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has there been any research done into how people can feel reasonably uncertain about the official version of something, only to then unconditionally believe the first contrary argument they find on google?
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# ? Jul 17, 2014 19:47 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 15:56 |
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Dirty Job posted:Cracked posted this article and I decided to read the comment section and holy poo poo do a lot of conspiracy theorists read Cracked. I wasn't expecting this level of pushback from the article in question, but the majority of the comments (at least on the FB page) seem to be about people defending themselves not as conspiracy theorists (which a lot of them are claiming is a bullshit grouping tactic developed by The Man), but as "free thinkers" who like to think for themselves and come to their own logical conclusions. Nevermind that they may be verifiably wrong. Hahahaha, yeah, I read that article and then I immediately thought of this thread. But I never read the comments. You just convinced me, and there are angry and paranoid people posting entire essays in the comment sections.
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# ? Jul 17, 2014 21:43 |
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QuarkJets posted:I'm hoping that it will have the reverse effect. Find something absolutely ludicrous, show him the minimum burden of proof that he has required for things like magic internet wands, and then say "look at what a low burden of proof might lead someone to believe" Doesn't work that way. They don't want any of these things to be false, they'll only go deeper if you challenge them. Evil Fluffy posted:You don't cure crazy by throwing an insane person in the shallow end and say LOOK SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO NOT GET WET?! The pool analogy works here as well. Otherwise, just tell them that they're insane and just as bad as the Jesus Camp people.
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# ? Jul 17, 2014 22:16 |
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Farm Frenzy posted:has there been any research done into how people can feel reasonably uncertain about the official version of something, only to then unconditionally believe the first contrary argument they find on google? Yes actually: http://www.academia.edu/1207098/Dead_and_alive_Beliefs_in_contradictory_conspiracy_theories University of Kent did a study that looked at people who believe in 9/11 and Princess Diana conspiracy theories. Frequently people would believe multiple theories, even ones that were mutually exclusive (People would agree with the possibility that Diana was killed by MI-6 and also that she staged her own death). Basically, people feel in their gut that the official story isn't right, and they accept that as 100% true even without any evidence, so they look for any proof of something that backs up their belief. I think even the best of us a're more biased to accept a study that supports a conclusion we already agree with.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 00:19 |
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QuarkJets posted:So awhile ago I posted about a guy I know on Facebook and in my local community who believes all sorts of crazy poo poo, like he's a 9/11 Truther, anti-vaxxer, global warming denialist, baking soda cures cancer but is kept down by big pharma, cannabis oil cures cancer, etc. His primary fallback for evidence is to just post a shitload of anecdotes and links to extremely shady websites. If you can find a few different people on Youtube talking about it, then he's into it. The best conspiracy is the one that says Barack Obama was part of a secret government program in the seventies to send people to mars, and that the future president had both been to mars and travelled through time. I'd look that up.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 01:09 |
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Ogmius815 posted:The best conspiracy is the one that says Barack Obama was part of a secret government program in the seventies to send people to mars, and that the future president had both been to mars and travelled through time. I'd look that up. damnit that would be the coolest thing ever. Also a good plot for a bad late 70's/early 80's sci-fi movie.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 01:33 |
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FuzzySkinner posted:damnit that would be the coolest thing ever.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 01:41 |
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FuzzySkinner posted:damnit that would be the coolest thing ever. I've found the link and it's actually even weirder than I remembered. Here's a wired article: Wired. And here's your "straight from the horse's mouth" source: From the desk of Alfred Lambremont Webre, JD, MEd
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 04:32 |
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Ogmius815 posted:The best conspiracy is the one that says Barack Obama was part of a secret government program in the seventies to send people to mars, and that the future president had both been to mars and travelled through time. I'd look that up. I heard that one on The Colbert Report so I went and found the guy's interview on Coast to Coast AM. Fairly well detailed and imaginative...execpt for the fact the guy really believes it. I'd buy that book. Andrew Basiago - the guy claiming - has a site on this: http://www.projectpegasus.net/
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 14:35 |
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Evil Fluffy posted:You don't cure crazy by throwing an insane person in the shallow end and say LOOK SEE HOW EASY IT IS TO NOT GET WET?! You apparently don't cure crazy with facts and evidence, either, so how the gently caress do you cure crazy?
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 21:46 |
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QuarkJets posted:You apparently don't cure crazy with facts and evidence, either, so how the gently caress do you cure crazy? I'd actually be interested in knowing if conspiracy theorists have grown in number since, say, 9/11. I would imagine the overall distrust in government has caused the numbers to increase, as well as the proliferation of conspiracy theories on both sides of the political spectrum.
