"Doomsday Preppers". I couldn't watch much either: It isn't just sad, its nearly child abuse.
Psychology of Conspiracy Theorists
- Thread starter James R
- Start date
No, see, a conspiracy theorist believes in something that's not happening. If you, for example, are in the hospital because a black helicopter intentionally landed on you, it's not a conspiracy theory that a black helicopter is out to get you. If you sit alone in your room every night with all your shades drawn because you are afraid of black helicopters, you are probably a conspiracy theory believer (and indeed, probably psychotic.)
Black slaves were actually slaves. That was not a conspiracy theory.
Gay men in the 1950's were regularly imprisoned for being gay. That's not a conspiracy theory.
Women in Muslim countries are regularly imprisoned (and even killed) for having sex outside marriage, for showing their faces etc. That's not a conspiracy theory.
Here are some example of REAL conspiracy theories:
That white Christian men are just like the black slaves of the historical American South because the evil liberals hate them and plot to keep them down.
That 9/11 was caused by US missiles carrying hologram generators that made them look like airplanes.
That the CDC is in cahoots with the vaccine companies and wants to use them to spread autism.
That condom manufacturers want to give gay men cancer by putting carcinogens in condoms.
That the Moon landing was faked by the government.
That space aliens crashed in New Mexico and the government is covering it all up.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Uh no. A conspiracy theorist is anyone who believes there is a conspiracy. When there IS a conspiracy, they are right. The Jews were right to be conspiracy theorists. So were black slaves, gay men, and women in Muslim countries. The OP makes the false assumption there's no such thing as conspiratorial majorities. This is wrong, as history clearly shows us.
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Lol, that's pretty funny. I've never heard anyone refer to Galileo as a conspiracy theorist before. But it does fit (sorta) to see themselves as warriors against the oppressors in power. You can justify a lot of Wrongs to support a Righteous cause. Just ask ISIS!
When there is a conspiracy, it isn't a "theory".
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Yes it is. It's a correct theory, but it's still a theory.
Correct.
No, it was quite clear that the Germans were rounding up and exterminating Jews. (A conspiracy is a concerted effort to cover up an event or situation, not "something bad.".)
No, it was quite clear that slaveowners in the US owned slaves. Even the US Constitution called out their right to recover their escaped slaves, so it would be absurd to claim there was an effort to cover it up.
No, it was quite clear that gay men were legislated against in the 1950's. The laws were public record.
No, it is quite clear that Muslim women are subjugated in Arab countries. They freely admit it.
This is just offensive.
There was not conspiracy against the Jews in the 1930s, there was open hostility and open reprisals and action against them. The same thing with African Americans in the USA after the abolition of slavery.
Some classic conspiracy theory thinking in that post.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
As in the Holocaust, or segregation, or sodomy laws, or Jim Crow laws, etc. Conspiracy theories that turned out to be totally correct. It would be convenient if we could dismiss everyone who has a conspiracy theory as wrong simply by virtue of having a conspiracy theory. Unfortunately reality isn't so black and white. There are conspiracy theories that are right, that are wrong, that are half right, and that are true in certain situations but not in others. Each conspiracy theory must be judged on its own merits.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Not necessarily. That assumes the conspirators believe what they are covering up is bad. Actually the reverse is true. The conspirators succeed by painting minority groups they are maginalizing as lesser humans. The Nazis were conspiring against Jews long before they rounded them in concentration camps.
Painting slaves as subhumans is covering up an injustice. Defining humans as property is the deception that justifies treating them as such.
Conspiracies of local police busting gay bars, conspiracies of business owners refusing business to gay men, conspiracies of hatecrimes and gay bashings. All conspiracies, many secret and many others morally justified by laws.
Subjugated by a conspiracy of Muslim men. An open conspiracy is still a conspiracy
Conspiracy:
"the action of plotting or conspiring."
- "they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice"
synonym---plotting, collusion, intrigue, connivance, machination, collaboration;
treason
"conspiracy to commit murder"
- "they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice"
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Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Wow, so there was no conspiracy of Nazis against Jews prior to the 3rd Reich? Well, that's just offensive. lol!
Again, conspiracy does not mean "something bad." It means "a concerted effort to cover up an event or situation."
Conspiracy does not mean "something bad." It means "a concerted effort to cover up an event or situation." There was no effort to cover up slavery in the US.
By definition - no, it is not. If there is no effort to cover something up there is no conspiracy. That's the definition.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Wrong again.
Conspiracy:
"the action of plotting or conspiring."
- "they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice"
synonym---plotting, collusion, intrigue, connivance, machination, collaboration;
treason
"conspiracy to commit murder"
- "they were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice"
From Wikipedia:
A conspiracy theory is an explanatory proposition that accuses two or more persons, a group, or an organization of having caused or covered up, through secret planning and deliberate action, an illegal or harmful event or situation.
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
Only says the planning is secret, which it usually is. The conspiracy itself need not be so secret. As my examples show.
Types of conspiracies:
- Conspiracy (civil), an agreement between persons to deceive, mislead, or defraud others of their legal rights, or to gain an unfair advantage
- Conspiracy (criminal), an agreement between persons to break the law in the future, in some cases having committed an act to further that agreement
- Conspiracy (political), an agreement between persons with the goal of gaining political power or meeting a political objective
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Eh... technically speaking, MR is correct in this - the connotation the word has gained over the years is, ultimately, irrelevant to the technical meaning.
However, when you say conspiracy theory in everyday conversation, most people automatically know you mean something of a nonsensical nature.
However, when you say conspiracy theory in everyday conversation, most people automatically know you mean something of a nonsensical nature.
Bells
Staff member
Oh dear god..
MR, it was not the Jews, blacks and gays who were the conspiracy theorists. It was society who was driven to hate because they bought into the conspiracy theories of others. For example, Hitler was able to rally so many Germans to hating the Jews because he spread so many conspiracy theories about Jews. It was not because the Jews were conspiracy theorists.
What you are essentially saying here is that society was correct to hate the Jews, blacks and gays because you just said the conspiracy theories against them turned out to be correct.
I don't think you quite understand what it is you are arguing.
Wow.. Just.. Wow..
Are you aware that at present, you are coming off as a homophobic, racist and bigoted anti-Semite?
Which conspiracy theories about gays do you think is right?
Magical Realist
Valued Senior Member
It's an attempt to invalidate all conspiratorial suspicions from the get go. To shut down conversation about a conspiracy as if it is somehow nutty or paranoid. Not surprising since the majority always controls the language. Noone actually WANTS to believe there are conspiracies. Best to dismiss their very possibility without even looking into the evidence.