Conspiracy Theories an Infection

Conspiracy theories are an infection indeed, a cancer that grows in many different forms by pretending to be unrelated to each other. When they all have a number of important common traits. They all come from the human desire to explain events that make sense. The problem is, not everything makes sense. When John F. Kennedy was shot, the conspiracy theorists had theories because they simply could not believe that some nutcase would do it for such a vague reason (insane people complicate everything).

Conspiracy theorists have one thing in common, they create the conclusion first then they look for evidence for that conclusion. This makes it very difficult to disprove the theory and then reconvert their believers back to reality.

In the Crimson Politics Forum, we've been infected by a conspiracy theorist (which I welcome debate), and he's been posting about moon landing conspiracies, 9/11 conspiracies, everything. Hey if you can convince him otherwise feel free to register.

We are all victims of this infection. There really are no exceptions, even if we think of ourselves as realists and skeptics, there are conspiracies that even we believe in somewhat.

There is a bandwagon effect. This is an evolutionary trait in which humans want to be a part of the majority (because the majority wins). It's even more evidence in non-Western society, where dictators are tolerated, fascism is feared without objection (even in Democratic countries), where silence is golden, and people are adapted to getting oppressed. The reason is, being an individual brings suffering.

In Western society, individualism is better rewarded, that is why we have such a melting pot of ideas, culture, and information. We have economists with backgrounds from different schools of thought. We have engineers with different backgrounds. We have opinionated people about everything; hence the conspiracy theories.

In the Middle East, conspiracy theories are even more rampant. However, because of the bandwagon effect; it's almost like those conspiracy theories have become a part of society rather than in America where they are usually a percentage of the population that doesn't usually promote the conspiracy theory.

What's Popular in the Middle East?

• Deep State Conspiracies - People think the governments are puppets for America or puppets to some "majestic 12" type of political/business elitists.
• Jewish Conspiracies - Can be explained by Israel's power and US support for Israel.
• Great Middle Eastern Project - People believe that past presidents (Bush, Bush 1, Reagan, Carter, etc) want to take over the Middle East and change peoples' religions and take all the oil for himself. This is all based on random misinformation by conspiracy theorists who misquote presidents or White House speakers or do not understand the Iraq War or other wars and how it all started.
• Imperialism Still Exists - They believe imperialism is alive and well, and now uses terrorist organizations and wars to its own advantage (they over complicate politics).

They are all based on the lack of knowledge about the West. Much like how Western citizens know very little about the culture, politics, and policies of the Middle East, Middle Easterners know very little about Western society, its politics, and how decisions are made. They believe the president of the United States is some kind of all powerful king.

Sadly, these age-old 19th century conspiracies have begun to infect some liberals in our society as well.

What Conspiracies are popular in the West?

• 9/11 Conspiracies - Started by Loose Change videos online by a bunch of 17 year-olds who professionally put together hundreds of unrelated facts and fallacy-driven arguments that convinced a large amount of American liberals.
• Moon Landing Hoax conspiracies - Started by a Fox show about conspiracy landings by various conspiracy theorists who earn money by writing books about such absurdity. They ignore certain video footage and promote others as evidence.
• Big Oil Conspiracies - That government goes to war based on what companies demand is sort of ridiculous. But the Iraq War has really given it a lot of momentum because of the lack of WMDs found.
• Alien Coverup - This one is an age old conspiracy that is actually the most plausible out of all them (shocking huh?). Even I sometimes find it very amusing. What you should know about this conspiracy is, that sure there could be a possibility of Aliens, but hey, if there is or there isn't what difference does it really make right now? It's not like a few million letters to Washington is going to uncover that conspiracy even if it was real. So really, why bother? Just enjoy watching UFO hunters and go on with your life.
• Pyramids - Who built them? This is another example of something amazing or incredible happening with very little explanation of the how. How did they carry those stones all the way there? They must have had alien help. Egyptian archeologists would say "You really underestimate the ability of large numbers of slaves."
• 2012 Conspiracy - The world is going to end conspiracy, this has erupted in 1999 as well, and before that in 1857, and before that in 1842 (the guy even had a following of believers that thought Jesus would come back in 1800s). It all sort of started with some random world ending ideas by Nostradamus and the ending of the Maya Calender (well it's not like they could fit more than that on their circular calenders; no room).
• Man-Made Global Warming - Backed up by the IPCC, a former Vice President Al Gore (with Nobel Prize), Green Peace, and many scientists, people automatically assume that if there is global warming, there must also be man-made global warming. The earth goes through climate change all throughout time. We've had ice ages in the 1900s and 1700s. We've had warm periods in 1800s and 1950s. The evidence is usually growing number of hurricanes and tsunamis and the misconception that Temperature follows CO2 gases--when in fact, CO2 follows Temperature as a tracer gas (I guess people weren't looking too carefully when Al Gore showed the chart and lied). Read both sides before making up your mind. There are climatologists who don't believe in global warming at all (shocking isn't it?). Don't try and silence the opposition, no matter what side they are on.

You can look at our forums under Foreign Policy and General Chat to see tons of "evidence" for what these people believe in and will do anything to convince you for. Hey, you can even debate our resident conspiracy theorist "Rocky", I haven't had much luck.

What to know about Conspiracy Theories

The most important thing you should learn is that fear and human control are what creates Conspiracy Theories. When JFK is killed, people could not believe that some crazy guy with sniper training could have done such a horrible thing. It's too random, it's too irrational. The reality is, not everything has to be rational or have a plot. The guy that killed Oswald, just gives people more "evidence"--I guess they haven't seen the thousands of people who cry at political rallies in support of their candidate.

People look for hidden agendas. They look for cover-ups because it's exciting like spy movies. They look for excuses and evidence to conspiracies because they cannot accept the official position. Take 9/11 for example, what a terrible and tragic event all caused by a bunch of radicals with limited flight training and box cutters. It feels too far fetched to believe this story. It's like something from a fairy tale or Hollywood movie; people think there must be more to it than that. They look for evidence that maybe planes didn't crash, maybe these radicals weren't smart enough to pull it off (ridiculous underestimation like the Pyramid conspiracy).

There are even odd conspiracies created by cults and cultures. For example, Armenian-Americans believe in the 1900s the Ottomans created a genocide against the Armenians there. When in fact, there is much evidence to show that the Ottomans tried to protect the Armenian citizens of the empire from harm (from even their own Ottoman officers). There's a whole Armenian Genocide debate to it. It even affects our politics wasting tax money, every April 24th.

There will always be conspiracies for every generation. In fact, back in WWII, people use to believe that FDR allowed the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. With the internet, they have become more rampant, which will be the healing agent--the more people know about conspiracies, the more realist they become.