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One Reason Conspiracies Flourish

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posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 02:03 PM
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Sunday was the 52nd Anniversary of the JFK assassination. So, on that day, on another website, I put up a posted requesting people's views "yeah" or "nay" regarding a conspiracy in the case.

This other website is a very relaxed forum devoted to media and other light subjects. It's a nice place to unwind and talk about movies, TV, and books with people interested in those sorts of things.

The people who didn't know what they felt, or favored a conspiracy, behaved as people on this site normally do. They were relaxed and casual and happy to share their views. And then came the Oswald as lone nut advocates.

Wow! These people were shot out of a cannon. Every post they put up was full of hyperbole and invective. And they refused to accept there was any evidence on the other side.

I didn't debate points of the case with them. I've had my days doing that. And those days are done. Yet still they continued their attacks and insults.

And it made me realize this is why some conspiracies thrive. These people I'm referring to weren't born when JFK was shot. Some of them don't even live in the US. Yet the Oswald lone nut theory is so important to their worldview that they become apoplectic when it was challenged. Even in such an inconsequential place and with such limited intensity. Evil governments don't need paid shills. There are plenty of people who will do it for free.

Conspirators can count on this. It's their secret weapon.



posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 04:54 PM
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The problem is closed mindedness. There are people on both sides that are closed minded to anything that does not fit their view. There are people who insist that the JFK assassination was a conspiracy but that the driver did it and no other scenarios are even possible. 911 has the no plane theorists who absolutely refuse to believe that there were actually planes. The list goes on. Being closed minded to only one possibility(unless it's proven) is just as bad as being closed minded that there was no conspiracy at all.

Just my 2 cents.



posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 05:41 PM
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a reply to: Moresby

"Evil Governments don't need paid shills". I totally agree. Well, for the most part. I've seen two people argue the JFK conspiracy. One was for the mainstream "lone-nut theory" and one thought it was an elaborate plot. They pasionately argued their case and saw each other as a fool in the end for not believing.

Anyway, I see this all the time. People are open-minded to believe in wild conspiracies, belief systems and ideologies but will become very defensive when those beleifs are challenged. On the other hand, people can be close-minded to not consider anything out of their boxed world view.

It's two sides of the same coin.



posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 06:50 PM
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originally posted by: Blueracer
The problem is closed mindedness. There are people on both sides that are closed minded to anything that does not fit their view. There are people who insist that the JFK assassination was a conspiracy but that the driver did it and no other scenarios are even possible. 911 has the no plane theorists who absolutely refuse to believe that there were actually planes. The list goes on. Being closed minded to only one possibility(unless it's proven) is just as bad as being closed minded that there was no conspiracy at all.

Just my 2 cents.



originally posted by: blueman12
a reply to: Moresby

"Evil Governments don't need paid shills". I totally agree. Well, for the most part. I've seen two people argue the JFK conspiracy. One was for the mainstream "lone-nut theory" and one thought it was an elaborate plot. They pasionately argued their case and saw each other as a fool in the end for not believing.

Anyway, I see this all the time. People are open-minded to believe in wild conspiracies, belief systems and ideologies but will become very defensive when those beleifs are challenged. On the other hand, people can be close-minded to not consider anything out of their boxed world view.

It's two sides of the same coin.



These responses represent another problem is our society. The "they're both the same" folks. Every opinion is equal. Wearing underwear on your head is just as valid as wearing it on your seat. Jumping out your window is just the same as using the stairs. They're just choices, right? All equally valid.

They do represent one of the reasons a slave society continues. But that's a subject for another thread.



posted on Nov, 25 2015 @ 07:44 PM
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a reply to: Moresby
Agreed. But I think the main reason conspiracy theories flourish is because governments keep reaffirming their reality.



posted on Nov, 26 2015 @ 01:05 AM
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originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: Moresby
Agreed. But I think the main reason conspiracy theories flourish is because governments keep reaffirming their reality.



