Why do we embrace conspiracy theories?

I happened upon a great article this morning
by Fareed Zakaria on CNN. And he asked the
above question.

However, I did find Mr. Zakaria's article to
be slightly biased toward the establishment.
But I expected this after seeing his recent interview
with George Soros.

The propensity of Americans to embrace conspiracy theories has long been attributed to their great suspicion of state authority. America was founded as a revolt against centralized power and there has always been a fear of coordinated action taking place in the dark behind closed doors. American conspiracy theories implicate Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, the U.S. government, the intelligence community and many others. But conspiracy theories are certainly not confined to the United States.

Pakistan is rife with them. A leading Pakistani journalist, Jugnu Mohsin (who will be on GPS this Sunday at 10am ET/PT), attributes conspiracy theories in her country to a population that feels deeply disenfranchised. There are so many double and triple games being played on them by the Pakistani military and the Pakistani establishment that it breeds conspiracy theories. The Arab world is also full of conspiracy theories and many analysts blame them on the prevalence of dictatorships.

Conspiracy theories are indeed an odd phenomenon since they are widely present in the world’s leading democracies and the world’s leading dictatorships. They can’t be entirely related to political institutions.

There must be something deep in the human psyche that makes us believe there are patterns to events – order, purpose and meaning.

globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com...

In this article Mr. Zakaria got a few things right.
He also got a few things wrong.
But he also missed a few things as well.

The things he missed included things like truth
and closure. The mind needs and desires truth.
The mind needs to be able to trust. It can have
neither when governments lie to it's people.
Therefore conspiracies exist because some
hunt the far reaches of the universe for absolute
truth.

Curiosity and intrigue also play factors into
the conspiracy theorists mindset. We always
want to know what it is we don't already know.
And finding out the things we don't know is like
a drug. It creates a high far greater than anything
you can get from a drug store.

Some may call it a disease, others may call it
criminal. I call it a lifestyle. I want to know and
damnit, I'm gonna find out whether or not you
try to sway my opinion with government disinfo
and propaganda.

It is a cycle of mind food. An event happens.
There are several people who saw and heard
different things. An Official Story is published
in syndication with the spin TPTB desire.
Then us as a consumer, our BS bells and whistles
go off saying something is just not right here.
This is not the way it happened cuz some of us
have enlightened senses of awareness. We also
have collective memories of past events where
we have learned of certain details that were true
and have put these truths into our memory banks
to be recalled at a future date for background research.
We also find evidence from multiple other sources
which prove the presented story to be bunk.
And we know in our gut, this is NOT the truth.

TPTB use collective Psy-Ops on the public at large.
Meaning one lie is based upon another lie is based
upon another lie. However, in using this type approach
means they have to keep remembering the old lie
they initially told. Our BS detectors go off when the
new lies do not match the old lies.

So we conspiracy theorists (still hunting for that
truth) start making hypotheses from certain givens
in the story we feel ARE the truth. We start from
what we feel is the truth and work backwards
into a workable timeline and theory that makes sense
in our minds. In essence we are literally trying
to correct the falsehoods and spin that was presented
to us in the original article or story. That spin was put there
for a reason. That reason may become clearer as we
proceed with the hypotheses.

In essence, there would be no conspiracy theorists
if we were told the absolute truth at the start. So
the real fault here is 2-fold. Our human minds'
need for absolute truth and our authoritative
powers for hiding absolute truth.

And that my friend is just a peek into the mind of
one such conspiracy theorist

But you are free to draw your own conspiracy theories
about us conspiracy theorists.

boondock-saint from ATS

Probably because the MSM doesn't give you the truth, we embrace them because they give us an explanation of what we can't explain.

Although there are very in depth reasons as those above, for me its simply that we are doing the job investigative journalists use to do. They have been muffled by the owners of the press and government silencers, so its up to the public to investigate and get to the truth.

There is nothing wrong with one wanting to know the truth, there is something very wrong with someone who hides the truth.

Originally posted by Lynda101
Although there are very in depth reasons as those above, for me its simply that we are doing the job investigative journalists use to do. They have been muffled by the owners of the press and government silencers, so its up to the public to investigate and get to the truth.

There is nothing wrong with one wanting to know the truth, there is something very wrong with someone who hides the truth.

very well stated Lynda.
I couldn't agree more
star 4 ur contribution

We hire and pay managers to run the infrastructure and deal with collective problems.
Now take a look at the situation.
Should things be the way they are?

If you don't question bad management, you gets embezzled
sorry.... FLEECED
trust me
there are no exceptions to that rule

also one more thing to add.

I also think Mr. Zakaria frequents ATS.
It appears as some of his research came
right off the pages of ATS.

