Why do people believe conspiracy theories?

[Bum Driller]

1. Your making a lot of assumptions as well most of which aren't exactly backed up by the major religion being Christianity in the U.S.

Christianity is the major religion in the western world in name only. Most of the people living in Europe or America are quite secular at this point, and even amongst the more conservative segments of the population belief in Christianity is more along the lines of believing in certain moral principles. True faith in supernatural God is found only amongst very small subset of the that population. I know this because I've studied science of religion quite extensively.

2. Who do you live around that you know people who like her art?

Personally I don't know people who would exactly like her art. Most of the people, myself included, who know of Abramovices art are indifferent towards it. She's not a great artist, but neither is she a devil-worshipper in my opinion. I mean, she could be, but so what? I know devil-worshippers IRL, and they are mostly quite normal, even surprisingly conservative people, compared to population at large. They don't really run around eating and raping people, as far as I know.

3. My conclusion was at bare minimum the elites like and support someone because she provokes the masses, it's an act of contempt against the people and people would see it.

Elites have always felt contempt for the masses, and they always will. That's just ingrained in to human condition so thoroughly that we will most likely never see a society where this would be otherwise. Marina Abramovic, in my opinion, is masterful in using that contempt to make name for herself. And then again, it's obvious from the practical workings of the society that the elites of today are less contemptuous towards the masses than for example the elites of the 19th century.

4. She uses literal satanic imagery. That be like talking to an atheist friend that has been tying to disprove evolution and you catch them wearing a cross. They may be wearing Ironically but initially your going to think something is going on.

I really don't understand this sentence, it's just incoherent jumble of words.

4. An artist job is not to make weird or provocative shit, it's what we currently praise in the art world but that's how we go to the point where a solid white wall or a pair of glasses is now considered art.

Artists have always had the social license to act weird, simply because quite long ago humans have understood that artistic ability often goes hand in hand with being eccentric personality. For fucks sake, that is the reason we have the cultural stereotype of artist like we have in the first place.

Artists job is to make whatever they want to make. Usually nowadays this is some kind of weird shit, since classical representative art fell out of favor long time ago. And trust me, Marina Abramovic is quite tame compared to some other modern artists. Check up Joel-Peter Witkin for example, a man who makes sculptures out of the cadavers of dead people and then photographs them.

5. Just because your an atheist doesn't mean everyone else is.

I'm not an atheist, and I really don't know what it has to do with this conversation.

 

[Atomsk]

Because thinking they know information that the majority doesn't makes them feel special, ask somebody about a conspiracy theory they believe and they'll be smug and condescending about it when explaining, especially if you ask questions or say something contrary. It is 100% about feeling superior, that's why the biggest conspiracy tards are loser neets, they don't have to feel like such huge drains on society if everyone else is just a sheep and they're a galaxy brain.

 

[The Crow]

Because people who believe in certain conspiracy theories have the intellectual independence to actually question the narratives being fed to them by those who have power and thus do their own research on it, instead of just blindly believing what those narratives say.

For example, one conspiracy theory is that in 5-10 years, for political correctness sake, pedophilia will be rebranded as "pedosexuality" and thus be considered "socially acceptable" behavior. For those who find this idea too crazy to be believable, ponder this, two decades ago, the idea that someday, men will not only be legally allowed to call themselves "women", but will even be allowed to compete in women's competitive sports would've been written off as a "conspiracy theory" by the average person, but here we are in 2020, and yes, biological men are currently allowed to compete in women's sports so long as they refer to themselves as "trans-women". The slope is quite slippery...

 

[ArnoldPalmer]

Well, considering that several "Conspiracy Theories" I've put personal stock into over the years have come true, it's because sometimes conspiracy theories aren't hokey bullshit. Also, putting faith in your government and financial elite is the actual stupidest thing a human being can do, and while I don't like the term 'bootlicker', that's exactly what they are. Feeble-minded sheep who are uncomfortable with indulging any idea that may go against their preconceptions.

I also absolutely love the "I told you so" phase, when it comes out that I was right all along. You cannot imagine how good it feels to rub that shit in a detractor's face. Heroin's got nothing on that high.

 

[John Titor]

If I notice a certain pattern behind certain conspiracy theorists, it's that their life sucks and they want someone to blame for their fuck ups. Also because they are nobody special, they want to believe they have access to forbidden knowledge. We see this in OPL even.

