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Thread: The psychology of conspiracy theorists

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    Default The psychology of conspiracy theorists

    As a supposedly intelligent species, how have we reached a point where conspiracy theorists believe what they do so fervently and with such conviction, when there is so much evidence to the contrary? I'm interested to understand the causes, the psychology of those types of people who believe those things. Are they just uneducated? Something inside them that compels them to rebel against accepted truths? A product of life experiences that lead them to jump to certain conclusions that support what they espouse?

    Moon landing never happened types might be annoying.
    Flat earthers are just plain laughable.
    Anti-5G types are a source of cringe-worthy amusement.

    But more dangerous are the anti-vaxxers. Those sorts of anti-science beliefs wouldn't be so bad if they didn't potentially have an impact on those around them. What might the world look like today if whooping cough or polio protecting vaccines were subject to public derision if anti-vaxxers been around, in force, and able to widely spread disinformation back in the 1930s and 1980s respectively?
    And what of the COVID vaccine? Locally in my region, it seems about 50% of people are not going to opt for it. Reasons given range right across the spectrum from distrust as to the speed of development to (I kid you not) fears it's a joint government-alien mind control mechanism. If that bears out to a 50% vaccination rate, that's probably not enough to fully protect the overall population, and people will suffer as a result.

    What's in the minds of people who distrust rigorous science, deride accepted fact, and are deluded into thinking they know more about XYZ than professionals who have studied & worked in their respective field for decades?
    I don't want to turn this into a debate regarding specific beliefs, but more a general exploration as to why people believe what they do, in the face of overwhelmingly contradictory evidence.

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    small minded and are easily influenced by others into thinking it is their own original thoughts bloody dimwits in other words

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    Yes came across one anti vaxxer covid denialist sprouting his rabid beliefs. The usual, vaccination will make you become sterile as the vaccine is a plot to bring in population control.
    Covid is all an illusion no worse than influenza and is being engineered to bring in a socialist control society.

    A lot more but could not be bothered to type out the drivel I heard. Know this guy lives alone in a remote place with a chained and locked gate and apart from anything else is involved with drug usage.

    Hangs out with a few other like minded low educated morons. Overall think he and his ilk are just sick isolated people with little or nothing in their lives.
    Last edited by Landytrack; 10-01-21 at 07:06 AM.

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    It's because their beliefs are based on faith which hardly ever requires facts (religion anyone?)

    They 'feel' its the truth so no amount of facts can ever dissuade them from that faith.

    I never try to reason with a religious person or a true believer in whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is....It's a lost cause.

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    religion is never a reason to do any thing

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    Quote Originally Posted by mandc View Post
    It's because their beliefs are based on faith which hardly ever requires facts (religion anyone?)

    They 'feel' its the truth so no amount of facts can ever dissuade them from that faith.

    I never try to reason with a religious person or a true believer in whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is....It's a lost cause.
    Well said.

    There are however, a tiny percentage who have had their children severely affected by vaccination. There is/was one on this board who's child suffered greatly. These people I have sympathy for.

    But the rest are loons and best just ignored as nothing can dissuade them.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    The issue is that the minority seem to make the most noise these
    days and the powers that be wont stand up and say enough is enough.



    Quote Originally Posted by mandc View Post
    I never try to reason with a religious person or a true believer in whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is....It's a lost cause.
    there are a few times that i will walk away from an argument because i know i
    will never win.
    1: with the wife
    2: if its about religion
    3: if its about politics
    4: if its about climate change

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    Quote Originally Posted by mandc View Post
    It's because their beliefs are based on faith which hardly ever requires facts (religion anyone?)

    They 'feel' its the truth so no amount of facts can ever dissuade them from that faith.

    I never try to reason with a religious person or a true believer in whatever their conspiracy theory of the day is....It's a lost cause.

    Religion was always used to explain 'Life, the Universe and Everything' until Science came around and then the Faith People got confused.