But that is just another conspiracy theory, lmao

Originally posted by Danbones
We hire and pay managers to run the infrastructure and deal with collective problems.
Now take a look at the situation.
Should things be the way they are?

If you don't question bad management, you gets embezzled
sorry.... FLEECED
trust me
there are no exceptions to that rule

another very well stated assessment Dan
star 4 u 2

we are spoon feed bull spit
we are lied to every where we turn

authority only succeeds with lies and force

the masses finally stirring worldwide
against imperialist aggression

In my opinion, I would say it is mainly due to two reasons.

One, people know when they are being lied to. Human beings have a built in ability to sense when things arent quite as they should be. People are perceptive, and more than ever willing to question authority.

Two, Technology. All of the dirty business from the past has now caught up with all of the dirty business of the present day, and with the gift of the internet humans for the first time ever have a way of mass communication and the collective sharing of ideas and thoughts.

Once people started communicating freely and comparing notes, we found that a lot of things needed explaining.


Which is why I doubt the internet will remain free for much longer. Just a hunch.

even if it's not true, it's fun to speculate and let your imagination run wild...

food for thought etc

Lynda brought up a topic that should be
addressed a lil further.

Investigative Journalists are becoming extinct.
They are a dying breed. Journalists no longer
remain objective in their reporting. Rich moguls
buy up media affiliates and then direct (restrict)
the flow of information to the masses. If a journalist
does not comply with the new directive, they find
themselves unemployed or even threatened,

There was a British journalist I came across last
year when I was researching George Soros.
I can't remember his name, but he wrote a book
about the death of investigative journalism. I
believe he formerly worked for the BBC.
And he stated that some journalists do not even
write articles anymore. They are just handed
the story by an unknown writer and are told to
put their name on it and print it.

So do we really have a reason to be skeptical
about our media and what it presents to us?
Of course we do. If what we were intended to get
was the absolute truth, then the staff writer could
write his own research instead of being handed
propaganda stories scripted by TPTB on a page
by page basis.

I was on a thread here at ATS last night and
several posters were posting links to Al Queda
confirms Bin Laden's death. Every poster who
sourced links to this story posted links that were
owned or operated by 1 media empire. And
that media empire was quoting it's reliable sources
as a chat room where anybody can log in anonymously
and post whatever they wanted to say. Even is it was
a lie. This was published as fact here at ATS from
an unconfirmed invisible source. But they were claiming
it as verifiable fact.

I don't think so

This is another reason why conspiracy theories
abound. We are not stupid. We see what is transpiring
and we are aware. We just want the truth and that truth
is being denied on several different levels of the
news delivery service.

because life withouth conspiracy theories sucks.

and then there was the article and video that
came out where Obama basically states:

"Trust Me !!!"

and I said
Hell No.

You lie on TV
You lie in interviews

then you have left wing agencies add the spin

then that is relayed to the media where it is spun
once again

the truth has been filtered X's 3

but I guess we do not deserve the truth
or as Nicholson stated:

"You can't handle the truth!!!!!"

and another note Zakaria failed to mention
cuz it did not suit his agenda

Over 50% of Conspiracy Theories wind up
being the truth in time.

So who's at fault Mr. Zakaria ???

Them or us ???

over 50% is a huge number to place us
all in a prison cell for creative thought.

I would say the odds are in our favor,
wouldn't you ???

One of my favourite hoaxes waas the gulf of tonkin
Some navy guys said it was bogus from the git go..
they were labelled as fine upstanding conspiracy theo....

oh yeah
gulf of tonkin never happened
thats OK though
no rich folks was harmed in the making of this movie
well no american rich folks
except for Kennedy


kennedy....say....

that would mean that
like the weather
conspiraCYSTS are right about 47.5 percent of the time
within their most accurete window of the next tree days

wow
GOOD WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT

S&F, i truly believe it the way you just discribed it. It's not just not believing your gov't or anything alike, its following your gut feeling when it makes you feel sick about a story being told when you already know it is not true. Like OBL, if you where hunting for a man for over 10 years, and you would get him. Wouldnt you have him hanged in a cage over a big square/public area, for everyone who questions and doubts to see for their own eyes. I would do something like that. And without providing thuth/evidence directly of him being cought of killed, is just unbelievable, if this whole story was true then they would have had the video's pictures to prove it right away the very sec it would hit the news. BS that it is to horrible to see for public, we are not all 5yr old kids. We see more horrible stuf on the news daily, so it is no reason for OBama to fake this whole ideal. Even if they would release vid/photo evidence now it would be to late for me, they have had a lot of time to fabricate whatever they want you to see.. I do believe OBL is dead for a couple of years now. Even if he still lives, that man is dead for the main public for about 5 years now, for me he is.

and just a note:

TPTB are a little frightened of conspiracy theorists.

