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I feel like it is completely speculative as you said and I am not conspiratorial at all. Because China is so secretive and has already been known to punish peop

by bb2018 6y ago

I feel like it is completely speculative as you said and I am not conspiratorial at all. Because China is so secretive and has already been known to punish people for reporting on this it seems likely that these theories will only increase (I mean, how could you ever prove them wrong given China's actions)

vkou 6y ago
The US is far more open than China, yet the amount of batshit crazy conspiracy theories that circulate about it is staggering. Only an incredibly slim minority of them actually turn out to be true... Or something resembling true. I don't think the openness of a country has much to do with the number of conspiracy theories that form about it. Conspiracy theories find patterns in incomplete data. There is always incomplete data, and there are always patterns to find. IF you get deep enough into them, then you can even turn around and point at evidence that disproves your theory, with the claim that actually, it proves it! Just the other day, I responded to a post on HN that claimed that there's a vast conspiracy by the Labour Bureau to hide unemployment numbers, by reporting only the U3 numbers, when the U6 numbers are more relevant. When it was pointed out that the bureau reports the U6 numbers, as well as the U3, the claim turned into 'Well, its obviously a conspiracy - what better way to hide the truth than to conceal it in irrelevant gibberish!' No amount of openness is ever going to dissuade that kind of intellectual dishonesty.
- not_exactly__ 6y ago
  I’d add that in China, the government is especially aggressive at squashing down rumors/conspiracy-theories that involve itself. If the rumors are false, the evidence they provide is usually rock solid. When the evidence they provide is garbage (eg friend of said person swears that they are alive), then you can assume the rumors are true.
- jacobush 6y ago
  I'd say conspiracy theories thrive in communities where the people are used to being screwed over.

by bb2018 6y ago

vkou 6y ago

The US is far more open than China, yet the amount of batshit crazy conspiracy theories that circulate about it is staggering. Only an incredibly slim minority of them actually turn out to be true... Or something resembling true. I don't think the openness of a country has much to do with the number of conspiracy theories that form about it. Conspiracy theories find patterns in incomplete data. There is always incomplete data, and there are always patterns to find. IF you get deep enough into them, then you can even turn around and point at evidence that disproves your theory, with the claim that actually, it proves it! Just the other day, I responded to a post on HN that claimed that there's a vast conspiracy by the Labour Bureau to hide unemployment numbers, by reporting only the U3 numbers, when the U6 numbers are more relevant. When it was pointed out that the bureau reports the U6 numbers, as well as the U3, the claim turned into 'Well, its obviously a conspiracy - what better way to hide the truth than to conceal it in irrelevant gibberish!' No amount of openness is ever going to dissuade that kind of intellectual dishonesty.

not_exactly__ 6y ago
I’d add that in China, the government is especially aggressive at squashing down rumors/conspiracy-theories that involve itself. If the rumors are false, the evidence they provide is usually rock solid. When the evidence they provide is garbage (eg friend of said person swears that they are alive), then you can assume the rumors are true.
jacobush 6y ago
I'd say conspiracy theories thrive in communities where the people are used to being screwed over.