 

[Idiotron]

A few things:
1. It's better to believe that things happen according to plan, it's a safe feeling. Even if the plan is horrible for everyone, at least you'll be safe if you play along. When shit just happens and nobody is in control, when a guy can just go to a school and shoot some kids without anyone anticipating, that's scary.
2. You get to feel smug and superior because you know the truth but all those sheeple don't, they're just part of the system, you're special like Neo in the Matrix.
3. It makes you feel like you're part of something, you're not just a lonely schmuck, you're part of a group of like minded individuals and you all are part of the resistance, you guys are saving the world.

 

[societyguy01]

The reason why people believe in conspiracies is in short because a good deal of them are true.

The long answer to this question involves the way power is organized and actualized in democracies and republics all across the west. In the absence of a clearly defined, centralized power structure such as a monarchy, dictatorship or theocracy, chaos is allowed to take root and who is actually meant to be in power is unclear, at least at first.

The silly thing about democracy is that is doesn’t even exist. At least not on any significant macro level. You can have democracy in your workplace, at your school or in your family, but as a democratic system becomes larger the tendency for it to be corrupted grows exponentially. What really happens after the introduction of democracy is that those with the most money, power and clout end up dominating the stage, being able to butt their way to the front of the line in what amounts to little more than high school politicking with dire consequences.

Of course, for the players in this game to come out right and admit that they hijack the system so easily isn’t in their interests. Over time, new centers of power form. Where you would once have a King, you now have a nebulous dynasty of people with lineal and financial ties. You have cleverly named think tanks that serve to ponder the objectives and means of these new power centers. In order to keep up the illusion of democracy, these “elite” lets call them are forced to obfuscate their movements, as well as their true motives from the rest of society.

Conspiracy theories are simply investigations where the observer is a man on the outside looking in. Conspiracy theories try to fill in the holes left by the empty PR bullshit spewed by the rotten children of groups like the Council of Foreign Relations, PNAC or the Trilateral commission, to name a few. Given that the actions, words and motives of these elites never really add up, you will eventually have people who take a whiff of the air, so to speak. Smelling the bullshit, they are drawn to alternative sources of information that lie underneath the mainstream narrative and go with whatever plug that can be inserted to align the narratives spewed by the elite into something coherent and logical.

Sorry to answer with a conspiracy of my own, but the question was too tantalizing to pass up.

 

[Sable]

It's mostly for two reasons.

Firstly, humans are very good at pattern recognition. Too good - it's why people see the face of Jesus on some toast or whatever. A bunch of jews coming together to rule the world is a much better pattern or whatever than jews tending just to be well educated and nepotistic (to use an internet-favoured example of some sort of conspiracy)

Secondly, a conspiracy theory is probably comforting in a way- thinking that there's this vast cabal responsible for FAKING THE MOON LANDING/HIDING THE NEPHILIM/ ETC and you've FIGURED THEM OUT makes you feel SMART and have someone to blame for whatever problems you have. In addition to this, you can band together with like minded (probably) crazy people, and have a social aspect to it (along with other people to reinforce your delusions).

In reality, 95% of conspiracies are wrong, because people are generally too retarded to hold them together.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

As a joke, I could said people belive conspiracy theories because it's less boring then the same old stuff heard on Oprah and the rest of the MSM, lol.

 

[Eris!]

1. Occam's Razor and Hanlon's Razor are both largely ignored.

Occam's Razor usually leans toward the conspiracies and Hanlon's Razor is retarded.
9/11 conspiracy theories make a lot more sense than the official story.
People are very frequently malicious, including those in power. They are very frequently incompetent at the same time. There is no actual reason to assume incompetence over malice.

 

[Panama]

Because sometimes it's true, and once you see the level of sadism and depravity people in power are capable of, you may begin to wonder what else you were lied to about.

MKULTRA didn't exist.

The Tuskegee Experiments didn't exist.

Green Run didn't happen.

Operation Mockingbird didn't exist.

USS Maddox was attacked on August 4, 1964

Operation Northwoods was never proposed.

The Holodomor didn't happen.

 

[Lemmingwise]

At its core, this. A lot of moon landing conspiracies revolve around the fact that the video footage is pretty shit even for late 1960s standards,

It doesn't help that it was filmed in color. We only have the filming of the screens footage that was broadcast left, because they lost the tapes... as well as the telemetry data.

