The psychology of conspiracy theorists

[ka9q]

For another, fairly or not, concerns about someone's mental health can put a serious damper on things like their hiring prospects, whether they're true or not.

Believe me, I can't imagine anything that anyone could say that would put a greater damper on Hunchbacked's hiring prospects than what Hunchbacked himself says.

And note that we're calling him by his Youtube handle, the name he himself uses in public in connection with his conspiracy claims, and not his real name. Although I believe I know what it is, and he has used it in other forums, it simply isn't relevant. On the net he goes by the name Hunchbacked, and since I am addressing (or discussing) this same persona, it's the right name to refer to him.

But I sure wouldn't hire him if he came looking for a job and I knew it was him, that's for sure.

[gillianren]

You should not take the opinion of an uninformed group, and transfer it's bias to another, perhaps more informed group. I regard myself as above average informed, and I don't have that bias. Of course I accept your opinion as valid for the population as a whole.

Mmm.  I have seen that bias in groups that I'm pretty sure you wouldn't think have it.  Someone on BAUT several years ago referred to bipolar people as "'tards."  As in, abbreviated from "retards."  That person isn't here, and his is the most extreme, but I can dig up quite a few examples both here and there of cruel, dismissive attitudes sweepingly applied to the entire mentally ill population.  Oh, and inaccurate, which goes without saying.

Another point, why the conspiracist act like they do, is perhaps the wish to belong to a group, the wish to get attention. By having these beliefs, they feel less alone, can attract attention from a wide range of people, from their own ranks, where they can pat themselves on the shoulders in a wide circle, to the people who try to convince them otherwise. They get the attention by being contrarian, like children in the "no"-age.

Yes; I think that's much more common than diagnosable mental illness.  Just wanting to fit in somewhere can be a powerful motivator for foolish behaviour.  Think back to when you yourself were in high school.  I wasn't enormously concerned about fitting in, and I can still think of examples of stupid things I did in the attempt!

[smartcooky]

Interesting NYT article here I picked up from a post at JREF

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&

It seems that CTs and HBs might just be normal people after all, although I can't see how this could possibly apply to obsessed conspiritards like Jarrah....

[gillianren]

Well, it's all a spectrum, after all, just like all mental health issues.  A perfectly rational person can believe, for example, that a shadowy cabal was behind the assassination of JFK.  (They'd be wrong, but that's not the point.  And I'm curious if that article even counts JFK as "a political conspiracy theory," because if they do, I think their number is low.)  However, eventually, it becomes a real problem.  If that's all that you think about all day, or if you've lost friendships over it, or things like that.  For most people, it's something they believe but only really act on at election time.

[Noldi400]

Interesting NYT article here I picked up from a post at JREF

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/why-rational-people-buy-into-conspiracy-theories.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&

It seems that CTs and HBs might just be normal people after all, although I can't see how this could possibly apply to obsessed conspiritards like Jarrah....

I can't help but notice, though,, that in the example used in the article - the Boston bombing - the so-called CTs the writer refers to seem to be limited to who was "really" behind the bombing.  The hard-core CT crowd that I was seeing were the ones who were (and are) claiming that there was, in fact, no bombing. It was all "smoke and mirrors", simulated injuries with heavily moulaged amputees playing the injured victims.

It seems to me that there is a spectrum of sorts among Conspiracy Theories and their proponents/believers. At one end there are those who accept the reality of what happened but have their doubts about the "public story" of who did it and their motives, and at the other there are those who seem to regard every event as a, well, "Disney Production" seems to be a common catchphrase.

Whether there is a correlation with mental health issues is another question altogether and one which, I'm afraid, is 'way above my pay grade.

[Peter B]

It seems to me that there is a spectrum of sorts among Conspiracy Theories and their proponents/believers. At one end there are those who accept the reality of what happened but have their doubts about the "public story" of who did it and their motives, and at the other there are those who seem to regard every event as a, well, "Disney Production" seems to be a common catchphrase.

I shudder to think what conspiracy theorists would be making of the Woolwich killing... 

[gwiz]

I shudder to think what conspiracy theorists would be making of the Woolwich killing... 

It's obvious.  The presently growing body of evidence of incompetence by the security services will be spun into proof of collusion, just like 9/11.

[Glom]

I shudder to think what conspiracy theorists would be making of the Woolwich killing... 

It's obvious.  The presently growing body of evidence of incompetence by the security services will be spun into proof of collusion, just like 9/11.

With it be just collusion or will it be the whole thing never happened.

[Tedward]

I shudder to think what conspiracy theorists would be making of the Woolwich killing... 

Usual rate of thinking. I am finding the level of intelligence displayed in trying to second guess the events, rather bewildering. They are piecing it together nicely in their own image. If you find it hard to step back from the stupid, best do not go there. It really is that bad. That is before some of them say it was actors.

[darren r]

"Truth Frequency Radio" is claiming it was a staged event, because of the lack of blood on the ground (a familiar claim by conspiracists), because people on the scene aren't behaving according to their limited understanding of human behaviour, and because there is paint on the road and pavement (sidewalk) that they have interpreted as actors cue markers (they're marks left by council and utilities workers indicating where repairs need to be made and are a familiar sight on British streets).

[gillianren]

It's not unfamiliar on American streets, either.

[Tedward]

(they're marks left by council and utilities workers indicating where repairs need to be made and are a familiar sight on British streets).

Too familiar nowadays.

[Allan F]

You mean those paint markers are left there for actors to see where to stand? Oh NO! I have a blue line across the street right in front of my house!

Sarcasm aside.

I feel sorry for those people, who need to "justify" random street killings with being part of a "master plan". But even more, I feel sorry for the real victims. Those who go about their daily life, and are attacked by people, who are to amoral and confused and uneducated to understand the deeper issues.

Just the other day, a man walking his dog, was attacked and possibly killed (still in coma from a burst bloodvessel in his brain) by 3 kids, who wanted his WATERBOTTLE! In my town! Luckily, the police has caught them already. 15,15 and 16 years old.

[darren r]

It's not unfamiliar on American streets, either.

Ah. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt because I thought it might be done differently in the US. Obviously they're just idiots.

[gillianren]

It's not unfamiliar on American streets, either.

Ah. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt because I thought it might be done differently in the US. Obviously they're just idiots.

Or the kind of people who only notice things that directly impact themselves personally.  "I never noticed this before, so it must be new!"