2/3 of Americans Believe in Conspiracy Theories

[GeneralRisk]

95% of Americans are sheeple

show: Sheeple

[warmonger1981]

Never let a crisis go to waste. Just sit back and wait for a tragedy to happen then implement your laws or executive orders. The war on terror is a never ending excuse for war. Anyone can be a terrorist so America is not really at war with anyone specific. Hence a war on the entire world.

[john9blue]

95% of Americans are sheeple

show: Sheeple

do you really think that MOST children could be better educated without the rigidity of the schooling system? i disagree. public schooling certainly fails to educate/indoctrinate the most intelligent/open-minded students of a given class, but most children simply will not learn unless forced into this structure. it becomes a question of whether you would sacrifice societal productivity for a bit of critical thinking skill from people whose thoughts don't really matter anyway (with the exception of voting... but we've already learned that votes hardly matter in america so i don't think that will change much)

my experience is that most truly intelligent people are largely unaffected by the factors you listed above. speaking of which, where does the 95% figure come from? it is too low.

[saxitoxin]

All the major pop culture conspiracy theories today regurgitate those of the early 90s from Behold a Pale Horse which, in turn, regurgitate those of the early 70s from None Dare It Call Conspiracy, etc. The exact same memes are revisited every generation by a new messenger and a portion of that generation is led to believe they have had a sliver of esoteric information revealed to them.

In a study last month, research showed that telling people they were about to receive "dangerous information" and then warning them to be an "independent thinker" instead of a "sheep" was an effective way to get people to follow a conspiracy theory.

This may be derived from using the loaded terms ‘‘sheep’’ and ‘‘independent thinker,’’ both of which strongly align with core American values. Although independent thinking may be perceived as an attractive quality by participants, it was used in the metainoculation to promote the rejection of an empirically accurate and logically sound deconstruction of a rather outrageous conspiracy theory, thereby creating the type of influence participants were likely trying to avoid.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 0/abstract

But this guy already knows that ...

"ALL THEIR BUGGIN' THEIR EYES OUT AT US!"

[_sabotage_]

Ah now I see.

Galileo was a conspiracy theorist. He provided people with dangerous information, according to the Church, suggested it could be witnessed with independent thinking and therefore contrary believes were of necessity those of sheep.

Glad we put him under house arrest. Too bad we didn't have control over the Mayans, Chinese, Indians and other cultures of that day. It burns my ass that those fools were allowed to promulgate such dangerous theories unchecked.

[AndyDufresne]

Ah now I see.

Galileo was a conspiracy theorist. He provided people with dangerous information, according to the Church, suggested it could be witnessed with independent thinking and therefore contrary believes were of necessity those of sheep.

Glad we put him under house arrest. Too bad we didn't have control over the Mayans, Chinese, Indians and other cultures of that day. It burns my ass that those fools were allowed to promulgate such dangerous theories unchecked.

i r agree.

Luckily, Galileo is still wrong: http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/ ($50.00 Luncheon! Yes!)


--Andy

[_sabotage_]

We should dig him up and put his ass in jail or say we shot him and buried him at sea.

[AndyDufresne]

He is buried in: Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, where some other famous Italian thinkers are buried, according to wikipedia, "such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile and Rossini."




--Andy

[_sabotage_]

So many conspiracy theorists all in one place...

[john9blue]

i r agree.

Luckily, Galileo is still wrong: http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/ ($50.00 Luncheon! Yes!)


--Andy

is it just me, or do most webpages with fringe beliefs use nothing more than basic HTML formatting? i feel like these guys made the webpage themselves because they wouldn't trust any web designer to do it for them...

[AndyDufresne]

i r agree.

Luckily, Galileo is still wrong: http://www.galileowaswrong.com/galileowaswrong/ ($50.00 Luncheon! Yes!)


--Andy

is it just me, or do most webpages with fringe beliefs use nothing more than basic HTML formatting? i feel like these guys made the webpage themselves because they wouldn't trust any web designer to do it for them...

I've had the same thought. It is always a blast from like 1992, with a starry background, no image borders, and usually glowing section dividers. Long live Geocities and the like.


--Andy

[saxitoxin]

Galileo was a conspiracy theorist. He provided people with dangerous information, according to the Church, suggested it could be witnessed with independent thinking and therefore contrary believes were of necessity those of sheep.

Sure. For those who consider this guy ...



... and this guy ...



... to be on equal intellectual footing, I can see that that argument certainly makes sense.

[2dimes]

Well, even though Galileo's videos ended up being damaged during a change over to a newer storage media. Trust me they were pretty gnarly.

[_sabotage_]

I didn't know you held Alex Jones in such a high esteem, too much hot air for my liking.

So what was it? Do Al Qaeda have a united mission statement? Would other members of Al Qaeda take orders from Bin Laden? Do they pool funds? How many people could we say are Laden's boys?

Or was he just an uncle that showed up for a free Thanksgiving dinner to the other's? How was he funded? Let's get an image of the bad guy. What exactly were his means? Motive and opportunity? Is Al Qaeda like the Christian church, where millions of people are showing up at thousands of different places, having hundreds of distinct interpretations and tenets, and he was Jesus? Or was he just like a rich has been? Or are some down with us, and help us with regime change in the countries listed as evil, like the ones we gave the weapons to in Libya? Or are we like their devil and all want to destroy us? Like the ones we gave the weapons to in Libya?

[saxitoxin]

Do Al Qaeda have a united mission statement? Would other members of Al Qaeda take orders from Bin Laden? Do they pool funds? How many people could we say are Laden's boys?