    As education was never really their thing, they decided to create their own explanations that fit better to their current mindset.
    They also have a strong herd mentality like religious people do and form groups that strengthen their views so that becomes the only 'truth' they can see.

    The only way they MIGHT change is if something very bad happens to them, like their family members die from the disease they should been vaccinated from but even that is not sure as their peers will make up different reasons like:
    "That was not Covid that the Democrats created to fool you, it was Pneumonia, sorry Ammonia(they are not THAT educated) from a common flu"
    or maybe:
    "From those rainbow colours you sometimes see when you water the garden with a hose set to mist. The Democrats poisoned the water, there is no Covid".
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uncle Fester View Post
    The only way they MIGHT change is if something very bad happens to them, like their family members die from the disease they should been vaccinated from but

    Unfortunately they will just say " it was their time " it was gods will

    i have witnessed just such reply

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    Quote Originally Posted by fandtm666 View Post
    Unfortunately they will just say " it was their time " it was gods will

    i have witnessed just such reply
    Exactly right ; been there too ...and you can't argue/debate with such folks -- they always say it's "not their view" they're proffering, but instead god's view (and by extension, no mortal can argue/debate against god)

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    Quote Originally Posted by fandtm666 View Post
    Unfortunately they will just say " it was their time " it was gods will
    I can only hope I spontaneously raise from the dead if someone says that in my case, just to tell them "It was not!".
    Only then can I finally rest in peace.
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    Quote Originally Posted by mitaux8030 View Post
    What's in the minds of people who distrust rigorous science, deride accepted fact, and are deluded into thinking they know more about XYZ than professionals who have studied & worked in their respective field for decades?
    I believe that many do not think things through. I believe it's human nature to be born superstitious and this weakness has been exploited over the years by some to control the many.

    How many here succumb to this weakness in minor ways, eg when some device does not work properly and by fiddling with a particular control, it starts working, so every time in the future they fiddle with that control, whether they need to or not and because the device works normally then it become engrained that this action is needed to make the device work.

    The medicine men of old would do a rain dance to the gods when black clouds appear on the horizon and because it soon starts to rain, the masses accept that this medicine man has super power to communicate with the gods, so what he says goes.

    I recently had a family friend, from many years ago, visit for a week. This woman consults with psychics and various alternative medicine people, and it absolutely amazed me the crap she came out with regarding what to eat and what not to eat and and why this item is better for you than that if you are such and such a blood group and so on.

    My degree is in science, but I just held my tongue, nothing I could say would alter her entrenched ideas, so why create angst?
    Last edited by RogerTheDoger; 11-01-21 at 12:06 AM.

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    Ive had the mispleasure of meeting two of those flat earth idiots - I was out on my jetski east of Great Keppell as usual , heading towards Barren Island , and came across a pair of kayakers. these 2 clowns told me they were paddling out to see the edge of the earth , which according to thier map ( looks drawn by a 10 year old ) was located 10klm off Barren Island. I told them that i had been 10k east of Barren and there is nothing but ocean out there. they replied that all maps drawn by cartographers are false , and a conspiracy , except for the one they had.... Did they expect to see a huge retaining wall or something???? FFS. I could not convince them to turn around so all i could do was contact VMR and hope they were able to convince them to go back.

    i think all these conspiracy theorists are just as bad as all these abos who believe in this dreamtime bullshit. Not a single shred of evidence to show that some serpent pissed into the oceans then lied down and created the mountains but they believe it 100% . Trouble is our governments are also stupid enough to listen to the twits and spend millions of tax dollars on books , signs and artworks trying to convince smart white people thats the way it actually happened !!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by VroomVroom View Post
    ........................