This is just stating the official facts, but it's enough to make anyone go

I think what a lot of people (on all sides) forget is that our minds abhor a vacuum. When you shatter one explanation, our minds demand another.

So you have people both assuming that nothing is ever a conspiracy, and they'll be attracted to this thread like flies and you have the people who assume everything is a conspiracy and they'll be attracted to the conspiracy threads like flies.

Both find an uncertain void and fill it with certainty. It is boring to listen to uncertain people anyways.

I find that it is easy to predict after a five minute conversation how much someone is susceptable to conspiracy theories. In general it comes down to how someone trust The System.

Some believe that overal things are just and some doubt it and that in effect predicts whether they believe there is room for outlandish planning.

 

[byuu]

Occam's Razor usually leans toward the conspiracies and Hanlon's Razor is retarded.

Obligatory Simpsons clip:

But no, Occam's Razor does not lean toward conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are the opposite of simple.
"Jews did 9/11" might sound simple but if you spend one second to think of what it would need to involve, like the infiltration of every major American agency and the Islamist groups involved - it is very very complex.

 

[Eris!]

It doesn't help that it was filmed in color. We only have the filming of the screens footage that was broadcast left, because they lost the tapes... as well as the telemetry data.

I'm thoroughly convinced the moon landing footage were rearscreen projections. For whatever top top top secret reason which is useless to speculate on the actual footage of the moon landing was not useable and they had to fabricate some. What amazes me about conspiracy theories is that people will find this absolutely reasonable sequence of sentences insane and not worth even reading for no other reason than that "conspiracy theories" are something they know are crazy.

"Jews did 9/11" might sound simple but if you spend one second to think of what it would need to involve, like the infiltration of every major American agency and the Islamist groups involved - it is very very complex.

Denying the obvious and consistent evidence of that infiltration would involve violating occam's razor a lot more than accepting it would.

Occam's razor is not "What narrative is the simplest and requires the least coordination?" Things which require extreme coordination happen every day. Planning 9/11 would be a lot less complex than running a nuclear submarine, and dozens of those run every day. Occam's razor is "Which narrative requires me to contradict known facts the least, and make the least assumptions?"

 

[byuu]

Denying the obvious and consistent evidence of that infiltration would involve violating occam's razor a lot.

That only works if you're already in a mindset that Jews rule everything. Try to argue that with a normal person and all theories that he would need to accept.
If you already accept that ghosts exist, then explaining the noises at night with "It was ghost" is simple. Simpler than the mechanics behind house settling.

 

[Eris!]

That only works if you're already in a mindset that Jews rule everything. Try to argue that with a normal person and all theories that he would need to accept.
If you already accept that ghosts exist, then explaining the noises at night with "It was ghost" is simple. Simpler than the mechanics behind house settling.

I concern myself with what's true, not with what I can convince your retarded aunt is true.
Your argument is basically "Well, yeah, if you know all those corroborating facts, occams razor points toward conspiracy theories instead"
Which is my exact point.

 

[JamusActimus]

Because the states/those in power lie and omit informations.

Antivaxxer would not exist if the phamarceutical didn't fuck so many peoples over.
Same for 911 truther they would not exist if the state was more transparent with what happened

 

[byuu]

Your argument is basically "Well, yeah, if you know all those corroborating facts, occams razor points toward conspiracy theories instead"
Which is my exact point.

No. What I'm saying is "Jews did it" same as "Ghost did it" is not an actual explanation. It doesn't explain anything - there's no why or how in such an answer.

 

[Eris!]

No. What I'm saying is "Jews did it" same as "Ghost did it" is not an actual explanation. It doesn't explain anything - there's no why or how in such an answer.

There is in fact an extremely robust and accurate why, and the fact that you're treating it as a silly proposition comparable to ghosts tells me all I need to know about you. The most fascinating thing about conspiracy theories is the way normal people feel compelled to react to perfectly rational things, simply because they are not the official story.

 

[byuu]

There is in fact an extremely robust and accurate why, and the fact that you're treating it as a silly proposition comparable to ghosts tells me all I need to know about you. The most fascinating thing about conspiracy theories is the way normal people feel compelled to react to perfectly rational things, simply because they are not the official story.

The fact that you don't even try to provide an actual explanation tells me that it would be far from simple and pose more questions than it answers.