that this notion that there’s always someone ready to “get” you has some appeal to it, but you can never know who such a someone is, and whether they will ever manage to get you really or die trying. It can happen that you live your entirely life not being harmed by anyone, ever, and STILL feed the illusion that there are enemies hiding in wait for you everywhere. You can never KNOW. So filling your head with crazy theories about enemies that will always be imaginary (since the real enemy will always be different from your imagination) seems to me like a way of needlessly increasing your problems in life with a psychological drama that you yourself invented.

Two interesting things you mention are 1984 and the “Illuminati”.

I’m reading 1984 now, it’s a brilliant book. The author perfectly crafts a satire of totalitarian governments and is also a journey into the center of a truly paranoid mind, which needs to have every little detail of its life under control to gain a sense of direction and completeness. The curious thing is that if you watch a conspiracy theorist’s speech, they act as if they were living in the world of 1984, with every little movement of their lives observed, recorded, and controlled. They feel like characters in a dystopian novel.

The “Illuminati” is one of the things I could have mentioned in the OP. It’s incredibly popular on the internet, a secret organization, so secret that no one will ever identify a shred of evidence about it, but at the same time it controls everything that happens in the world; all major events have “their” indirect participation. If I’m not mistaken, it was Dan Brown who made this theory popular. The funny thing is that there really was a society called the Illuminati, but it didn’t have a tenth of the power and influence that conspiracists think “they” still have today.

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It’s wasn’t hard to distinguish you’re talking about me, so yes, it didn’t go unnoticed. Actually no, it’s a laughing monk.:clown_face:

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I haven’t disappeared. I’ve been here the whole time, following the conversation. Just because I didn’t immediately jump in doesn’t mean I have nothing to say. I’m not here to get into a shouting match or to win an argument. I’m here to discuss.

​And you say I have no evidence to offer except to “trust your senses.” But that’s the whole point. The most reliable evidence you have is right in front of you. When you look at the horizon, it’s flat. When you pour water, it’s level. When you see a ship go into the distance, it’s an optical illusion. You say your senses prove that the Earth is round, but you’re not using your senses. You’re using what someone else told you to believe about what you’re seeing.

​You call my idea preposterous, and that’s fine. But for a community that’s supposed to be about philosophy and questioning things, you’re pretty quick to shut down an idea just because it’s not the popular one. The most important detail here isn’t whether the Earth is flat or not. It’s that you’re willing to believe something without questioning it. I’m just here to get people to think for themselves. If that makes me a “nutcase,” then I’m okay with that. At least I’m doing my own thinking.

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not really you, at least not only you, you’re not the only emissary from the conspiracy theorists’ clan here, man, actually you’re even one of the less obnoxious c. theorists I’ve found on the internet so far, and I’ve found many

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Hi Samuel, I didn’t even imagine you’d still be around here

Well, you are talking like the earth being a globe is as undemonstrable as, say, the human soul being independent of the body, or the body surviving death. Such things are undemonstrable, the round earth is not. There are pics, videos, things you have not to support your thesis. Also, there’s the evidence of my senses: my eyes can see the Moon, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars are all round- why would the earth be an exception to this pattern?

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That’s a good thing, actually I understand your not the run-of-the-mill angry conspiracy nut willing to force his beliefs down anyone’s throats, but the core point is, yours is a scientific theory, scientific theories can’t be based merely on words. If the Earth is flat it’s being flat since forever, is it conceivable that there’s NO concrete evidence of it- everything is immediately destroyed by secret NASA agents hidden in every corner?

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You know, for an anarchist you’re awfully trusting of this world at face value of the presiding governing forces everywhere.

Even me a staunch Marxist, communist, and autocrat I trust almost noone where there are few things in this world beyond people I trust in at all. You have more faith in this world than I do, shouldn’t that concern you? As for me, I always remain suspicious of most things until they give me reason not to be. :clown_face:

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Let me see if you can differentiate the value of the following statements:

a) There are a lot of horrible things in this world. In fact, it is a dog-eat-dog world;

b) Jews (aliens, Russians, conservatives, Muslims, etc) are responsible for this world to be what it is

Can you tell the difference?

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Can you tell the difference? :clown_face:

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Obviously.

The first is a fair assessment of the observable reality of this world.

The second is a conspiracy theory.

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There is no such thing as a nihilist Max because you need to exist to claim that you’re a nihilist which only confirms you are a liar by claiming it.If you claim anything then you haven’t cancelled out.This is very basic philosophy Max.

The lifeless biological machine mind is programmed with binary software.

It claims,

I am a nihilist/I am a nihilist

I am a nihilist/I am not a nihilist

I am not a nihilist/I am a nihilist

I am not a nihilist/I am not a nihilist

This is the limits of its binary software programming.

It also claims,

I exist/I exist

I exist/I don’t exist

I don’t exist/I exist

I don’t exist/I don’t exist

A lifeless biological machine programmed with binary software exists because it needs to exist to claim that it doesn’t exist and it doesn’t exist because it doesn’t possess life.

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Here’s a shining example of the conspiratorial mind.

A guy who thinks he alone wants to uncover the truth about the universe while all others participate in the same delusion. He is the truly deluded one, but always comes out as the knower and the winner in every non-existent debate he pretends to take part of.

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You’re a psychotic who believes everything is an illusion (a misrepresentation of reality) including yourself just like Nietzsche Max…you know what happened to him…he went mad.

I accept the physical for what it is.A lifeless generator and processor of binary data.

You obviously struggle with reality.

Science totally confirms +/-=+/- philosophy so what are you talking about you fool.

There isn’t a scientist in the world that can find fault with my science and they won’t debate with me because they know my science is sound.

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No, bot, for me everything that exists around me is real and very much real, including me.

You’d have to produce a quote from me in this forum saying I think we’re all illusions, but you can’t, since you took that idea straight out of your hide.

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You’re a sad deluded psychotic who believes everything is meaningless and a misrepresentation of reality Max.

You just make stuff up as you go along.

Your physical body is a binary processing biological bot.

Your spirit is dead within it.