Why do you need to believe?

To start off with, let me say that there are some conspiracy theories that I can see validity in. Not many, but there are a select few. Poking around on the internet today, I found an interesting blog from one Bruce Schneier. The blog discusses the nature of the average conspiracy theorist, and an information gathering attempt he made on delving deeper in to the conspiracy thought process.

To appreciate why this form of reasoning is seductive, consider the alternative: major events having minor or mundane causes -- for example, the assassination of a president by a single, possibly mentally unstable, gunman, or the death of a princess because of a drunk driver. This presents us with a rather chaotic and unpredictable relationship between cause and effect. Instability makes most of us uncomfortable; we prefer to imagine we live in a predictable, safe world, so in a strange way, some conspiracy theories offer us accounts of events that allow us to retain a sense of safety and predictability.-Bruce Schneier

Link to source.

So my question is this; why do you believe in conspiracy theories? An inquisitive nature? An unwillingness to trust the powers that be? Or do you plain not know? Your answers are appreciated!

I don't need to believe, I choose to believe in the evidence, rather than the official story that is handed to me. I would rather look at the facts and decide for myself, rather than have the great tragedies explained by the powers that be.

I have no doubt there are conpiricies behind 9/11, not because I want them to be true, but because the facts don't add up as they have been presented.

I do not want to be spoon fed simple answers to the terrible things that happen, answers that just happen to justify the terrible things that those in power do.

I want the truth and that is not too much to ask.

It is not wrong to go looking for the truth, it is only wrong to stop searching once you think you've found it.

Just my thoughts,

wupy

I think a lot of people believe in conspiracies because there have been so many that have been proven.

A couple of Canadian ones would be the cases of Donald Marshall and David Milgaard, both conspiracies by definition. Both were wrongfully accused and convicted of crimes they didn't commit and inquiries show there were conspiracies to cover up the truth.

Or here's a more current one. A former Canadian Prime Minister and sitting Member of Parliament at the time, took $300,000 in cash from a German business man and arm's dealer in a hotel room. He tried to cover it up, which by definition, is a conspiracy. And it's been proven to be true.

So that's why I believe in them. There out there, some we will discover and some we won't but that doesn't make them not true. There are plenty of people in this world who are ready, willing and able to commit acts that aren't legal or moral and go to what ever lengths they need to to hide them.

It's like looking at a line of information with a break in it.

Say you had a particular person, this could be anyone from osama bin laden to Tony Blair, and you collected all the known information on them that was available.

You still wouldn't know everything about the person.

There would be gaps, and in those gaps these people have the potential to;

A: Get up to Mischief (usual corruption/sleaze).

B: Make some sort of pact with other groups (thereby acquisiting power).

or

C: Get on with their lives.

It is the unknown factors that drive my belief, not the known.

There are people out there whom are aware of these 'gaps' in information that can be gathered about them, and as such they realise they can use it to their advantage.

The law only does so much before it turns into invasion of privacy.

Oh, and i have a problem with being told how things are when i can see for myself that it is otherwise.

I believe in my desire for perfectly cooked barbeque wings and Great Lakes special ale. Pale ale the bestest.

a human behavior will always be dictated by an indaviduals experiences, so constant dis-beleif in "authorities", or the provervial "they" can be explained by bad experiences. there are also many nuralogical conditions that poeple use to explain away paranoid behavior

reply to post by mrwupy


"It is not wrong to go looking for the truth, it is only wrong to stop searching once you think you've found it. "

yeah i think i'll put that in my best quotes ever.. uh. thing..
guess i'll have to make said thing first.. but that quote will be first!!

epic quote id say.

-G

reply to post by jpm1602


pale ale is cloudy and gives me a headache.. headache endusing pale ale is a conspiracy.. its always so damn cloudy and full of who knows what!!

^_-

-G

The bottom line is, if you don't believe, you are under the control of others. I say this because if you don't have your OWN beliefs, then you DO have the beliefs of OTHERS. This is VERY dangerous, as it obviously leads you wide open to deception. Once you ONLY follow the beliefs of others, your free will is gone.

if you dont have your OWN feet.. you have someone ELSES feet!!! so you are not walking.. someone else is..

agnosticism.. an open minded lack of belief..

if your saying that people believe something.. but they dont believe it. and they really think they do believe it.. but its imposed by outside sources which MAKE them believe as they do... i dunno man..

i dont believe you know what the hell your talking about.. and i dont believe i undestatnd what your trying to say.. Therefore.. im in the control of others..

you controlled me right there.. made me make a point that i dont know if your even smart enough to understand what you just tried, or actually, conveyed, and if you can further express your thoughts more articulately enough to make me not respond to you like you dont know what your talking about.

...or something..

-G

Originally posted by NuclearPaul
The bottom line is, if you don't believe, you are under the control of others. I say this because if you don't have your OWN beliefs, then you DO have the beliefs of OTHERS. This is VERY dangerous, as it obviously leads you wide open to deception. Once you ONLY follow the beliefs of others, your free will is gone.

This is a great response. I see examples of the latter all the time. All too often someone will come here with zero evidence, zero humility, and post a random string of supposed happenings, and dozens of people will willingly flock to them because they need to believe.

My unpopular opinion:


A large chunk of conspiracy theories are promoted by people suffering a condition called "the mean world syndrome". These are fearful or angry cry-baby types who see evil in every person of some authority or prosperity.

The rest is promoted by the curious, intelligent "look behind the curtains" type of person.

I'm an older guy thats been around the block a couple of times. I have always questioned authority and seek my own answers. I still know a couple of conspiracies that haven't been mentioned here but someone will find "new" old stuff.

Many, many of my conspiracies died or attitude changed while I was employed with the DOD. No I'm not some big insider, but I met many good, patriotic people both military and civilian, and I asked pointed questions that were answered either honestly, IMO, or told nothing. At times, the reactions was all I needed.

Do I still believe in some of the conspiracies; somethings just aren't quite right about somethings. I won't say what as I feel everyone needs to find the answer they are comfortable with. Others have posted theories that just are trolls. Then there are some conspiracies I deliberately stay away from because there is no hope for the people posting their thoughts and this is just a waste of my time.

In the old TV show X Files, they used the phrase "The truth is out there". Well, it's been my experience that it actually is, you just need to find the right person.