I think it's a conspiracy. But Why?

I was wondering if anyone has an idea as to whether certain people are pre disposed to conspiracy theories. Not just to believe in a particular theory or not but simply to be of the mindest that some things may be a conspiracy. I can understand a person reacting to certain events in their life or becoming dissatisfied with the common explanations for their own observations.

However I, and I'm assuming others, came into conspiracy theories in kind of the opposite direction. It's like my default setting was already at conspiracy. It's an over simlified account but It's sort of like assuming nothing is as it seems and working backwards confirming that some things are what they say. Does anyone else feel this way?

My parents are not fringe thinkers and I wasn't exposed to alternate theories as a youngster but as my interest in conspiracy has grown I have often heard my mother say "you know your grandmother believed that as well"

So is there a general difference in our manner of thinking?

reply to post by Josephus


The strange thing is a lot of these theories have real tangible evidence for their existance like the Bohemian Grove bringing the Gorbachev's and Dick Cheney's from supposed opposite ideologies together for bizzare rituals. Quotes from lofty elites like David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger and Ted Turner seem to match the strange things that occur from time to time. On 9/11 Building 7 going down minutes after a reporter on TV claimed it collapsed and later the claim was due to the fire that thousands of engineers look at and go 'demolition'. The fact that someone bypassed security to allow the underwear bomber a ride to America. Those things make people look around for whatever else is consistent with the elites comments.

reply to post by Josephus


You make associations where you aren't supposed to make associations. That's a conspiracy, too. You've been taught to think a certain way, and you're not doing it. Bad you.

I think a lot of these conspiracies rely on people having too much other stuff to think about. You just need to be distracted long enough for it to come to fruition. Then someone gets richer, someone gets more powerful, or someone gets pieces in place for the next phase, where they Hey! Look over there!

I don't think it has anything to do with intelligence or sanity. It has to do with the way certain people think. There are many different conspiracy theories and some seem more plausible than others. Basically I see it that something and/or information is being kept from us. I believe even those who do not believe in conspiracy theories know that the public is not always fully informed. I believe this knowledge that information is hidden and has been hidden in the past forms the basis for this so called "psychosis" known as a conspiracy theorist.

Now when you take the fact that information has been hidden and you look at present events and at recent past events it definitely appears that something is afoot. The economic collapse was predictable. I saw it coming years in advance. It could have been prevented however TPTB were too busy making money than to simply put out a statements saying "Hey folks, this is crazy we are driving home prices way up. This cannot hold up... If we keep giving out these loans and you keep buying these homes the bubble will burst and once it does property values will plummet and you will be stuck owing $450,000 on a home worth less than half of that." However, TPTB were too busy making money on the whole situation to even think about doing that.

Supposedly this situation has severely damaged the banks too but now I see new banks popping up on every corner. It seems like there are more banks now than there ever have been. So it makes you think what is going on?

Then you look at all the strange climate changes we have experienced. The ice caps have melted more this year than in recorded history. Worst drought ever in the central US. Yet we have groups saying global warming is a myth?

We also know that there are many things that could cause an immense natural disaster of biblical proportions:
1. Comet or asteroid strike. The sole called earth killer. It has happened and probably will happen again.
2. Super Volcano.
3. A big EQ- The Big One. Look at Japan. It is only a matter of time that it happens elsewhere.
4. A Super Virus... Look at Ebola...
5. MERSA- Our overuse of antibiotics creating super bacteria that is resistant to drugs.
6. Middle east tensions/religious tensions- The leading cause of terrorism...
The list goes on and on...

So you add all these known fears. Add the fact that there have been a lot of volatile events. Multiply that by the fact that information is hidden. Then some information finally gets out.... And the result is a conspiracy theory...

I think anyone who does NOT realize that there are conspiracies EVERYWHERE, in almost every facet of your life, is an idiot. A conspiracy just means that more than one person is involved, and it IMPLIES that they are up to no good. The word has been twisted around by corporate NewSpeak to become associated with craziness in everyone's mind. To even think that there might be such a thing as conspiracies is crazy! You must be insane!