    i think all these conspiracy theorists are just as bad as all these abos who believe in this dreamtime bullshit. Not a single shred of evidence to show that some serpent pissed into the oceans then lied down and created the mountains but they believe it 100% . Trouble is our governments are also stupid enough to listen to the twits and spend millions of tax dollars on books , signs and artworks trying to convince smart white people thats the way it actually happened !!!
    Naaaah, they spend the money to shut the noisy dumb people up.....
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Quote Originally Posted by VroomVroom View Post
    (snip)

    i think all these conspiracy theorists are just as bad as all these abos who believe in this dreamtime bullshit. Not a single shred of evidence to show that some serpent pissed into the oceans then lied down and created the mountains but they believe it 100% . Trouble is our governments are also stupid enough to listen to the twits and spend millions of tax dollars on books , signs and artworks trying to convince smart white people thats the way it actually happened !!!
    IDK Lets just say, consider yourself lucky not to put up with Trumpsters and all their dangerous QaNon conspiracy theories. I would trade places with you in a minute.

    Besides the beliefs of indigenous people are no more incredible than organised religion. Dreamtime sounds nicer than all the bloodletting and incest in the bible.
    Last edited by RFI-EMI-GUY; 11-01-21 at 03:32 PM.
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    You guys might like to listen to a few podcasts.

    The best one.

    Australian

    European based

    Ross and Carrie are piss funny. They go and join the nutters.

    But if you want to hit the nail on the head.... Be Reasonable with Michael Marshall.

    He interviews cranks. he does not judge them or tell them they are wrong, he interviews them to learn what they think, why and how.
    Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

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    You can include the "deniers" in with the conspiracy theorists as well. World wide deniers of atrocities like genocides, torture, the Holocaust, stolen generation, the disappeared etc etc. If they don't actually deny it ever happened, they try and justify the reasons, or downplay the extent of it, claiming it is just a conspiracy against the perpetrators.. And that is throughout history.

    What amazes me though, is how a whole country could be in denial of or condone the Holocaust. Was it group fear, or did they keep shut about it because they agreed with it? Probably a too simplistic point of view, but it's pretty amazing anyway.
    Last edited by bob_m_54; 15-01-21 at 01:39 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_m_54 View Post
    ......................

    What amazes me though, is how a whole country could be in denial of or condone the Holocaust. Was it group fear, or did they keep shut about it because they agreed with it? Probably a too simplistic point of view, but it's pretty amazing anyway.
    .

    Hmmmm, agree....don't forget that there was limited mass communication at that time in Germany. Radio, the cinema, and Newspapers (all controlled by the regime) and word of mouth.

    There was a large German city (name escapes me) that was captured virtually intact by the western allies. An analysis of the Gestapo records which they had not destroyed, showed that all it took for a large population to be held in total fear was 9 Gestapo officers, just 9, and one squad of SS to do the arresting. The the vast majority of control were the people doing each other in.

    Denial of the holocaust after the facts had been clearly presented is a different psychological issue about which I know little.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    I am into US politics. Talk about conspiracy theorists there :-)

    Some are just simply delusional to the max, as in way past their due by date for mental health care.

    One QANON person tracked down was quite a smart person. He always wanted to be a movie writer. Could never get a job and went on to publish some of the wildest theories out there.

    By enlarge, they are not the highest performing IQ group. Easily mislead. Sadly, it is the way they are brought up. From a young age and in schools, they have this insular belief system, superior belief system and that a sky fairy can heal everything.

    The latest conspiracy theory to come out of US (as in last couple of days) from a group calling themselves Sovereign Citizens and people represented by a letter that comes before R, is that on March 4, Ttump will be sworn in as the 17th President. They 'believe' a law enacted in 1871, turned the USA in to a corporation annnd did away with the American government of the founding fathers and Constitution. Therefore, all Constitutional amendments passed after 1871 are invalid. And therefore, Ttump will be inaugurated as President on March 4, Ttump going to Florida and moving out of the White House is all... Wait for it... A RUSE!! Yes, a ruse!!

    "America's mental health crisis all laid out to bear"... in this article authored by Sovereign Citizens and people represented by a letter that comes before R ;-)

    Some of these conspiracy theorists have a real mental health issue, annnd to boot, followers believe this crap!!

    I can reference if you want me to.

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