Actually, I think creating conspiracies is one of the primary products of modern government. It's just what they do. If citizens aren't responsible and involved enough, then crafted lies follow.
metatron
Conspiracy Theorists Vindicated?
by metatron 7 Replies latest jw friends
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truthhurts13
Very true indeed. And the uneducated believe whatever they see in the (PRIVATELY OWNED) media. One may want to use caution when using the word CITIZEN, or claiming to be a CITIZEN. For those that claim to be a citizen, they may wish to research the amendment to the "Trading with the enemy" act in 1933.
How many people know that by claiming to be a citizen, they are in fact an ememy of the state? Look up Cooperative Federalism
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AndDontCallMeShirley
I think it's interesting how government/society views "conspiracy theorists" is not too dissimilar to the way WT/JWs view "apostates":
Additionally, it turned out that the anti-conspiracy people were not only hostile, but fanatically attached to their own conspiracy theories as well. According to them, their own theory of 9/11 – a conspiracy theory holding that 19 Arabs, none of whom could fly planes with any proficiency, pulled off the crime of the century under the direction of a guy on dialysis in a cave in Afghanistan – was indisputably true. The so-called conspiracists, on the other hand, did not pretend to have a theory that completely explained the events of 9/11: "For people who think 9/11 was a government conspiracy, the focus is not on promoting a specific rival theory, but in trying to debunk the official account."
In short, the new study by Wood and Douglas suggests that the negative stereotype of the conspiracy theorist – a hostile fanatic wedded to the truth of his own fringe theory – accurately describes the people who defend the official account of 9/11, not those who dispute it.
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In other words, the radicals are the fundamentalists and are more gullible-they accept the official version as absolute truth.
The rational minds prefer evidence and answers to their questions when there are holes in the official story are the more reasonable ones.
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tornapart
A 'conspiracy theorist' is simply someone who doesn't accept everything at face value and doesn't naively believe everything the government tells them. Sure some things are over the top but it would be unwise to believe that the government tells nothing but the truth.
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MrFreeze
The problem I have with most conspiracy theorists is that there is usually some level of truth to what they are saying... but then they go over the top and discredit themselves. The truth is usually somewhere in between the "official" story and the "conspiracy" story.
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Chaserious
How objective can this story really be when the title calls people who are not conspiracy theorists "government dupes?"
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Resistance is Futile
What an extremely scientifically flawed study.
Using online commenters on news stories as a study group introduces bias into the survey. The researchers also failed to mention what particular news stories they included and why, and from which websites these comments were plucked. A random sample would give a much more accurate portrayal of the relative sanity of "conspiracy theorists" compared to "government dupes". By the way, you think the authors of the study stereotype much?
"In survey sampling, bias refers to the tendency of a sample statistic to systematically over- or under-estimate a population parameter. Bias often occurs when the survey sample does not accurately represent the population. The bias that results from an unrepresentative sample is called selection bias".
"Voluntary response bias. Voluntary response bias occurs when sample members are self-selected volunteers, as in voluntary samples. An example would be call-in radio shows that solicit audience participation in surveys on controversial topics (abortion, affirmative action, gun control, etc.). The resulting sample tends to over represent individuals who have strong opinions".
"Random sampling is a procedure for sampling from a population in which (a) the selection of a sample unit is based on chance and (b) every element of the population has a known, non-zero probability of being selected. Random sampling helps produce representative samples by eliminating voluntary response bias and guarding against undercoverage bias. All probability sampling methods rely on random sampling".
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DJS
The assertion that as citizens we should remain open minded and employ a healthy degree of skepticism regarding anything the government or for that matter any large institution tells us is correct. But that is a mutually exclusive argument not attached to whether the conspirance theorists have it right.
As I mentioned in my openeing greeting, I have lived an interesting life the past 20 years post JW world. One path this journey has taken me is working with national security and with many individuals tasked with making national security policy, protecting the president, individuals working in counter and anti-terrorist capacities, etc. So I know a bit more about a lot of these subjects than average.
Trust me, our government isn't smart enough to create, carry out, spin control and cover up some of these conspiracies. I recommend reading Against All Enimies: Inside America's Ware on Terror by Richard Clarke. He is (from Wikipedia) the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States. Clarke worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to chair the Counter-terrorism Security Group and to a seat on the United States National Security Council. President Bill Clinton retained Clarke and in 1998 promoted him to be the National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism, the chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council. Under President George W. Bush, Clarke initially continued in the same position, but the position was no longer given cabinet-level access. He later became the Special Advisor to the President on cybersecurity, before leaving the Bush administration in 2003,
One of the chapters in his books addresses conspirancy theorists, and he essentially states what I did above. The government simply isn't that creative or bright. There are also other very well reserched books that dissect various conspiracy theories. But I learned a long time ago that conspiracy theorists are similar to those with strong religious or political views; it is best to leave them with their beliefs and walk away.