Very true. But that is something that is often discussed. I was just struck by the fact that there are these people, who had nothing to do with the crime, who get no direct benefit from one theory being true than the other, but will nonetheless fight tooth and nail to support a quite rickety official story.



posted on Nov, 26 2015 @ 01:26 AM
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Another reason is boredom and idleness. People with time on their hands worry about conspiracy. People worried about surviving day-to-day do not. It's a product of our society. Especially since it exists. The problem with conspiracy theorists is individuals sometimes go too hard in the paint with their tinny hats and subsequently cause people to question the legitimacy of the group as a whole. Which is generalizing, of course. Most people seem to think at least some conspiracies have credibility--even if they're not fond of conspiracy sites. I find conspiracies interesting, but they're not really surprising. And legit ones are often like finding a needle in a haystack. So I find that I don't get too mind-blown over things that are simply conspiracies. The creepy stuff is why I come here lol Oh, and the smart people. It's a great place to meet smart people.
Smart people who have time and the means to idly think about whatever and chat about it. It's pretty fun.



posted on Nov, 27 2015 @ 01:08 AM
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a reply to: Moresby

I think you completely missed my point. And that is part of the problem but you fail to see it.



posted on Nov, 27 2015 @ 10:25 AM
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Conspiracies make for good cover (i.e. distraction) for real activities.

UFO's and Area 51 are a classic example of this.

It's Social Engineering.



posted on Nov, 27 2015 @ 11:50 AM
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originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
Conspiracies make for good cover (i.e. distraction) for real activities.

UFO's and Area 51 are a classic example of this.

It's Social Engineering.


Elaborate.



posted on Nov, 27 2015 @ 04:36 PM
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a reply to: Moresby

During the 60's, up until the last decade or so, UFO theories have long included the Groom Lake Flight Test Facility (Area 51) as an elaborate complex housing aliens from said UFO's. The US government did nothing to dissuade people from believing these things. In fact, as Groom Lake heightened security over the decades it only increased the speculation that aliens must be housed there.

UFO theorists were often dismissed as kooks by the mainstream. A person couldn't bring up any sort of a serious about Area 51 without someone bringing up the 'alien / UFO' angle. Consequently, the whole discussion would be dismissed as nonsense.

Behind all the intrigue, all the smoke and mirrors, something serious was going on. Over those years some of the most successful secret aircraft of all time were developed. Aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird (and all it's varients), the U-2, the Stealth (F-117) bomber, the B-2 bomber and I'm sure many others were all tested there. The whole UFO angle made for a logical explanation for the odd visual signatures and contrails these aircraft left. What a better explanation than a UFO being the cause? It was just laughable enough that serious people just moved on to some other topic.

Make sense now?



posted on Nov, 27 2015 @ 07:27 PM
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originally posted by: Moresby
And it made me realize this is why some conspiracies thrive. These people I'm referring to weren't born when JFK was shot. Some of them don't even live in the US. Yet the Oswald lone nut theory is so important to their worldview that they become apoplectic when it was challenged. Even in such an inconsequential place and with such limited intensity. Evil governments don't need paid shills. There are plenty of people who will do it for free.

Conspirators can count on this. It's their secret weapon.



Conspiracies thrive because there is more than one kind of historical method. There are 3 different methods according to Nietzsche: the monumental, the antiquarian and the critical. Ref: records.viu.ca...

I can see how it could be applied to something like the JFK assassination or any conspiracy theory. (I'm not an expert in Nietzsche but I will try to divide this up using JFK as the example.)

Monumental - The president was assassinated according to the official 26 volume Warren Report: "They say, The president/king is dead by the hand of a lone gunman who worked alone and did not have any accomplices. We all grieved collectively as one nation and buried our president/king under some monuments." You need monumental history to build mythologies, e.g., Camelot. This is the version of history you get when you visit the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas. Huge, heavy coffee table books included.

Antiquarian - The president was assassinated according to the official report AND these 10,000 different published sources. "This is how the king really died that day, including, gruesome accounts of innocent bystanders splattered with the blood of a king are retold, over and over again, by different authors." We can collect all this into a library of antiquarian books and sort them, chronologically, or alphabetically, or some other scheme. Included in antiquarian history I would also put books such as The Dark Side of Camelot and other books or research that do not seek to dig up the corpses (yet) but have narratives that don't mimic the monumental so closely. This is the version of history you get by reading "conspiracy" books, political biographies, event time lines, films and videos and podcasts, etc., by all authors on the subject.

