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The reason people believe these news about conspiracy theorists is because many of them have their relatives/friends/acquaintances who on a regular basis tend t

The reason people believe these news about conspiracy theorists is because many of them have their relatives/friends/acquaintances who on a regular basis tend to start those crazy topics at the dinner table and who are never argued against because by that time everybody knows that arguing with someone fixed on an idea is absolutely useless. You can’t be theoretical in conspiracies. You can either prove it (or at least know facts others don’t) or you are crazy.

mistermann 6y ago
> The reason people believe these news about conspiracy theorists is because many of them have their relatives/friends/acquaintances who on a regular basis tend to... A similar heuristic is someone who gets robbed at gunpoint by a black person, and then claims that all black people are violent. It's interesting how society seemed to be able to not only get over that popular form of stereotype (which is indeed not identical, but is also similar), but now largely abhors it, yet the very idea that not all "conspiracy theories/theorists" are identically flawed is considered (with no supporting evidence whatsoever) impossible. > You can’t be theoretical in conspiracies. You can either prove it (or at least know facts others don’t) or you are crazy. Is this a theory/opinion, or a fact? If it's a fact, can you provide some supporting evidence &/or reasoning? I mean, I can certainly agree that this very much seems to be all that most people are currently capable of, but to say that humans are not capable of it at all, but they are capable of conceptualizing theories in virtually all other fields, seems rather odd. Can you think of any reasons why people's conceptualization of conspiracy theories/theorists is so unlike virtually every other idea? Why is it that otherwise logical people are unable to exercise logic when the topic arises, but instead revert to almost purely heuristic reasoning, often accompanied by an inability to realize that is what they're doing? Surely there must be some underlying cause behind this mysterious anomaly, no?

mistermann 6y ago

> The reason people believe these news about conspiracy theorists is because many of them have their relatives/friends/acquaintances who on a regular basis tend to... A similar heuristic is someone who gets robbed at gunpoint by a black person, and then claims that all black people are violent. It's interesting how society seemed to be able to not only get over that popular form of stereotype (which is indeed not identical, but is also similar), but now largely abhors it, yet the very idea that not all "conspiracy theories/theorists" are identically flawed is considered (with no supporting evidence whatsoever) impossible. > You can’t be theoretical in conspiracies. You can either prove it (or at least know facts others don’t) or you are crazy. Is this a theory/opinion, or a fact? If it's a fact, can you provide some supporting evidence &/or reasoning? I mean, I can certainly agree that this very much seems to be all that most people are currently capable of, but to say that humans are not capable of it at all, but they are capable of conceptualizing theories in virtually all other fields, seems rather odd. Can you think of any reasons why people's conceptualization of conspiracy theories/theorists is so unlike virtually every other idea? Why is it that otherwise logical people are unable to exercise logic when the topic arises, but instead revert to almost purely heuristic reasoning, often accompanied by an inability to realize that is what they're doing? Surely there must be some underlying cause behind this mysterious anomaly, no?