Out of curiosity, what kind of answer are you honestly expecting to get here? You seem to either be under the impression that I have the login code to Osama's copy of QuickBooksPro, or are insinuating that you do.

And to get the jump on where I'm sure this is headed ... absence of information does not evidence action by unseen, sinister forces.

[_sabotage_]

Amazing, twelve years on and we don't know shit. We haven't got the slightest idea how much power he had or if he had any way to carry it out, and yet are so confident it was him. We don't know what Al Qaeda is, or even if they are with us or against us. Just bang, bang and a picture of his damn face with a story to go with it. A mutating story that somehow always ends with fear mongering and and interventionism.

But what if there were another set of folks, who had clearly shown that the result is something that would have furthered their plans? Who had the means, motive and opportunity to a greater extent than some guy in a cave. We definitely have not conclusively confirmed by any means that 9/11 was orchestrated by Bin Laden, and yet for some reason it's always been a closed case.

[saxitoxin]

Amazing, twelve years on and we don't know shit. We haven't got the slightest idea how much power he had or if he had any way to carry it out, and yet are so confident it was him. We don't know what Al Qaeda is, or even if they are with us or against us. Just bang, bang and a picture of his damn face with a story to go with it. A mutating story that somehow always ends with fear mongering and and interventionism.

But what if there were another set of folks, who had clearly shown that the result is something that would have furthered their plans? Who had the means, motive and opportunity to a greater extent than some guy in a cave. We definitely have not conclusively confirmed by any means that 9/11 was orchestrated by Bin Laden, and yet for some reason it's always been a closed case.

I've never said it's been "conclusively confirmed by any means that 9/11 was orchestrated by Bin Laden."

The lack of total information on any subject isn't proof of the influence of sinister forces working in the shadows.

- I don't believe the lack of conclusive confirmation about 9/11 is proof George Bush knew in advance. You do.

- I don't believe the fact a Giant Squid hasn't been photographed alive is proof George Bush has secretly killed all the world's giant squids. You may.

- I don't believe the fact I don't know what restaurant my g/f Esmerelda went to with her friends last night is proof she was out banging George Bush. You may.

[_sabotage_]

If we don't have real evidence it was these guys,why do we just keep letting another set of guys not only hold them over us, but other countries with our backing? The exchange is just a loss of freedom and an economy for us and a gain of money and power for them.

Every US soldier I've met has been pretty gung ho, they have the best equipment in the world, our surveillance equipment is as good as it gets, we offer the highest bounties, plus we have the most expensive investigative branches in the world at home, and we don't know shit.

We have to do freedom of information acts to get any sight of a piece of evidence that might exist, let alone those that tie any of those there to the act. Serial numbers that confirm wreckage was the planes, video tape of the terrorists getting on at the various airports, video footage of flight 77 hitting the Pentagon, they all result in nothing to confirm anything. They could have put any faces up there for all the evidence we have been shown. We dropped the ball that day, but the pieces are still there to examine, and yet we haven't.

If we can't confirm the story, we have to at some point see if there is one that fits better. The art of science is the story that fits all the pieces best until we get new pieces to work with. They had most of the pieces disposed of immediately in New York, when asked about the plane at the Pentagon, they reported it vaporized. When it was proven impossible, they said, no they have it in a warehouse. Can we have confirmation by serial number? Nope. How about any of videos. Well no plane was seen in them. I see.

Is there something so destructive to our war on terror for us to see the serial number on a plane whose blackbox doesn't make a lot of sense, played a magic trick on the cameras and confounded all of our defenses protecting the most restricted airspace in the world with an hour's heads up?

[saxitoxin]

If we don't have real evidence it was these guys,why do we just keep letting another set of guys not only hold them over us, but other countries with our backing? The exchange is just a loss of freedom and an economy for us and a gain of money and power for them.

I hardly think there's anyone who has been more critical of the U.S./NATO on this board than me.

Nonetheless, I subscribe to a rational worldview in which the lack of total information on any particular subject isn't proof of anything other than a lack of total information.

[Metsfanmax]

95% of Americans are sheeple

[warmonger1981]

Project MKUltra was the code name of a U.S. government covert research operation experimenting in the behavioral engineering of humans (mind control) through the CIA's Scientific Intelligence Division. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and "officially halted" in 1973.[1] The program engaged in many illegal activities;[2][3][4][5] in particular it used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects, which led to controversy regarding its legitimacy.[6][7][8][9] MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.[10]

The scope of Project MKUltra was broad, with research undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies.[11] The CIA operated through these institutions using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions were aware of the CIA's involvement.[12] MKUltra was allocated 6 percent of total CIA funds.[13]

Project MKUltra was first brought to public attention in 1975 by the Church Committee of the U.S. Congress, and a Gerald Ford commission to investigate CIA activities within the United States. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms' destruction order.[14]

Lesson.. Your government isnt always playing by the same set of rules. And if they feel like it they can bend or break those laws at will.

[rdsrds2120]

I have live video proof that Obama is firing guns that hold infinite ammo, and he's planning on using it to take over the nation. Wake up, people:



BMO

[Haggis_McMutton]

I have live video proof that Obama is firing guns that hold infinite ammo, and he's planning on using it to take over the nation. Wake up, people:



BMO

Clearly rds is a double agent. He doesn't even know the correct term is sheeple

[AndyDufresne]

I cannot speak ill of the prophet, as foretold by Einstein, that is RDS.


--Andy

[The Voice]

Please, don't tell me you guys subscribe to the conspiracy theory that ONLY 2/3 of Americans believe in conspiracy theories...