4 ms·

No, it's not. But it's far more prevalent and organized on the right. There was a recent study (which was posted on HN a week or two ago) in direct reply to thi

No, it's not. But it's far more prevalent and organized on the right. There was a recent study (which was posted on HN a week or two ago) in direct reply to this essay demonstrating an asymmetry in conspiratorial thinking: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12681 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pops.12681 > Results reveal that conservatives in the United States were not only more likely than liberals to endorse specific conspiracy theories, but they were also more likely to espouse conspiratorial worldviews in general (r = .27, 95% CI: .24, .30). Importantly, extreme conservatives were significantly more likely to engage in conspiratorial thinking than extreme liberals (Hedges' g = .77, SE = .07, p < .001). Also that's a bit of a straw man representation. Compromised, sure, but full on sleeper agent is a fringe belief at best.

_cs2017_ 6y ago
This study seems to be quite badly designed. The only two "conspiracy theories" being analyzed are the disbelief in climate change and the distrust of officialdom (which includes media and politicians). Scientists disagree with each other on many topics, so distrusting them doesn't cross the line of conspiracy theory. Media, on both sides of the political spectrum, is quite biased and low quality these days; so distrusting the media is also quite reasonable. Not to mention, both topics, and especially the climate change, has a huge political connotation. So the answers of people would often be merely a reflection of their political beliefs. Why not pick the real, obvious, non-political conspiracy theories? Like 9/11 didn't happen; people didn't land on the Moon; earth is flat; etc?
- dTal 6y ago
  >climate change has a huge political connotation Isn't this begging the question? Climate change has a political connotation exactly because conservatives believe it's made-up, and the only way they can square this counterfactual with the huge number of independent confirmations is the assumption that they are all somehow in cahoots - i.e., a conspiracy. While I agree that a less politicized choice of topic would be more enlightening, I can imagine that going out of your way to avoid "political" topics may just be an exercise in mitigating the very effect you're trying to measure.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
refurb 6y ago
How did they define "conspiratorial thinking"? Did it include things like "the NSA is listening to all our communications"? Because that was a conspiracy but turned out to be true.

_cs2017_ 6y ago

This study seems to be quite badly designed. The only two "conspiracy theories" being analyzed are the disbelief in climate change and the distrust of officialdom (which includes media and politicians). Scientists disagree with each other on many topics, so distrusting them doesn't cross the line of conspiracy theory. Media, on both sides of the political spectrum, is quite biased and low quality these days; so distrusting the media is also quite reasonable. Not to mention, both topics, and especially the climate change, has a huge political connotation. So the answers of people would often be merely a reflection of their political beliefs. Why not pick the real, obvious, non-political conspiracy theories? Like 9/11 didn't happen; people didn't land on the Moon; earth is flat; etc?

dTal 6y ago
>climate change has a huge political connotation Isn't this begging the question? Climate change has a political connotation exactly because conservatives believe it's made-up, and the only way they can square this counterfactual with the huge number of independent confirmations is the assumption that they are all somehow in cahoots - i.e., a conspiracy. While I agree that a less politicized choice of topic would be more enlightening, I can imagine that going out of your way to avoid "political" topics may just be an exercise in mitigating the very effect you're trying to measure.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

refurb 6y ago

How did they define "conspiratorial thinking"? Did it include things like "the NSA is listening to all our communications"? Because that was a conspiracy but turned out to be true.