Why do we (and I include DU,) embrace eagerly conspiracy theories?

[Archae]

The easiest answer being that shit happens.

And conspiracy theories can be exciting to read about, or watch.

Reality is just SOOOOO boring...

There is of course, the Mother Of All Conspiracies, "Jews are taking over the world."
It's thousands of years old, and even centuries after it's discredited people still believe it.
Israel is accused of "genocide" even though no genocide is occurring.

Here in the US, the biggest CT is the "CIA/Illuminati/Mafia/whoever killed JFK/RFK/MLK."
These men have gained near-mythical status, so it's just IM-POSSIBLE for cranks or nutcases to have shot and killed them.

Don't forget 9-11.
"Loose Screws," I mean "Loose Change" is still practically gospel among the "Troofers."

And the Birthers, who can forget them...

[pipoman]

1. Because all too often we have found truth to be stranger than fiction

Especially in government. ..

[Archae]

7. So why do we have to fiction-ize truth?

The worst example I can think of offhand is Oliver Stone and his movie "JFK."
He still will defend it to the death, of course.

To be fair, there were two facts in the movie.
JFK was shot and killed in Dallas.
Clay Shaw was put on trial by Jim Garrison.

The rest of the movie is pure fiction.

Meanwhile, actual conspiracies are ignored or swept under the rug.
Bush's Iraq lies. (Cheney still claims Saddam had ties to Al-Qaeda.)
The GOP met on Obama's first inauguration day, to come up with their strategy for blocking everything he does.
And so on.

[pipoman]

17. 5 years ago someone saying that the government is spying on

The general public would have been accused of fictionalizing truth. There is a difference between believing a lie that someone we trust tells us, and a conspiracy theory.

[JustAnotherGen]

18. I did

I believed it. But I was getting my political footing in the late 80's / early 90's.

A great movie? SNEAKERS - has Redford, Poitier, Kingley, Ackroyd, and River Phoenix in it. Check it out. NSA and all . . .

[randys1]

2. Funny you ask the question that way, because I think CT and sci fi are similar and both are

entertaining and that is why we like them

There are some things that are obviously not what we were told, JFK, RFK, MLK, etc.

Clearly these men were killed ultimately by people not pulling the trigger, as in others were involved, duh.

When it comes to what I hear from a govt entity, I like the Carlin line "First, I dont believe anything the govt tells me"

But CT is fun, right! Sci fi to me is kind of similar, i like it when area 51 is talked about and so on..

[The_Commonist]

3. You know, there ARE people who conspire to do things.

Any time two or more people decide on a certain course of action, that's a conspiracy.

Of course, that doesn't mean that all the bad things that have happened in the world were the result of some large-scale nefarious plot to do evil, but I think that people, such as yourself, who "mock the conspiracy theorists" do just as much harm as the people who think EVERYTHING is a conspiracy.

Point is... I'm going to ignore you just as hard as I'm going to ignore the whackiest of the conspiracy nut-jobs. You're both wrong.

[KarenS]

4. When folks get lied to over and over and the official line doesn't

even begin to make sense or flow logically then there is bound to be speculation and there should be.

There are plausible conspiracy theories and ridiculous self-serving conspiracy theories.

Take your pick.

But I rarely buy the official line immediately.

[iemitsu]

23. You are right that the reason we believe in CT is that we

don't believe our authority figures or those, who read the news.
And it seems the authorities like CT because they add to the confusion Americans face when trying to sort out the truth.

[pinboy3niner]

5. Okay, who put you up to this?

I KNOW you couldn't have done it on your own.

[Archae]

8. My check from the CIA and the Bank of Nigeria bounced.

I have no idea why...

[pinboy3niner]

12. Oops! The first rule of conspiracy is you do not talk about conspiracy.

The second rule of conspiracy is YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT CONSPIRACY!

Best wishes, good luck, and Rest in Peace...

[conservaphobe]

6. Too bad Cass Sunstein's plan fell through.

And I don't say that with a single hint of sarcasm.

He was one of the most brilliant minds to serve in the Obama administration.

As someone who went too far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, I share his disdain for them.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Anyone who is a student of history knows that conspiracy is part of the picture

A conspiracy is just people planning to do a thing as a group which others are not privy to. A plot to depose a monarch and replace them with another is common in history, each was a conspiracy. Not all conspiracy is theoretical. Not all theories of conspiracy are without merit. Some are just fantasias, but others are just politics and humanity at work.
Conspiracy is part of history, business, politics, even a part of romance. Sales is made of conspiracy. There are laws to control and prevent conspiracy in many areas, it can be called collusion, price fixing, election tampering but all of that is conspiracy.
If your theory is that Republicans have never covertly conspired to prevent voter participation and to rig recounts, which it seems to be, I'd say that it is a theory designed to assist Republican collusion by claiming collusion, conspiracy and covert organization is an absurd concept. To believe that there is no such thing as conspiracy, you have to believe Republicans have never tried to steal an election. When the Republicans met on Inauguration day to agree they'd oppose anything Obama did, that was conspiracy. A thing you don't believe in. So you see them as innocents who just happen to act with great unity, not as folks who plotted to be obstructionists instead of fulfilling their duties.

