People who overestimate their political knowledge are more likely to believe conspiracy theories

You forgot to @TheresTheDagger @Commodore

 

This finding doesn't mean government actors and institutions don't do stuff.

Here's an analogy: people who overestimate their knowledge of basketball tend to think LeBron James is the best basketball player.

 

We're all specialized worker bees who mainly care about putting food on the table, give or take a few extra hobbies or family members.

It's easier to exploit these matters with emotion and "common sense rationality" (if muh neighbor ran up one trillion in annual debt, he'd be laughed outta Mayberry!) than appeal to the public with "evidence-based public policy".

Plus, a lot of these conspiracies fester in grey areas fostered by a deep (and well earned) mistrust of governing bodies. Conspiracy theories help answer unanswerable questions and serve to give people a sense of control into an increasingly complex life that can be taken away in an instant.

 

. . . and it allows them to release themselves of degrees of responsibility in the process.
It contributes to a sense of hopeless and helplessness
It also justifies various other beliefs and circumstances

Long Story shot . .. . they are useful

Rocket River

 

It's much more comforting for people to believe that some powerful group of people is orchestrating events in the shadows then to understand that the human race is largely winging it and that discovery often begins with a black swan event.

 

I'm a sucker for Roswell conspiracy theories.

 

Everybody knows the European Journal for Social Psychology is run by the Illuminati. They want to convince normal workaday Americas that if they see something wrong, the problem isn't the system, it's them. That they shouldn't trust their own common sense. This is how they exert mind control on the people. Fortunately, I've been around the block. I've seen things. I know how the system works. It's all a fraud, people! These 'intellectuals' who write in their fancy journals are just tools used by the elites to keep the sheeple in their place, so they can keep all the money, power, and women for themselves.

 

case in point,

Trump/Hannity believing that Obama was not born in the US

Trump beliving that Ted Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination

Roger Ailes/Fox pushing the spin that Vince Foster was murdered by the Clintons

Hannity believing that Seth Rich was murdered by the DNC / Hillary was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor​

 

I don't know if I'd say Trump, Hannity, or Ailes actually believe any of those things. They said them because other people would believe them. (Or is it my overconfidence in my political knowledge that makes me believe this conspiracy theory in which important conservative influencers would lie to manipulate people to vote in their favor?)

 

Huh? It's more comforting to think that parts of the U.S. government are acting against the people of the United States? That's as uncomforting as finding out there is no Santa Claus.

What is comforting is saying "Don't worry: it was a lone nut one-in-300-million type of thing and he did it for no reason whatsoever except 'psycho.' Just basically the same as getting struck by lightning." That is the comforting pap.

 

Prefer the devil you know?

 

It's one step removed from attributing events beyond one's control to the gods, be they natural disasters or political ones like war. It's much easier to accept than to understand that we live in a world governed solely by nature and human agency. The comfort doesn't come from believing that the government is making all the frogs gay, but rather from believing that anyone has that kind of control of events and a plan.

To believe that any government anywhere is mostly composed of ordinary people trying to do their jobs and doing them as imperfectly as anyone doing any other kind of job is a lot more frightening to people with a pre-Enlightenment point of view.

 

I prefer the truth. Let the flaming begin but . . . Stephen Paddock would never be convicted in a court of law, not even close. Neither would the 9/11 hijackers. That's OK! Coz there will never be a trial! We don't need trials for the really big stuff. Or dead guys. Not saying they didn't do it. Saying our pursuit of the truth is pathetically weak.

 

You're painting with a brush a yard wide there. Are you a psychologist or anything?

First of all, you've lost everyone who believes in God. But that's not me.

Second, nature does not "govern" anything, but that is nitpicking. Nature does not have will or authority.

Third, it is not scary at all to think government workers are "ordinary people." Have you looked at them? Maybe they are uglier than normal, but what else? Everyone knows they are normal, mortal physical wrecks just by looking at them.

Fourth, and primarily, governments and organizations really do stuff, like launch missile strikes, and if you think blaming governments is akin to blaming the gods, you've confused yourself with over-sophistication.

True or false, Deji: governments and organizations do actions that affect our lives.

 

It sure sheds some light on those who believe in the "Russia collusion" conspiracy theory.

 

I don't really understand this. One, I don't understand why you think Paddock or the 9/11 hijackers wouldn't be convicted. Two, I don't understand the relevance of whether we have trials for these guys to the propensity for people to believe conspiracy theories. Are you floating a conspiracy theory now?

On a wholly unrelated subject, what would you estimate your level of political knowledge to be? Is it very high?

 

Paddock: no witnesses, for example. We have a dead guy in a room. "He" shot 500 people in 10 minutes--almost one per second! Using 1200 rounds. 40% hit rate! From 400 yards, at elevation. While using a bump stock, the very nature of which prevents aiming, since the gun fires by bumping in your hands. And he fired incendiary rounds as well. While running back and forth between two rooms. While also watching a silent video monitor over his shoulder, so he could fire 35 rounds and cause 200 strikes in the hallway. He did this in ten minutes, because he was pissed about being a retired millionaire, coz "psycho," of course. They examined his brain (after he blew it up with his own gun) and did not find his psycho bone. This discussion can go on a long time.

How about you? What's your best "convict" evidence on Paddock? Please be specific. If you really truly care about this mass murder, tell us your best evidence you got!

9/11 hijackers: no witnesses, again. . . . Some of the guys named as hijackers (about five) came out and said they are still alive. . . .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
Then there's building 7. . . . The twin towers fell in a totally unnatural way. . . . This discussion can go on a looooong time.

Here's a magic trick I always do: I'm going to tell you about YOUR life. . . . Remember how the twin towers fell? What they looked like? YOU never saw any other thing fall like that in all your life. Not a tree, not a sand castle, not a snowman, not a house of cards, not a telephone pole, not a person who got hit with a projectile. YOU never saw anything do that in your entire life. I know this about you. Coz magic!

My political knowledge? I dunno. But I know I read the NIST report on the collapse of WTC building 7. Did you?

 

How bout that Bilderberg conference last week!!