Why do people believe in these things?

[Euracil]

Apollo hoax, Niburu, Paul is dead, etc.

Scientific proof says they're wrong, so why do they hopelessly believe in these things. It makes me give up hope for humanity, until I see something by Carl Sagan.

Edited June 29, 2013 by Euracil

[Clamps]

There's millions of people around the world that base their entire life and morals on a make believe fairy tale for adults, I wouldn't be too surprised if I were you.

[Canopus]

People are bored or stupid and want to believe such crap.

[Clamps]

People are bored or stupid and want to believe such crap.

It's amazing what you can convince people to believe if they have no critical thinking ability.

[Tataffe]

In Germany, a satiric conspiracy theory is well-known, the Bielefeld Conspiracy. It was created and developed to show the stupidity that mark all of those theories.

[Kerbface]

The majority of the world believes in at least one thing that is completely unsubstantiated with any sort of logic of evidence. Many believe several. We call this the age of reason, so you'd think people would sort of stop believing in crazy nonsense but it seems to be a hard habit to shake.

Also, for many conspiracy theorists, there seems to be some sort of sense of superiority they get from saying "I know something that most morons don't because they just believe the lies."

[TouhouTorpedo]

I dunno why the moon landing is always the focus of space program hoaxes, aside from it being the biggest event in the history of space exploration. Its a completely implausible thing to fake. On the other hand, if you look at the events of Apollo 13... I have my doubts any accident ever happened at all, personally. I'd go into detail on it, but I beleive theres some "no conspiracie theories" rule on here.

[Tommygun]

I believe the major appeal is that conspiracy theories tend to be more exciting than the truth.

It's a form of escapism from peoples normally boring everyday lives.

There is also a bit of a counter culture to it.

[rkman]

I believe the major appeal is that conspiracy theories tend to be more exciting than the truth.

Which is not to say that conspiracies do not exist, even political conspiracies that have significant consequences (eg the assassination of Julius Caesar), or that theories about (suspected) conspiracies are pointless. Conspiracy is very common in crime and police investigators develop theories about it all the time for the purpose of developing possible leads to uncover the crime.

[ZedNova]

I thought we're not supposed to talk about conspiracies.

[jwenting]

not about specific ones, I'd see nothing wrong with a meta discussion about what makes conspiracy theorists tick in general.

A lot of them are driven by a disbelief in reality, combined with a deep seated rejection of any and all authority, combined with a deep wish to believe anyone who says they have an explanation for things they don't understand that sits at right angles to anything people in authority mention.

[astropapi1]

Do you guys remember the flat-earth conspiracist? That is plain stupid.

(No offense) A lot of these conspiracies are driven by fear or ignorance, and many have lasted a long time. Take religion as an example (not a conspiracy, but very similar): Imagine you're a kid raised on a totally atheist and scientific ambient. You learn basic orbital mechanics, evolution, mathematics, chemistry, etc. In school and never hear about religion... And when you're a grown up man/woman, this guy in the street approaches you with a book and tells you there's a guy floating in the sky that created the universe, he decided to pay close attention to the earth and tell the newly created humans not to divorce and not to be gay..... You'd slap him in the face and run away as fast as you could.

Ignorance and fear may start these, but another problem is that people are born and raised in families that believe in, a flat earth, for example. They grow up in ignorance, and then they will refuse to change their thoughts, even if you show them obvious evidence that prooved them wrong.

Edited June 29, 2013 by astropapi1

[Tex_NL]

I recently saw Mermaids: The Body Found on Discovery Channel. At first it looked far-fetched but still pretty convincing, the longer I watched the more it started smelling 'fishy'. In the end credits it clearly stated it was all fiction and the 'scientist' where played by actors. You won't believe how many people are STILL convinced it to be real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids:_The_Body_Found

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1816585/

[SuperWeegee4000]

Interesting fact: Nothing in the Bible says anything about homosexuality. Certain parts can be interpreted that way, but it is most likely not the way it was meant to be written.

And now that I've gotten that out of the way.... I agree that these theories do provide an escapism, and some conform more to an individual's sense of religion. Religion creates a sort of semi-natural aversion to science, since science has on a scarily high amount of occasions conflicted with the ruling religious teachings of the time. The fact that some people still say the Earth is flat is because they have chosen to accept what their ancestors were taught hundreds and thousands of years ago. The human mind itself wants to take things as they are, but also to be curious and explore - an interesting conflict that is more evident among large groups.

