The transformation of "conspiracy theories."

Hello ATS.

Over the past few years, I there seems to have been a shift in how conspiracy theories are defined, talked about, and considered. The following is my opinion only, but I'm interested in how other people feel about the issue.

First of all, I think "conspiracy is going mainstream." That is to say, as the economies of the developed world implode, more and more people are looking for new answers. They are willing to entertain many ideas that once seemed crazy or "fringe." The mainstream press has let thoughtful people down -- its credibility is dwindling as it withdraws into a corporate-sponsored cocoon of false cheer and shallow celebrity gossip.

People intuitively recognize that something is wrong with the world, and their previous assumptions and coziness have been shattered. The look around them and see the rotting, foreclosed homes and the growing ranks of jobless. They take note of the mass bailouts, and see how this has only benefited a few. A "surveillance society" bristling with cameras and detectors that once seemed paranoid and sci-fi is emerging before our eyes. Meanwhile the press, the governments, and TPTB keep telling people that everything is OK, leading to a further loss of credibility.

At the same time, certain aspects of the "conspiracy theory world" are receiving less attention. As people realize that their daily lives are not what they thought, they have no need to use extreme fringe ideas as a form of escapism -- reality is becoming strange and terrifying enough. The need for escapism persists, of course, but rather than escape into conspiracy theories as a form of "semi-fiction," people are seeking their releases elsewhere. When they turn to conspiratorial ideas, they do so with increasing grimness and seriousness, no longer playing around but rather frantically seeking to make sense of a world gone mad.

Or so it seems to me. Thoughts?

The invention of the search engine has definitely fueld alot of people's interest in conspiracy. It is almost mainstream.

However,
Isnt it odd that the reaction to the information is usually luke warm?
Maybe it's an overload of info?

Originally posted by InertiaZero
...Isnt it odd that the reaction to the information is usually luke warm?
Maybe it's an overload of info?

Excellent point. Why aren't more people DOING things, so to speak? Or at least reacting more intensely?

Maybe people are preoccupied with "simply holding on"...just geting by... or perhaps they are numb and in shock, unable to process all the new information, as you noted.

I think the developed world is in a position where people are in pain, but they haven't yet realized how radical the transformations will have to be to put things right again. There is still a lot of hope that things can go back to "business as usual" (whatever that means). As time goes on, I expect more people to wake up to the fact that a lot of old systems and ways of doing things are gone forever. But this may take a few more years.

I think there's definitely an overload of information.

Just ONE of the things someone could learn and verify with credible sources today, would have immediately sparked revolution in the early 1800s.

People today don't even know how to handle most of what they learn about "alternative" subjects.

reply to post by silent thunder


As society values rational thought less and less, conspiracy theories abound. I blame the decline of the respect society has for the scientific method. People grow up wanting to be pop stars or athletes, instead of scientists and astronauts.

And this is what we're left with: People making up insane, complicated, irrational plots to describe things they are either unable or unwilling to believe, and stamping their feet when people don't take them seriously because of a total lack of evidence.

If western cultures were more rational, we'd have less ATS-style "conspiracy theories", and we'd know a great deal more about any actual plots that exist. It could be argues that "the powers that be" are very happy with ATS, as it's soaking up all those who distrust power, and is keeping them busy with nonsense about chemtrails and HAARP.

Originally posted by davesidious
As society values rational thought less and less, conspiracy theories abound.

So says the man confused by the movements around him.

Don't worry brother, historically you are in the majority whenever there has been great change.

I know in my houehold alone the topics that appear here are talked about a little. Conspiracy as a whole has a taint on it that will be every hard to remove. The problem with it is that a lot of what we are seeking, in the way of information or understanding, is not available to us. We don't know what gets discussed behind closed doors, we don't get to see the deals made between nations, we don't know the underlying conflicts and desires of our respective governments. We only get to see the results of the process. What we have to work with is a lot of speculation and half truths mixed with the outcomes of past and present issues in the world.

To make sense of it all is an impossibility which is why, I think, we have such a braod spectrum of oppinion on whats wrong. It all comes down to the control of information and its for that reason alone, I think conspiracy theories, some anyways, hint at the underlying truth. Controlling information and secrecy is something the media tries hard to tell us is impossible. People like to say governments can't do anything right so how could they manipulate world events for a desired outcome?

But anyone whos ever worked for a large business knows how information is controlled. The workplace is a pyramidal structure and every box has its information, the information they need to do their job and its similar with society. Voltaires Bastards is a book written by a former governor's general husband and it deals with this topic specifically; how information is currency and tightly controlled and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the idea that our governments our better at secrecy then were led to believe.

9/11 truth is something that gets bashed a lot, not unjustifiably in a lot of cases, not because it deals with conspiracy but because it suffers from the same thing we all do, incomplete information. For myself, someone who has no concrete oppinion on what really happened, I question it simply because of the outcomes that came from it. The people who benefitted and those that didn't. I will never know if it was an inside job or what have you but what I do know is that it was capitalized on not to mention the one lie that was told and that dealt with the air quality during the rescue effort that led to a lot of brave sefless people getting sick or dying.

The only reason that issue hasn't exploded is because of the flow of information in society and the compartments or levels of vetting is has to go trhough. Thats why the internet is a double edge sword. Like an above poster said about the lack of focus on the scientific process or in other words, verifying information versus hypothetical scenarios and speculation. We can find information but we also find speculation and oppinion presented as fact.

I think conspiracy is simply in for a while but when the people expecting answers find twenty people giving twenty different versions of our current reality, they will fall away from it because at the end of the day any conspiracy without firsthand confessions or testimony with documentation will never be anything more than a theory.

Sorry for the long post but this topic interests me greatly. Nice thread OP
Edit: to clarify some points I muddled
Cheers

[edit on 10-1-2010 by thebulldog]