Why ???

Because a lot of times we do expose what they do
NOT want revealed. We also open others up to
the thought that maybe they may not be getting the
truth either. And they do not want a revolution else
they would lose their corrupt control of the masses.

Conspiracy Theories have always existed. The reason they are embraced imo is that peple are searching for truth and totally fed up with the lies that are continually spouted by TPTB.

The thing is, TPTB continuously add to the CT's by changing the OS of events, as can be seen with the killing of OBL.

You look at most of the events relating to the war on terror and we can see the anomolies throughout. Yet when it is picked up by someone for all to see, they change the script.

Granted, not everything is a conspiracy, but people need to make sense of what is actually going on and sites like this one can either confirm your suspicions or send you over the edge.

reply to post by boondock-saint

I think it might be worth reflecting on the one possibility that this commentator left out of his message: That some of these "theories" are true!

The MSM continues to push VERY hard the idea that "conspiracy theories" are kooky. I heard today some "expert" interviewed who thought that the latest "conspiracy theory" about OBL was that he was still alive! I know that the most-mentioned theory, at least on this site, is the one that Alex Jones has been forwarding, and he got the data from a guy named Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik. Now, this guy could be disinfo, and Alex could be wrong. But Alex has been told by a person he thinks is reliable that OBL died of natural causes in 2001. So the "debunkers" don't even know what the data is that they are trying to debunk!

A football team tries to win a game by using a strategy unknown to the opposing side that will confuse them or throw them off guard.

An army tries to win a battle or a war by similar means.

A company tries to get an advantage in the marketplace by similar means.

And a criminal seeks to stay in business by keeping his plans secret from his enemies, which in this case might include people like the police or the general public, unless he has been able to buy them off.

Conspiracy: "a planning or acting together secretly" (Webster's New World). So, aren't the above actions all little "conspiracies" in their own way? Isn't "conspiracy" in fact an established part of life on this planet?

Excuse me if I am overdoing it, but I just want to MAKE SURE all who may read this get the point. What our public officials and their academic advisers, corporate allies, financial bankers, and paid hit men like psychiatrists are being accused of is intentionally lying to the public to cover up their criminal actions.

It is a fact of history that this has been done before. There are extremely clear indicators that it continues to be done. And a certain segment of the public has decided to stand up and demand a higher level of truth and responsibility from these people than was possibly demanded in the past. For the most part, it is they who are on trial, not us. So don't let them get away with laughing in our faces. We aren't that stupid any more.

reply to post by boondock-saint


I posted this in reply to an individual post and not the OP in a different thread however, I feel it holds true to the topic in this thread as well. I don't want to take away from this thread but, the post I was replying to was in regard to comparing the "theorists" to people that actually seek the facts to back up said theories.

The "question" (emphasis added in quote below) I raised, is what I feel holds true to this OP...

I coined a term and mentioned it earlier on in this thread, if those specific types were to have a label, it would be a "Conspiracy Factualist". The "theorist" is just that, theorizing based on what they seemingly feel is not the true reality of a story or event.

They deem something is for all intents and purposes "not right" with a certain story or event due to (what I am sure are) a multitude of reasons. "Because they're plain CRAZY!!!" is seemingly the most popular reason as of late. In turn, theorists begin to postulate different theories on why what is being delivered to the masses is not and absolutely cannot be the truth, most times with absolute conviction.

This begs a question however....

Why are there so many of "these types" that are questioning the reality they're being fed through the multiple forms of media and propaganda?

These types (and I will slot myself in this group proudly) are a dime a dozen. If people stop questioning what "doesn't feel right" then we are doomed I believe. This site, is solid proof of that as there are oodles of members that feel something isn't right about any given story or event however, there are very few on this site that can claim actual facts and hard evidence to back up said theory. For me it is purely instinct driven, I get a "gut feeling that something doesn't sit well with this story" and because of that I share my feelings and we discuss.

Any claim I have ever made towards a conspiracy I have done my best to research and back up in an attempt to prove the theory, sometimes I am absolutely convinced by the evidence that I have gathered. None the less, the evidence I have gathered is not necessarily going to convince the next guy. As long as we have an individual opinion, there will be no topic, even if there are creditable facts to support it and back up the claim there will always be naysayers regardless, I do believe that this simply boils down to human nature

Which after reading your OP, still begs the question imo.

ETA: S&F btw and for reference purposes here is a link to the OP I am referring to as well as a link to the post to which I replied with the above quoted portion:


I have a bad feeling that the war on conspiracy theorists has begun (or at least has been ramped up)

Post I replied to