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Losers are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, study finds (7 posts)

  1. truthmod
    Administrator

    http://www.psypost.org/2017/09/losers-likely-belie...

    New research helps to explain why the belief in election fraud is common in the United States, even though research has failed to find convincing evidence that it is a problem.

    The study, published in the scientific journal Political Research Quarterly, found evidence that conspiratorial thinking and motivated partisan reasoning both have a strong influence on the belief in election-related conspiracy theories.

    “My coauthor, Joseph Parent, came to me with the idea of studying conspiracy theories,” said Joseph E. Uscinski of the University of Miami. “When we got into it, there had been little systematic analysis of why people believed conspiracy theories, and what the consequences of those beliefs were. I have remained interested in the topic because it is a fun one to study most importantly, but also because it is so relevant to our current politics.”

    ...

    “Conspiracy theories are for losers,” Uscinski told PsyPost. “People who are on the outside, people who lost, people who lack control, tend to believe in conspiracy theories.”

    “We see this play out in our national debates: when Bush was president, Democrats were the ones propagating the conspiracy theories. They put forward theories about 9/11, war for oil, Halliburton, Cheney, Blackwater, etc. When Obama came to office, those theories became socially and politically inert. The prominent conspiracy theories came from Republicans and were about Obama faking his birth certificate, killing the kids at Sandy Hook, Benghazi, etc.”

    Posted 7 years ago #
  2. BrianG
    Member

    My bulletproof position tabling for all comers is to avoid indulging in theories and stick to facts. The 12 warnings from foreign countries, the 4 warnings from FBI offices, the statements of CIA mucky-mucks that Dr. Rice could have prevented 9/11 had she heeded their warnings. The widows' 273 unanswered questions. The ten essential mysteries of the towers' collapses that the government declined to address. FACTS, not theories.

    One time a guy demanded that I tell him who I thought was behind the (alleged) demolition of the towers. Clearly he wanted me to say it was Israel, and when I said that the Russians would be highly motivated to get us involved in bankrupting wars he was practically jumping up and down, he was so annoyed.

    It's unfortunate that good Truthers got bored with the same old facts and started seeking out gaudy conspiracy theories instead.

    I hold Dr. Barrett responsible. He was the one who said we had made our case, we had credibility, so instead of protecting our credibility we should have some fun and congenially indulge in wacky theories.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  3. truthmod
    Administrator

    https://moneyish.com/ish/people-who-trust-their-gu...

    People who trust their gut fall for fake news

    People who say they trust their intuition – and who believe that all facts are politically biased – are more likely to believe in conspiracies and fake news, according to a new study from Ohio State University.

    Those who put their faith in evidence, however, are less likely to have misconceptions about science and politics.

    The researchers examined data from three nationally representative surveys that asked 12 questions including, “I trust my gut to tell me what’s true and what’s not,” “Evidence is more important than whether something feels true” and “Facts are dictated by those in power.”

    Those who trusted their gut feelings also had a stronger tendency to support conspiracy theories, although their belief that “truth” is political was the strongest overall indicator. Almost half (more than 45%) of respondents said they didn’t believe that John F. Kennedy was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald alone; and one third (33%) are convinced that the U.S. government was behind Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  4. mark
    Member

    My count is 15 countries provided warnings ... that we know of ... not that such facts matter to either defenders of the official story or the 9/11 Half Truth Movement.

    The nonsense claims such as demolition predate Mr. Barrett's arrival onto the scene.

    It is fortunate the towers stood up for a little while after the impacts, which allowed most of the occupants below the crashes to escape. The only "essential mystery" is why the Half Truth Movement focuses on the science fiction stories instead of suppressed warnings and wargames simulating actual events during the attacks.

    My bulletproof position tabling for all comers is to avoid indulging in theories and stick to facts. The 12 warnings from foreign countries, the 4 warnings from FBI offices, the statements of CIA mucky-mucks that Dr. Rice could have prevented 9/11 had she heeded their warnings. The widows' 273 unanswered questions. The ten essential mysteries of the towers' collapses that the government declined to address. FACTS, not theories.

    One time a guy demanded that I tell him who I thought was behind the (alleged) demolition of the towers. Clearly he wanted me to say it was Israel, and when I said that the Russians would be highly motivated to get us involved in bankrupting wars he was practically jumping up and down, he was so annoyed.