Every corporation is, in effect, a conspiracy. A supermarket, for example, is loaded with conspiracies. For example, the fact that dozens, even hundreds of "competing" brands are all owned by the same company, who TRICK you into thinking you have freedom of choice. Do you think there are not more than two people, say the executives of said corporation, that KNOW about this trickery, and in fact spend all day colluding with each other to advance said trickery though marketing and advertising? Wouldn't you call that a conspiracy?

Bought sunglasses lately? Did you compare Bvlgari to Prada to RayBan to Oakley to Maui Jim to Dolce Gabbana? Compare prices at Sunglass Hut, Sunglass Island, and even Lens Crafters, before you shrewdly determined which was the best pair, at the best price? Ain't it great to have such freedom of choice? And you can use your superior intellect to determine the best. Yeah. All the same company. Would you call that a conspiracy?

I used to work selling timeshares. We would outright lie to people, and we were all in on it together, putting on a total act. We always said, "Everyone has to be on the same page", in other words, as long as we all tell the SAME lie, the idiots will believe it is true. We would play off each other, and pretend to be each others' boss in order to approve special deals, etc. and we all could play any role at the drop of a hat, since we were all CONSPIRING TOGETHER to swindle people. That's how we could convince you that a piece of paper was somehow worth fifty grand. This is a fact, and that is exactly how the corporate govt treats YOU. I finally quit because it was disgusting. I did it for a long time because it's hard to say no to huge piles of money. But I finally had lost every shred of self respect and I couldn't do it anymore. And it seemed to attract a very certain type of scumbag.

If this kind of thing will happen on a small scale, forty or fifty slick talking sleazebags working together to swindle people, why would you think it wouldn't happen on a larger scale? A FAR larger scale, with VASTLY larger amounts of money. Much slicker sleazebags gravitate directly to it. And screw their customers, but hundreds of billions at a time.

Conspiracies are everywhere.

reply to post by Josephus


For me, it is being sensitive to daily propaganda which makes me immediately doubt every story out of the State department, the Pentagon, the mainstream media, and any American politician in the country. It just seems sensible to me.

I believe the family you had growing up determines a lot of what you think. My parents were very liberal, and promoted free thinking. My dad had particular views about the government, like how crooked they were. He used to tell me how the government was responsible for the death of JFK. He took me to see JFK when I was 11. What a profound experience.

You only need to research American history,( I mean truly research the truth) to see there has been plenty of conspiracies and they continue to this day. Like the truth is that the KKK was started by a Democrat. Like the Civil war was started because Democrats refused to give up their slaves. It is really shocking the things you find and are still going on.

reply to post by CaptChaos


By far the best answer my friend. There are conspiracies everywhere. The next obvious one is gas prices...

I think it's a mix of things, of course, nature and nurture, the policical environment during your formative years, the media you are exposed to etc etc

but I also think the "super fringe" ideas like the moon is a death star, give people a chemical rush of some sort. I'd be curious to hook a brain up to a monitor and see what happens when someone reads really far out ideas

Originally posted by jimmiec
You only need to research American history,( I mean truly research the truth) to see there has been plenty of conspiracies and they continue to this day. Like the truth is that the KKK was started by a Democrat. Like the Civil war was started because Democrats refused to give up their slaves. It is really shocking the things you find and are still going on.

Most people who know anything about politics know the parties switched idiologies. They do not like to talk about it but, Rebublicans were the liberals and the Dems the conservatives. I would not be suprised if they do not end up switching again down the road. Of course none of that is a conpiracy or a secret it is just most people do not like to pick up a book.

As for people who are believe in most conspiracys, they tend to either want to be a part of something bigger and feel like they know something nobody else does or they do not like chaos and try to paint the world with order by creating a fiction that somebody is running it all. I find the way they adapt them and pick and choose the facts they want to use to fit whatever narative they are writing interesting.

reply to post by Josephus


I guess what you are implying is a conspiracy in itself, huh?

