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I'm with you for both those examples, they were utterly unsurprising to me. But for most people, these were conspiracy theories. Because the government said th

I'm with you for both those examples, they were utterly unsurprising to me. But for most people, these were conspiracy theories. Because the government said they were not true. In the press, in congressional hearings, everywhere. That's enough for most people. In all honesty though, I've learned I can't use my intuition to predict what people will believe or not. I mean, the Iraq WMD and 9/11 connection stuff was so obviously BS that it was like an absurdist comedy routine. But 70% of Americans believed Saddam was connected to 9/11. And I don't know what the WMD story success rate was but it had to be higher right?

mikeash 10y ago
So conspiracy theories are getting more traction, not because the government is up to more shady stuff, but because people are paying less attention? I could buy that.
- jospoortvliet 10y ago
  ... and people pay less attention because so much more is going on, we are flooded with information. It is easy to hide bad things in plain sight... kittens will hide it.
  - mikeash 10y ago
    "kittens will hide it." What a delightful phrase!
- freshhawk 10y ago
  Basically, but personally I think that people are trying to pay more attention but the tools and methods for attention/information control have gotten so much better that the end effect is similar. Most people think about politics in terms of how much they can trust individual politicians to tell the truth or maybe in terms of spin and narratives and talking points. But we live in a world where people like Vladislav Surkov exist [1][2][3], the professionals are working at a level that is barely understandable to the rest of us. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov [2] http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21577421-what-departure-vladislav-surkov-means-government-ideologues-exit http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21577421-what-departure... (from 2013, Surkov is currently a personal advisor to Putin) [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyop0d30UqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyop0d30UqQ

mikeash 10y ago

So conspiracy theories are getting more traction, not because the government is up to more shady stuff, but because people are paying less attention? I could buy that.

jospoortvliet 10y ago
... and people pay less attention because so much more is going on, we are flooded with information. It is easy to hide bad things in plain sight... kittens will hide it.
- mikeash 10y ago
  "kittens will hide it." What a delightful phrase!
freshhawk 10y ago
Basically, but personally I think that people are trying to pay more attention but the tools and methods for attention/information control have gotten so much better that the end effect is similar. Most people think about politics in terms of how much they can trust individual politicians to tell the truth or maybe in terms of spin and narratives and talking points. But we live in a world where people like Vladislav Surkov exist [1][2][3], the professionals are working at a level that is barely understandable to the rest of us. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov [2] http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21577421-what-departure-vladislav-surkov-means-government-ideologues-exit http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21577421-what-departure... (from 2013, Surkov is currently a personal advisor to Putin) [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyop0d30UqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyop0d30UqQ