    It's unfortunate that good Truthers got bored with the same old facts and started seeking out gaudy conspiracy theories instead.

    I hold Dr. Barrett responsible. He was the one who said we had made our case, we had credibility, so instead of protecting our credibility we should have some fun and congenially indulge in wacky theories.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  5. mark
    Member

    one third (33%) are convinced that the U.S. government was behind Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

    Including the King family ...

    Would be interesting to read the breakdown of ethnicity for who does and does not understand this. I've run into a lot of white liberals who are nervous about this topic, but I've never met an African American who doesn't know this (I don't know any Black Republicans, though).

    Posted 7 years ago #
  6. BrianG
    Member

    Hi Mark,

    I used to say that 13 foreign countries warned. I cut that down to 12 in the interests of credibility. I count Egypt, Israel, Jordan, UAE, Taleban, Italy, Germany, the UK, Cayman Islands, Russia, Argentina, Morocco. I can't even remember now what the 13th was. Just now, checking "They Tried to Warn Us" http://www.historycommons.org/essay.jsp?article=es... I see that they only count 11. So what are the other 3?

    In January on Dr. King's birthday there was a "freedom train" going to San Francisco to a rally. I took to opportunity to go down to the station with a sign and address the crowd that was waiting for the train. I stepped up on the podium offered by the raised wheelchair boarding platform. My sign said "MLK MURDERD BY GOV'T PLOT SAYS 1999 JURY -- GOOGLE MLK JOWERS".

    I gave a 45-second speech saying that the King family did not believe that James Earl Ray did the deed, that Mr. Ray never got a trial, and there was much evidence to suggest he was not the killer. Maybe 60 people were there and they listened quite respectfully. When I was done, a young woman said "that's bullshit!" She was black.

    So there's some anecdotal evidence about demographics, which is probably worth little.

    Mark, the 10 essential mysteries of the towers' demise were not addressed by the government (NIST) report. They claim that they did not analyze the collapses. How can they explain the collapses without analyzing them? This is not a conspiracy theory; it is simply advocating a complete and honest investigation. The government did not seriously try to convince us that the towers came down from fires.

    To return to the OP topic, "Losers are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, " I attended Bollyn's book talk in SF sometime in 2016 -- maybe February but can't remember. I prepared a 2-sided leaflet challenging Bollyn's silly assumptions, but at the end the audience of about 20 was just a bunch of old, gray, shabby sad-sacks--they looked like the lineup at the soup kitchen--and I should know, because I've eaten at soup kitchens plenty of times. I didn't even bother. The only one I knew was a KPFA radio host who has done some good work but whose bullshit detector should have known better. The only young one was dressed in cowboy getup from his hat to his chaps. Looked like he was cruising.

    Perhaps the increasing attention that bigots such as Barrett and Bollyn are getting is because they offer easy answers to the increasing numbers of losers in the world.

    Posted 7 years ago #
  7. mark
    Member

    it's been many years since I compiled this, mostly from what is now called History Commons

    Warnings about 9/11 -- who, what, where, when -- were sent to the Bush / Cheney administration from

    Afghanistan (under the Taliban) Argentina Britain Cayman Islands Egypt France Germany India Israel Italy Jordan Morocco Saudi Arabia? Russia USA (FBI investigations of the flight schools)

    A sign I would make re: MLK would be to say that the King family sued the feds and won. Lots of juries make dumb rulings that are not accurate, I'm not convinced by a verdict alone.

    As for the non-existent mystery of the tower collapses, the official story is not that fire alone caused their collapse. Fire plus large planes flying at full speed shattering the structure caused the collapses. Anyone who has seen blacksmithing understands that heating steel causes it to lose its strength.

    Every engineering firm on the planet considered the WTC collapses. it's a reason the newest supertall skyscrapers have structural concrete (unlike the WTC).

    The 747 that crashed in an accident into an apartment building in Amsterdam almost a decade before 9/11 caused part of that structure to collapse immediately. It's fortunate the WTC stayed standing long enough for most of the occupants to escape.

    I doubt that Barrett and Bollyn get much attention outside of a very small niche. Apart from the diehard remnants of the 9/11 Half Truth Movement and perhaps some "alt-right" fans they are obscure.

    Posted 7 years ago #

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