Critical - The president was assassinated and according to a re-examination of the official reports and the 10,000 different sources there appears to be an emerging, alternative narrative which tends to discredit the official monumental version we have deeply invested in for more than half of a century.

Included in the critical method are the army of researchers who still examines the evidence looking for new insights. This is a "change proposal" version of history which the monumentalists are very afraid of because any new testimony about the evidence can have a strongly corrosive effect on the cast bronze statues of JFK's Camelot mythology.

The critical method is how we all found out that the Zapruder film was manipulated by the NPIC, this is how we know who LHO associated with, this is how we know the relationships of individuals who claimed to not remember what they were doing that day, or, the relationships between the individuals of the Warren Commission who decided amongst themselves to "smooth over" the making of JFK's historical "monument".

Another point I wanted to make about that is this: a 'revisionist' or 'conspiracy theory' is a critical method and active by nature, but over time, (decades in the case of JFK, centuries or millennia in the case of other histories), the critical tends to be amalgamated in with the antiquarian.

For example, Mae Brussell, was a JFK conspiracy buff who had her own radio show in the 1970's and used that venue in the critical method. However, after she passed away, her research falls back into the antiquarian category because it is no longer active or alive. It becomes antique and inert, part of the vast archives of JFK assassination research.


TL;DR
We have 'conspiracy theory' today but in Nietzsche's time "Use and Abuse of History" it would probably be called the critical method.



posted on Nov, 28 2015 @ 12:06 AM
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You know how every time something controversial happens, there will be a media frenzy and everyone will be talking about it? It's because controversy sells, and people love discussing it. The more perspectives the better, all the more fuel for the fire.

This is why some conspiracy theories, such as the JFK assassination and the moon landing debacle, have been so enduring. A lot of the time, conspiracy advocates will fly in the face of what others consider to be definitive evidence, labelling it as falsified by the powers that be. And so the debate will rage on and on, lasting throughout the years and never really getting anywhere, yet remaining a hot topic.

Kinda like debating the existence of God - can't prove he exists, can't prove he doesn't exist. It all comes down to faith.



posted on Nov, 28 2015 @ 03:22 AM
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people are curious and like mystery as well. And they like to work out problems and find the solution if only on a plain of existance in there own minds. I guess it cultivates creative thinking as well.



posted on Nov, 28 2015 @ 03:31 AM
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Part of it is that people love to feel that that know something that others don't.

People love the "inclusive" feeling of being on the inside of some kind of lost or forbidden knowledge. Believing in a conspiracy makes you feel smarter, more informed and in a way superior to other people around you. You know something those other people don't -- you know the real truth.



posted on Nov, 28 2015 @ 08:53 AM
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a reply to: MystikMushroom

That, and I think the human psyche doesn't deal well with not 'knowing' things, and subconsciously will go to great lengths in search of a solution which satisfies this void. In the absence of a readily apparent and logical solution our grey matter seeks out more and more extreme solutions until one fits...no matter how outlandish.



posted on Nov, 28 2015 @ 08:06 PM
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a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Yep, the human brain is hard-wired for pattern recognition. We form patterns wherever we can.



posted on Nov, 29 2015 @ 10:43 AM
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a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thanks.

Tom Wisker's show "Weaponry" in WBAI was a great source in the nineties for information on this sort of thing. His show mainly focuses on the history and state of a wide variety of weapons systems. But he would occasionally talk about secret projects.

And he dealt with Area 51 a number of times. He basically said that once that term had entered the public consciousness the base had long since moved elsewhere. He even listed several other bases and code names that were used after Area 51. These he also said were no longer in use. He also unequivocally claimed that the Aurora project did exist. But, again, noted the code name had long since changed.

"Weaponry" is apparently still on the air. I haven't listened to it in years. But I bet it still offers fascinating information.



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