[Lurks Often]

10. Because sometimes it's easier to believe a CT then to admit one was wrong,

especially for those that put all of themselves in to believing in something or someone.

[frazzled]

11. Reality is not too boring, just too nuanced

and complex. So people think up and/or cling to conspiracy theories, which have an easy overarching "story," usually one that fits the originator's preconceived ideological notions.

Conspiracy theories, no matter how contorted and strained, are the lazy person's way of explaining the nuanced reality.

[G_j]

13. "we"?

I think you're far too superior to be included in that group.

[SidDithers]

14. The "left" likes to think they're more intellectual and more discerning than the right...

but the sad truth is that there is just as many loons on the left as there are on the right, it's just that the left's particular preference for moonbattery is (mostly) different.

You see it almost daily in the science reporting from places like alternet or counterpunch or truth-out. The recent Seralini stuff is a perfect example of the moonbat left embracing bad science, simply because it's anti-GMO or anti-Monsanto.

Sid

[Archae]

16. I've noticed.

Ever seen a wild banana?

QUITE the difference...

[daleanime]

26. And there's no reason for the left...

or any one else, to be anti-Monsanto?

[ForgoTheConsequence]

27. You sound like the "Democrats" who went after the anti Iraq war protesters.

There's no way this war could be under false pretenses! After all Hillary supports it! Why can't you moon bat leftists get behind our President?

[onehandle]

15. Hunt the Boeing! nt

[woo me with science]

19. LOL. Like clockwork, the most frequent mention of "Illuminati" we see on DU, repeatedly,

comes from those trying to discourage the questioning of any official government story by invoking images of tinfoil-hatted extremists imagining lizard-skinned alien rulers.

We are repeatedly urged to join the manufactured guffawing, to believe that governments never lie, that they never use propaganda against their own citizens, and that the wealthiest, most powerful individuals and groups on Earth never cross lines or abuse their power in planning for the interests of the wealthiest, most powerful individuals and groups on Earth.

The rich power brokers LOVE the Illuminati lizard ruler conspiracy stories, because they are used to smear and discredit not just the conspiracy nutcases, but also the legitimate attention to what is the real scandal here: that a tiny group of multi-billionaires wields an obscene amount of the world's wealth and power, and that they are systematically increasing their secrecy while demanding ( and implementing a surveillance machine to ensure) total transparency on the part of citizens.

What's not to trust?!

[PowerToThePeople]

22. It is funny

It is funny when you see who are most fervent about discounting any questioning of official stories as CT. I dislike saying "usual suspects" but it appears to always be those that hold certain viewpoints.

[wyldwolf]

20. anti-science conspiracy theories

Most scientists agree global warming is real and man-made = TRUTH!
Most scientists agree GMOs are safe to consume = scientists are in the back pockets of Monsanto!!!

[bemildred]

21. People do conspire a lot you know, it's not unusual. The trouble is figuring out which are true.

As the other guy said, truth is often stranger than what you could just think up. Look at all the trouble the Neocons went to to trick us into invading Iraq. Most of our political life is deeply dishonest.

[DirkGently]

24. Irrational conspiracy theories, you mean.

Problem with the way the term is used as a catch-all for "bullshit," is that it is also happily wielded by anyone who disagrees with any idea at all, valid or not, just as often driven by a cover-your-butt motivation or a conscious motive to cover up the truth. "Woo" is a similarly abused term on this particular website.

Conspiracy itself, or just plain old wrong doing by Powers that Be, and subsequent lying about it and trying to discredit or ridicule anyone pointing at the possibility of an as-yet-unproven truth, is a real thing best not ignored.

Nothing anyone has fever-dreamed up is any wilder than the real machinations of the Nixon administration, or the CIA, or the Bush / Cheney / Rumsfeld conspiracy to lead the U.S. to war in Iraq. False information, criminal acts, discrediting attacks on critics, ridicule, appeals to authority, etc.

All of those things actually happen, all the time.

It's up to us to think critically and not lump ideas or facts into simplistic buckets consisting only of the empirically obvious popular wisdom vs. the ridiculous or unlikely and therefore impossible.

[G_j]

29. stop making sense..

is that you Spock?

[McCamy Taylor]

25. Better question: why is the truth labelled a "conspiracy theory" so often?

Answer: because the truth will set you free.

Just because something is inconvenient, does not make it a conspiracy theory.

[hunter]

28. Bah. Remember all the folks who claimed our military would never torture POWs?

There were many here on DU who dismissed early reports of torture of Islamic prisoners as CT stuff.

Conspiracy theories exist because our government is not transparent. When the truth does sometimes leak out it is often more hideous than many of the early speculations.