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# ? Jul 18, 2014 21:50 |
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QuarkJets posted:You apparently don't cure crazy with facts and evidence, either, so how the gently caress do you cure crazy? After a certain point it may be impossible. For example, North Koreans repatriating into Japan have special schools setup where they can still worship the latest Kim as god even while living in a society that directly contradicts everything the NK regime teaches. The person has to want to accept reality, and anything short of a life shattering event that totally contradicts the things they believe in and forces them to confront their hosed up belief system probably isn't going to make that happen once they're too far in. I have a friend who believes in poo poo like telekinesis and using "theta brain waves" to heal people of injuries over the phone, and was even to the point where he would break up relationships with anyone who disagreed with him about that. As time went on, he calmed down a bit and stopped posting about training his telekinesis with things floating in the bathtub or Newton's cradles (the five clacking metal balls, which of course already had to be moving beforehand). He even paid to go to those sham conferences where they supposedly teach you how to become a "theta healer", and while he's relaxed a bit about the issues he still believes in them nearly a decade later because he has no reason not to. Mercury_Storm fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Jul 18, 2014 |
# ? Jul 18, 2014 22:11 |
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edit: actually you have a point; GMO theories, anti-vaxers, AIDS conspiracists, and Satanic Ritual Abuse are things that have real-world impact. So it does matter that people are crazy and believe crazy things.
Miss-Bomarc fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Jul 19, 2014 |
# ? Jul 19, 2014 09:18 |
Lightning Jim posted:I didn't even bother looking at the comments because :eyeroll: quote:
quote:They're scared. All they can do is mock, but the conspiracy theorists have made it into the mainstream. It's only moon landing poo poo & tin hat- lump it all together, cuz that's all you can do when you realize all those assholes u thought were so immature were right about 9/11 & Kennedy & everything else - & u now feel so dumb I got Stockholm syndrome, but ur not part of the elite & they still don't like you. Har har har. Ah it was a good song. We can laugh why not? Oh please don't answer that question quote:During the video I was thinking how this guy come up with such good parodies and it came across my mind that he might be illuminati or something, then they showed the illuminati! Then I went to dislike the video and when I went back to see if I disliked it my dislike went away... Is Youtube corrupt? Also I was scared to make this comment because when I re watched the video they said "they're always watching". Well poo poo... Conspiracy and corruption everywhere!
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 13:06 |
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watho posted:That video is fantastic but let's take a look at the comments! That third guy is either taking the piss or he's literally in real life.
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 13:12 |
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quote:During the video I was thinking how this guy come up with such good parodies and it came across my mind that he might be illuminati or something, then they showed the illuminati! Then I went to dislike the video and when I went back to see if I disliked it my dislike went away... Is Youtube corrupt? Also I was scared to make this comment because when I re watched the video they said "they're always watching". Well poo poo... Conspiracy and corruption everywhere! This is meta as gently caress.
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 15:24 |
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QuarkJets posted:You apparently don't cure crazy with facts and evidence, either, so how the gently caress do you cure crazy? Drugs.
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# ? Jul 19, 2014 15:40 |
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Lightning Jim posted:I didn't even bother looking at the comments because :eyeroll: My idiot truther friend posted this video in response to the new Weird Al song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBGt-vjefKk
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 00:31 |
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The only thing that has changed the people I've known to be big conspiracy nuts has either been its effect on their job/livelihood, or getting into a relationship with someone that isn't scared to tell them that they're bring ridiculous. It doesn't work on the serious cases, though, that's as hard as getting someone to renounce religious beliefs.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 00:36 |
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I think many learn to not speak of it for fear of being mocked. But if you legitimately believed lizardmen were controlling the media to brainwash you i feel like you'd loving freak.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 00:39 |
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So is weird Al a puppet who is trying to discredit conspiracy theories because they are close to waking up the sheeple and overthrowing the NWO, or is he trying to ACTUALLY warn everyone about the NWO under the protection of a silly song? OR BOTH?
