Research reveals what kind of people fall for conspiracy theories

[ThatOwlWoman]

When Karl Marx said that history repeated itself first as tragedy then farce, he could have been thinking of the Kennedy family. Senator Robert Kennedy was murdered in June 1968 in the ascendancy of his career. Fifty-five years later, his son Robert Kennedy Jr is a leading American conspiracy theorist challenging Joe Biden for the presidency.

America, as Richard Hofstadter wrote a few years before RFK’s death, suffers from periodic waves of paranoia.

Today’s America is in the middle of one of Hofstadter’s waves. Its most visible elements are on the right. Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is based on the premise that Biden stole the presidency from him in 2020.


https://www.ft.com/content/2c0d5ce2-c8bc-42a5-829b-f6a15162bb21

It's easy to dismiss RFK Jr. as a crackpot. But he has a fervent group of ̶b̶e̶l̶i̶e̶v̶e̶r̶s̶ supporters. Two of them are friends of mine -- one of my profs and her mom. Both are well-educated (prof has a masters, mom a BS). They love him on one single issue -- the environment, which is their passion. At first I read all the glowing stuff they've been posting on social media about him. Then I read some other stuff. Told them that I simply cannot support an anti-vax (all vaxxes, not just the mRNA ones) candidate. The end.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

LIF. Grow up.

LIF. Grow up.

Post #149.

Blatant lie.

Blatant lie. Your most recent lie is post #153.

Blatant lie. Your most recent lie is post #153.

LIF. Grow up.

Word stuffing. Blatant lying. Your most recent lie is in post #155. Pacifists don't have 'militia friends', Dutch/Sybil.

He's not being violent. Hallucination.

There is no violence. Hallucinations. You know, the police really do get tired from getting calls from wackos like you.

LIF. Grow up.

He doesn't. You are lying again, Dutch/Sybil.

Spank that monkey, Sybil! It's what you do best.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

IMO on some level, they realize that something is wrong with them. Embracing conspiracy theories allows them to feel as though they're smarter than the average drone. You could call it by that childhood phrase "'I know something you don't know' syndrome."

Agreed on all. Additionally, the need to feel "smarter than the average drone" goes to a need to feel in control, to be "in the know". The chaos of the Universe scares them. Being "in the know" allows them the comfort of believing they understand what is happening.

This is just for the die-hard wacky conspiracy theorists, not those who wonder if the government is hiding something in Area 51 or not telling the American public everything they know or don't know about JFK's assassination.

It's one thing to wonder if the massive corporations across the globe are manipulating the market for their own benefit. It's another to believe is a vast, wide Jewish Cabal that seeks to kill all the Christians and take over the planet.

Example:

It's not even close to a zero sum game. The truth is jews hate white christians, and they simultaneously convince us to destroy our own nations, while dying to institute their Jewish Supremacist homeland. They're laughing they're asses off.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

It's easy to dismiss RFK Jr. as a crackpot. But he has a fervent group of ̶b̶e̶l̶i̶e̶v̶e̶r̶s̶ supporters. Two of them are friends of mine -- one of my profs and her mom. Both are well-educated (prof has a masters, mom a BS). They love him on one single issue -- the environment, which is their passion. At first I read all the glowing stuff they've been posting on social media about him. Then I read some other stuff. Told them that I simply cannot support an anti-vax (all vaxxes, not just the mRNA ones) candidate. The end.

All groups tend to have some fanatics. It's not that politics or religion make people wacky, but that wacky people are attracted to politics and/or religion in order to justify their behavior.

Example; a homicidal maniac who wants to kill people might join a White Supremacist militia group to feel "justified" in killing African-Americans and Jews.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

Agreed on all. Additionally, the need to feel "smarter than the average drone" goes to a need to feel in control, to be "in the know". The chaos of the Universe scares them. Being "in the know" allows them the comfort of believing they understand what is happening.

This is just for the die-hard wacky conspiracy theorists, not those who wonder if the government is hiding something in Area 51 or not telling the American public everything they know or don't know about JFK's assassination.