[Galacticruler]

Imagine you're a kid raised on a totally atheist and scientific ambient. You learn basic orbital mechanics, evolution, mathematics, chemistry, etc. In school and never hear about religion... And when you're a grown up man/woman, this guy in the street approaches you with a book and tells you there's a guy floating in the sky that created the universe, he decided to pay close attention to the earth and tell the newly created humans not to divorce and not to be gay..... You'd slap him in the face and run away as fast as you could.

In a perfect world....

[hugix]

Watch this episode of the CBS Showtime show Penn & Teller bullsh*t. It's about conspiracy theories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA97P5D-y7M

(I got confused)

Edited June 30, 2013 by hugix

[Flymetothemun]

Watch this episode of the CBS show Penn & Teller bullsh*t. It's about conspiracy theories.

~~~Vidsnip~~~

It's Showtime, not CBS. They even say it's Showtime in some episodes. Just thought i'd point it out.

[jwenting]

I recently saw Mermaids: The Body Found on Discovery Channel. At first it looked far-fetched but still pretty convincing, the longer I watched the more it started smelling 'fishy'. In the end credits it clearly stated it was all fiction and the 'scientist' where played by actors. You won't believe how many people are STILL convinced it to be real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaids:_The_Body_Found

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1816585/

worse, they advertise it as real (at least here), most people never look at the credits, they switch to the next show the moment the feature ends.

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

Why do they?

Because people are stupid. That's it.

[Tex_NL]

worse, they advertise it as real (at least here), most people never look at the credits, they switch to the next show the moment the feature ends.

Checking if something is legit is so easy these days. Everybody has web access these days through PC's, tablets, smartphones and even through game consoles. As soon as you doubt something just do a quick Google search and you'll know.

[ZedNova]

Checking if something is legit is so easy these days. Everybody has web access these days through PC's, tablets, smartphones and even through game consoles. As soon as you doubt something just do a quick Google search and you'll know.

Ehhh... mostly... Sometimes you have to "Dig deeper" to get all the important details that may or may not matter to you.

[Fel]

Checking if something is legit is so easy these days. Everybody has web access these days through PC's, tablets, smartphones and even through game consoles. As soon as you doubt something just do a quick Google search and you'll know.

That is where modern conspiracies are born.

I mean, I've hung around the crazies before; they are anything but stupid. Ignorant, misinformed, brainwashed even... but there is no coorelation between "Critical Thinking Ability" and "belief in conspiracy theories. They just use the same form of argumentation that I've seen time and time again, posting a Wikipedia article and saying "This article proves me right Q.E.D."

Never mind that said person did not "read and comprehend" the article and said article actually disagrees with said opinion. Although the article was misleading due to extremely poor writing and handling of the subject matter; hence it is understandable that the person got misinformed.

But the point remains that conspiracy theorists have a grasp of the technology, but don't understand the implementation or operation of said technology.

You all, the "sane people", are likely as ignorant as the conspiracy theorists. Sure you can pull up webpages off of google and ACT like you know what you're talking about; but without an understanding of the core fundamentals how can you actually defend your claims? People don't LEARN from the internet, they just parrot the information back and forth; and as we progress to an "internet" age, we don't see the reason to learn anything. Yes, I'll just have this chinese boy look stuff up off the internet and do your job. -__-;

***

As far as how it starts; it is absurdly complicated.

Asch Effect is certainly applicable, as is Fascism as in Group Dynamics (Closed groups protective of outside ideas, brings a sense of power to the individuals of the group). Someone in a humdrum life might find the appeal likable, although that is mostly "Television Psychology." Psychology is not my forte, but it is an extremely complicated matter that has unique components for each individual.

*And I love applying fascism to everything. It is akin to the Milgram Experiments, the Stanford Prison Study, and of course the third wave ... we really will, very quickly, establish a society that operates under the very ideology we claim to be abhorred by. I digress, but think about how very easily students can change from naive children to savages, severely beating others... due to wearing a uniform; then ask "How easy would it be to swade me from my rationality to conspiracy."

[EmissionGeneration]

In my opinion.. the worst people are the 1's who say Clouds are Alien Orbs spraying our Atmosphere to change it to a condition they can live in and Airplanes are UFO's in disguise. Also that the Moon is a Hologram and also theres "the Moon is a Alien Mothership"... Even though there are some professional made Documentaries on Conspiracies, the main form of it comes from the Public which have no knowledge on the subject that they are trying to claim, they just end up becoming part of a cult to worship with.