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 00:47 |
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ClownSyndrome posted:So is weird Al a puppet who is trying to discredit conspiracy theories because they are close to waking up the sheeple and overthrowing the NWO, or is he trying to ACTUALLY warn everyone about the NWO under the protection of a silly song? He's obviously a lizard man wearing a mask considering he looks younger now than he did 30 years ago.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 01:11 |
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muscles like this? posted:He's obviously a lizard man wearing a mask considering he looks younger now than he did 30 years ago. But the video reveals that's Patton Oswalt. Is he also a lizard man? Is Patton not? I guess all I can say is everything you know is wrong.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 01:53 |
Yarbald posted:My idiot truther friend posted this video in response to the new Weird Al song: When someone doesn't agree with you, they are either brainwashed or brainwashing other people. Only explanation.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 10:46 |
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ClownSyndrome posted:So is weird Al a puppet who is trying to discredit conspiracy theories because they are close to waking up the sheeple and overthrowing the NWO, or is he trying to ACTUALLY warn everyone about the NWO under the protection of a silly song? Why can't it be both? watho posted:When someone doesn't agree with you, they are either brainwashed or brainwashing other people. Only explanation. I just noticed that The Amazing Atheist is trolling in the comments.
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 18:35 |
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So this plane disaster is turning some otherwise pretty rational people into spiral eyed lunatics right now. Russia did it! Ukraine did it! AMERICA DID IT! FOR SOME REASON. Gah...
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 19:00 |
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Things Americans can't handle: planes
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# ? Jul 20, 2014 19:12 |
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Edit: wrong thread.
fermun fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jul 21, 2014 |
# ? Jul 20, 2014 23:32 |
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Speaking of MH17, why not turn to Sky News and watch their on-site reporter opening up victims' luggage and rummaging through it on air?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 05:32 |
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Wasn't the rebel leader saying that dead bodies were planted on the plane to make them look bad and then they went and stole all the bodies for themselves?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 05:35 |
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moller posted:According to multiple eyewitness accounts from other students it never happened. It's possibly a total fabrication by the mother, or it might have been a different conversation with a different student, or just a bit of folklore that people liked the sound of. Yeah, this is why books like this always end up in the "true-stories" section, it's glurge that's not factual but pretends to be. There's a lot of urban-folklore and conspiracies about a vast network of people trying to snatch your little baby girl away.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 09:32 |
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Got linked to this on Facebook (thankfully by someone who also thinks this is crazy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdtNsfHGgU0 I simply cannot understand the mindset that the moon is fake. Is this an example of Capgras delusion?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 16:43 |
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Lightning Jim posted:Got linked to this on Facebook (thankfully by someone who also thinks this is crazy) I don't have 25 minutes to sink into that video. What does he say about tides and the fact that the moon has been visible throughout human history?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 16:53 |
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razorrozar posted:I don't have 25 minutes to sink into that video. What does he say about tides and the fact that the moon has been visible throughout human history? http://www.revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback4.htm quote:And just which ancients were those, dare I ask? Do you know that there is no mention of the moon in the English language prior to the year 1066? That is a little known fact that Lunarists often fail to mention. And this: http://www.revisionism.nl/Moon/Feedback5.htm quote:The tide myth is one of the oldest and most absurd lies that the Lunar establishment has tried to push on a gullible world. Do they really expect us to believe that the moon - an object that allegedly resides at an average distance of 240,000 miles from the earth - has the power, from that distance, to lift how many billions of cubic meters of water?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:12 |
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This is a thing? Does it include lunar landing conspiracies or is it even beyond that? I kinda get how people can not believe that we landed a man on the moon. But to not believe in the moon at all is just... well, I don't think I have the words.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:24 |
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Do they just see an optical illusion when they look up at night (OK, most nights) or something? A big ball of swamp gas?
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:29 |
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Canadian Bakin posted:This is a thing? Does it include lunar landing conspiracies or is it even beyond that? I kinda get how people can not believe that we landed a man on the moon. But to not believe in the moon at all is just... well, I don't think I have the words. I've known this conspiracy theory has been around for a while, but just now looking into it. Since "there is no moon" according to them the lunar landing conspiracy obviously ties into it. That's why I'm wondering if this isn't similar to the Capgras delusion except for non-living objects.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:31 |
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Prism posted:Do they just see an optical illusion when they look up at night (OK, most nights) or something? A big ball of swamp gas? Weather balloon, probably.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:38 |
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Canadian Bakin posted:Weather balloon, probably. I don't think I have ever seen a real weather balloon in the sky, come to think of it.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 17:43 |
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# ? May 21, 2024 15:56 |
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Prism posted:Do they just see an optical illusion when they look up at night (OK, most nights) or something? A big ball of swamp gas? The video I linked to claims it is a hologram from a satellite that's in orbit.
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# ? Jul 21, 2014 18:09 |