It's one thing to wonder if the massive corporations across the globe are manipulating the market for their own benefit. It's another to believe is a vast, wide Jewish Cabal that seeks to kill all the Christians and take over the planet.

Example:

Oh great, Asshat/Jesus is one of them. Let us also not forget the deranged who believe that the same evil Jews, mostly "hiding" in Israel, were behind 9/11, in cahoots with W. There's COgoat, among others, who believe this nonsense.

To paraphrase my wise old Mr. Owl, it's amazing how incompetent the federal govt. is when it comes to implementing something beneficial, like Medicare for example. Yet when it comes to implementing evil plans and keeping them hidden from everyone (exc. from the conspiracy wingnuts, of course), they're diabolically skilled. Just ask your typical TrumpReallyWonIn2020 moron.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

Oh great, Asshat/Jesus is one of them. Let us also not forget the deranged who believe that the same evil Jews, mostly "hiding" in Israel, were behind 9/11, in cahoots with W. There's COgoat, among others, who believe this nonsense.

To paraphrase my wise old Mr. Owl, it's amazing how incompetent the federal govt. is when it comes to implementing something beneficial, like Medicare for example. Yet when it comes to implementing evil plans and keeping them hidden from everyone (exc. from the conspiracy wingnuts, of course), they're diabolically skilled. Just ask your typical TrumpReallyWonIn2020 moron.

Mr. Owl is correct.

Another reason to understand that such conspiracy theorists are insane.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

All groups tend to have some fanatics. It's not that politics or religion make people wacky, but that wacky people are attracted to politics and/or religion in order to justify their behavior.

Example; a homicidal maniac who wants to kill people might join a White Supremacist militia group to feel "justified" in killing African-Americans and Jews.

As social creatures, we prefer to associate with those who think and act like us. In a divisive atmosphere like America has lately, this tends to keep ppl inside a bubble and prevent any opposing ideas from taking root. It's even worse for ppl who are only marginally normal. The GossipGrrlsGang is a good example of that on this forum. There are also individuals who don't seem to have much of a grasp on reality, but who don't (yet) feel the need to form a group. You can put pEarl, Asshat/Jesus, Stinkerbelle/Stretch, Tommy, Legion, and Moon in that category.

 

[Cypress]

Oh great, Asshat/Jesus is one of them. Let us also not forget the deranged who believe that the same evil Jews, mostly "hiding" in Israel, were behind 9/11, in cahoots with W. There's COgoat, among others, who believe this nonsense.

To paraphrase my wise old Mr. Owl, it's amazing how incompetent the federal govt. is when it comes to implementing something beneficial, like Medicare for example. Yet when it comes to implementing evil plans and keeping them hidden from everyone (exc. from the conspiracy wingnuts, of course), they're diabolically skilled. Just ask your typical TrumpReallyWonIn2020 moron.

If mouth-breathing MAGAs are to be believed about Government incompetence, I am amazed Social security, medicare, NASA, National Weather Service, National Parks, interstate highways work as well as they do.

 

[Dutch Uncle]

As social creatures, we prefer to associate with those who think and act like us. In a divisive atmosphere like America has lately, this tends to keep ppl inside a bubble and prevent any opposing ideas from taking root. It's even worse for ppl who are only marginally normal. The GossipGrrlsGang is a good example of that on this forum. There are also individuals who don't seem to have much of a grasp on reality, but who don't (yet) feel the need to form a group. You can put pEarl, Asshat/Jesus, Stinkerbelle/Stretch, Tommy, Legion, and Moon in that category.

Agreed. That "bubble" is also known as one's "comfort zone". One primary purpose of both college and the US military is to push people out of their comfort zones. It's why parents who don't force their fledglings out of the nest, even temporarily, are doing their brood a disservice since they won't turn into full-fledged adults without breaking out of the comforts of childhood and home under the protective wing of parents.

Then again, some people are just brain-damaged and can't help themselves.

 

[ThatOwlWoman]

If mouth-breathing MAGAs are to be believed about Government incompetence, I am amazed Social security, medicare, NASA, National Weather Service, National Parks, interstate highways work as well as they do.

It's a miracle, isn't it? lol