As Fel said, the knowledge on the internet is not always true information, and even with the things that are correct on there, people will look at it through their own eyes and see what they want to believe, such as NASA Chem-Spraying, they announced doing it in the Ionosphere using Rockets, so now every single Jet Airliner that produces a Contrail, is a secret Government Jet spraying the population with Chemicals... There are so many pictures of "Nibiru" out there, all in different distances from the Sun, and always different sizes, I've asked many of them to explain to me their orbital trajectory to have such random positions in the sky, and all I get is called a Troll or a NAStard and then blocked lol.

[rkman]

"there is no coorelation between "Critical Thinking Ability" and "belief in conspiracy theories.

There is correlation between lack of critical thinking, and thinking that conspiracies do not exist.

If conspiracies do exist, then how is it ridiculous to have a theory about a conspiracy?

And if it is valid to theorize about some conspiracies but not about other conspiracies, then why not distinguish between those instead of calling both "conspiracy theory"?

As an aside, i noticed that the wiki article on conspiracy theory has been greatly improved over the one-sided derogatory article that it was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory

...

Proven conspiracies and conspiracy theories

Katherine K. Young states "the fact remains, however, that not all conspiracies are imagined by paranoids. Historians show that every real conspiracy has had at least four characteristic features: groups, not isolated individuals; illegal or sinister aims, not ones that would benefit society as a whole; orchestrated acts, not a series of spontaneous and haphazard ones; and secret planning, not public discussion." Above all else a real conspiracy is evidenced by provable facts.[48]

"Some historians have put forward the idea that more recently the United States has become the home of conspiracy theories because so many high-level prominent conspiracies have been undertaken and uncovered since the 1960s."[49] The existence of such real conspiracies helps feed the belief in conspiracy theories.[50][51][52]

In the criminal justice system, actual conspiracies and conspiracy theories can also be distinguished by scale, as actual conspiracies are usually small in scale and involve "a single event or issue."[53]

Controversy

Aside from controversies over the merits of particular conspiratorial claims, the general discussion of conspiracy theory is itself a matter of some public contention. Conspiracy theorists on the internet are often dismissed as a "fringe" group, but evidence suggests that a broad cross section of Americans todayâ€â€traversing ethnic, gender, education, occupation, and other dividesâ€â€gives credence to at least some conspiracy theories.[54]

Given this popular understanding of the term, it can also be used illegitimately and inappropriately, as a means to dismiss what are in fact substantial and well-evidenced accusations. The legitimacy of each such usage will therefore be a matter of some controversy.

[49] Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia

http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Theories-American-History-Encyclopedia/dp/1576078124

...comprehensive, research-based, scholarly study of the pervasiveness of our deeply ingrained culture of conspiracy. From the Puritan witch trials to the Masons, from the Red Scare to Watergate, Whitewater, and the War on Terror, this encyclopedia covers conspiracy theories across the breadth of U.S. history, examining the individuals, organizations, and ideas behind them. Its over 300 alphabetical entries cover both the documented records of actual conspiracies and the cultural and political significance of specific conspiracy speculations.

Neither promoting nor dismissing any theory, the entries move beyond the usual biased rhetoric to provide a clear-sighted, dispassionate look at each conspiracy (real or imagined). Readers will come to understand the political and social contexts in which these theories arose, the mindsets and motivations of the people promoting them, the real impact of society's reactions to conspiracy fears, warranted or not, and the verdict (when verifiable) that history has passed on each case.

[Eric S]

I think it comes down to a few factors.

First is general distrust in government, or even large corporations. I've seen the government lie over little things, it's no great stretch to imagine that they could lie over bigger things.

Second is the fact that people think that they can evaluate arguments for or against conspiracies using common sense. I recently decided to look around at some apollo conspiracy stuff, and while I was knowledgeable enough to be able to shred every argument I found, in most cases without doing any research, I realized that these arguments could carry weight with people that don't have a scientific background. If all you've got is a layman's understanding of radiation, the Van Allen belts can seem like a much nastier problem than they actually are. If you don't understand orbital mechanics, you wouldn't understand that reaching LEO really is well over half way to the moon in delta-V terms, despite being a few orders of magnitude short distance-wise. Look at all the "video evidence" where people are interpreting things in terms of what they know to be true because that's how things work here, when they're overlooking the fact that there isn't here, and things really can work differently.

Finally, if you're not into conspiracies, you're a sheep, and sheep aren't cool. Or some such logic as that.

Personally, I always kept an open mind on conspiracy theories, never really accepting any of them, but other than the apollo ones, never being sure that they're wrong either. Well, after seeing and understanding just how bad but possibly convincing the apollo conspiracies are, I've gotten a lot more skeptical about the other ones, just because I see how easy it is to sound knowledgeable when the listener is trying to use common sense rather than actual knowledge to evaluate the argument.

And so, the world seems a less wonderous place to me now, which may be the fourth factor.