Conspiracy theories

Of course someone can say that there are Orange men in building that plan to take over the world and that would be a conspiracy and one that could easily be verified to be false.

After quite a lot of research however I have found that a number of things that are regarded to be conspiracy theories are actually true. What is more, if any reasonable objective person did a neutral analysis of those areas they would also find the same.

So in these instances what is a conspiracy theory? Surely it is something which disagree with firstly the TV news and secondly the education system, but since educators seem to pay a lot of respect to what is in the mass media, the mass media is number 1.

People have a belief that that the mass media are always honest. This can not be the case since they are owned by certain interests and everything that comes through the mass media comes through a confirmation bias, a pair of tinted glasses. The untruths to which I refer are so ingrained that empirical facts that disagree are just systematically ignored, laughed off with the idea that the person stating the objective fact is crazy or comical.

I am not going to go into a particular conspiracy theory or non TV viewpoint or debate one because I don't want to reduce the credibility of this discussion by triggering people's prejudices.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 1

SHallowvale

Original post by SpikeyTeeth

What kind of research? What conspiracy theories have you found that are actually true?

Original post by SpikeyTeeth

So in these instances what is a conspiracy theory? Surely it is something which disagree with firstly the TV news and secondly the education system, but since educators seem to pay a lot of respect to what is in the mass media, the mass media is number 1.

A conspiracy theory is defined by Wikipedia as: ''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''. This nicely encompasses conspiracy theories that were found to be true, such as the Watergate scandal and those concerning the NSA/GCHQ surveillance programs, along with others such as the 9/11 conspiracy theory (which i'm personally not convinced by).

If a conspiracy theory is something that rejects TV news shouldn't there be a conspiracy theory stating that the NSA doesn't spy on people? After all, the ''mass media'' cover the NSA leaks almost every week, making the original conspiracy theory widely accepted by the public. By your definition a conspiracy theory is something that always rejects what is accepted as truth, even past conspiracy theories that were found to be true.

Original post by SpikeyTeeth

People have a belief that that the mass media are always honest.

Do they? Do you have any evidence to back that up?

Original post by SpikeyTeeth

This can not be the case since they are owned by certain interests and everything that comes through the mass media comes through a confirmation bias, a pair of tinted glasses. The untruths to which I refer are so ingrained that empirical facts that disagree are just systematically ignored, laughed off with the idea that the person stating the objective fact is crazy or comical.

What ''untruths''? You have not given any specific examples in your post.

Original post by SpikeyTeeth

I am not going to go into a particular conspiracy theory or non TV viewpoint or debate one because I don't want to reduce the credibility of this discussion by triggering people's prejudices.

Alright. It's fine if you don't want to back up your claims with evidence. If you're happier just talk about your concerns then go for it. Although perhaps it would be better if you did that in the ''Chat'' sub-forum? ''UK Politics'' is more for debates, not rambling.

Reply 2

username878045

In my experience, most conspiracy theories rely on misleading evidence and claims that 'there is no evidence for x' when in fact such evidence does exist. But it's very easy to claim that something doesn't exist, because you don't have to provide any proof.

Reply 3

MagicNMedicine

I reckon Germany beating Brazil 7-1 was a fix by FIFA.

Reply 4

RF_PineMarten

The classic conspiracy theory defence:

Step 1: Present irrefutable evidence to disprove a conspiracy theory.
Step 2: Belivers respond with "you're just brainwashed", "you're involved with the conspiracy as well", "you're one of THEM aren't you?", and similar nonsense.

Reply 5

Martyn*

There are some conspiracy theories which have some evidence to them. It entirely depends upon what domain the theory falls into and whether the theory is about the past, the present or the future.

Reply 6

SpikeyTeeth

Original post by RFowler

Yes but you are thinking along the lines of fantastical conspiracy theories like little green men, UFOs, fluoride or brain waves from satellites as opposed to down to earth things like the Iraq War, Libya attacks, Syrian war, western media portrayal of the situation in the Ukraine and 9/11.

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Reply 7

JohnPaul_

The mafia was once a conspiracy theory but turned out to be true. There are some 30 conspiracy theories that have turned out to be true in the last century or so.

Problem with the term is that it automatically leads people to think you are stupid, which in most cases they are, over 9/11, Area 51, moon landing etc. but things that concern national politics and stuff isn't so nutty, just requires evidence. Sometimes the term applies, sometimes it doesn't .

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