The conspiracy of believing in conspiracies. Interesting. But I think those of us prone to conspiracal (is that even a word?) thinking are just more aware of the lies we are fed. Because anytime I've discussed my views on this or that with relatives and friends, most of them start to question the world in ways they didn't before. So in a sense, they are awakening. Does that make sense?

Originally posted by jimmiec
You only need to research American history,( I mean truly research the truth) to see there has been plenty of conspiracies and they continue to this day. Like the truth is that the KKK was started by a Democrat. Like the Civil war was started because Democrats refused to give up their slaves. It is really shocking the things you find and are still going on.

I beleive the democrats were also the reason we got involved in Vietnam... Hmmmm really makes you think???

So long as there are commonly accepted instances of conspiracy, things like Guy Fawkes, which no one in common doubts happened. There will always be validity for conspiracy.

Making a reasonable case for a claim has been the trouble. Too many go the lazy route of attaching a narrative that fits the physical observable story and fill in the gaps with presumption.

It is a slower and more disciplined route to only progress when one verifiable fact is attached to another. The acceptance of gaps is why the public dismisses most popularly supported theories.

And deriding everyone who ignores these claims as sheeple or zombies etc doesn't validate ourselves. We need to begin treating conspiracy theories precisely by its namesake. Theories that require intricate scientific discipline. And not be governed by impatient passion that leads to accusations that demand a presumption of knowledge others simply may not have or have acquired yet.

I have spent too much time and heard too many people make compelling arguments and indictments who failed to achieve a convincing argument because of its insistence on in verifiable information.

Moreover, I recognize the whole point of conspiracy is identifying that which has been deliberately concealed often with great pains and great resources. That is not good enough.The fault of all conspiracists if I may classify it as such is the approach.

Often we speak of heavily financed well resourced behemoths deploying nefarious machinations. We all collectively approach these great towers at its pinnacle.

Tactically speaking we must attack its at the very base, and begin the long and time consuming process of picking apart block for block.

To many times finite instances are wrapped up in large scale considerations as credence of the finite. This is the entire failure of most 9/11 claims. Compare this to the modern approach to JFK. Breaking it down in minutes, days, hours, months, letters, testimony, compare and contrast.

There are many looking at 9/11 now who are now patient and are only building a case in verified increments instead of saying the towers were demolished and then saying Bush. Now its and minute to minute narrative being built.

We must start from square one with all claims start at the incident in question and build as detailed a frame around it as possible without being sidetracked via going immediately to a supposed culprit imo.

Originally posted by Josephus
I was wondering if anyone has an idea as to whether certain people are pre disposed to conspiracy theories. Not just to believe in a particular theory or not but simply to be of the mindest that some things may be a conspiracy.

You need strong intuition for what is the truth and you cant have blind trust in authority and government figures. You cant be afraid to be ridiculed. You have to understand human psychology to know what makes people follow other people, and understand the consequences of group thinking in order to avoid it.

You also have to have seen at least a few real conspiracy theories turn out to be real conspiracies so your view of the world is not completely ignorant.

Just some things off the top of my mind.

reply to post by Josephus


Well i think i would have to thank my Mum and Dad for me wanting and searching for the truth.

Mum is very superstitious, sweep the floor directing to the back door always, don't open up umbrellas inside, don't walk under a ladder, rest the broom so it crosses the door (corner to opposite corner) when its closed ect ect.

And with four girls plus mum being "sensitives" we couldn't keep many secrets amongst us.
Mum knew when each of us girls was expecting even before we did.

And well Dad called bull s... on absolutely everything anyone said, especially politicians.

With this in mind i think its obvious why some of us look for deeper meaning or truths, we are more curious and we need answers. growing up with a simple "no because i told you so", wasn't a good enough reason for us.

Love and harmony
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