While we mostly accept our thirst for meaning and intention behind each event or situation that we experience, we likely also come across explanations that seems too intricate, complicated, and implausible.
Conspiracy theorists seem to thrive on the extraordinary, the more implausible the theory, the more they seem convinced to have the inside knowledge that other people do not have, and everyone else is just naive and taken.
Just as quickly as some of these theories are rebuffed, they are replaced by something even more outlandish.
Is this all the result of reading too many detective thrillers and science fiction, fueled by our desire to explain everything ?
Perhaps our egos thinking that we are the minority in the know among an ignorant crowd?
The evolving nature of conspiracy theories makes them impossible to dispel. It involves secrets that we can't possibly know. How can we show that all the recent presidents of the United States are not puppets of several powerful man somewhere in the eastern US that meet from time to time in secret to tell what the presidents should do?
How do we know that the current theory about dark energy is true when it is only a term that is required to make Einstein's equation work? Maybe the equation isn't right and we shouldn't be thinking about dark energy? Perhaps it is really an electromagnetic universe out there instead of the current understanding?
What about fluoridation of our drinking water. Is that the sugar industry's way of making us continue to feed our sugar fix without having to worry about rotting teeth?
When does what sound like conspiracy theories become plausible enough for us to pay more attention?
How to evaluate plausibility? From our past experience? Is that the definition of closed-mindedness?
We may have difficulty believing that aliens really control us earthlings, that they have visited us before and knows about everything that we do.
What if that alien is god.....are religions conspiracy theories or variations there of?
Finally, while conspiracy theories can be whimsy, do they poison trust in our institutions?
Come Wednesday and share some of the conspiracy theories you have heard and how you determine its plausibility!
Technology takes us further into idols as a way of life. But is it really? What stands in the way of evolution? Do species conspire or evolve?
ReplyDeleteIndividuals who start conspiracies probably believe in them. So many people would like to think that one day they'll get theirs...Maybe I'll win the lottery....!!
I don't really care what people make up to make their worlds work for them. Like Neitzche's (the lonely crazy man that he was)wrote in "Beyound Good and Bad", let the chips fall where they may...Good Luck!
VTS
Is a conspiracy where one person believes an illusion but has inadequate evidence? Where a person believes falsely (false belief = delusion)? And, of course they must share it with others, thus, conspiracy theories must be socially constructed. If we describe something to be real - it is real in its consequences (self-fulfilling prophecy). Can conspiracy theories become self-fulfilling prophecies?
ReplyDeleteIs the 'war on terror' a fight against a false conspiracy (like the absent weapons of mass destruction)? How much evidence is required for a belief?
If the all-too-common 'Jewish conspiracy to rule the world' theory is falsely believed, how to we prosecute people for hate literature when it might fall short of dangerous induction of participants? What if it is combined with mistrust of world organizations like the United Nations? When is it okay to mistrust your government and when is it not okay to mistrust your government(s)?
Are conspiracy theories started by individuals perhaps suffering from schizophrenia and thus susceptible to psychotic breaks and delusions? But how would they become popularized? Who are the champions and why do they support the delusive psychoticisms?
Could conspiracy theories ever be healthy? Like, perhaps, wrong viewpoints championed by someone approving greatly of John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" they may serve as a tongue-in-cheek (ironic) way of teaching critical thinking.
I remember a sociology instructor who would bring a copy of the National Inquirer to class and then hold it up at the front of the class and say that a 'reputable source' says...
Just like sarcasm, if you wish to know if someone is on the same page as you and have their wits about them, you might offer a conspiracy theory and see how they respond.
Longer conspiracy theories (often in documentary form) can be used to educate children in critical thinking.
Is a 'cult' a conspiracy theory group? I think 'heresy' originally came from a root word meaning to choose. Thus a heresy is a (free) choice. If we are not a true believer, then is it not really a conspiracy theory?
True belief implies faith which further impies religion. Does there have to be a 'delusion of control' in order for there to be a conspiracy theory?
Are conspiracy theories ways of addressing the strategies and tactics in the use of power without actually threatening the powers that be? CL
Cults are based on false realities which become true for the person experiencing them. Sort of like giving the power of knowledge to experts and hoping they'll guide people in the RIGHT way. Many people would oppose this---and I think LIBERATION, and HERESY didn't origionate from chosing which religion or sect or "Cult" a person belonged too. But what's reality any way? People need to define that for themselves...so Conspiracies are every where, I suppose...
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