4 ms·

I think if you focus on the need to feel special, there is a desire to have 'figured it out' and to be 'smarter than the mainstream'. From this perspective, th

by ozten 5y ago

I think if you focus on the need to feel special, there is a desire to have 'figured it out' and to be 'smarter than the mainstream'. From this perspective, these people find 'facts', blow them out of proportion, and construct a wild theory. For example, review all the 'facts' in PizzaGate. [1] This isn't about people not learning science. The QAnon folks took a lot of really random pieces of data, such as a photo of Obama playing ping pong, and constructed an highly dubious story. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/10/business/media/pizzagate.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/10/business/medi...

CoastalCoder 5y ago
> I think if you focus on the need to feel special, there is a desire to have 'figured it out' and to be 'smarter than the mainstream'. IIUC you're saying that those traits explain why many conspiracy theorists fall into that camp. I don't like leaning on ancedata, but I think I've seen persons like that in every ideological camp I've encountered. So I'm a bit skeptical that it's strongly correlated with being a conspiracy theorist.
- JohnBooty 5y ago
  I think I've seen persons like that in every ideological camp I've encountered I'm not the parent poster but yeah, I think the concept of being "in the know" in relation to others is definitely a concept that appeals to nearly everybody. I mean, who doesn't enjoy that to an extent? Even if it's something innocuous like being "the person within your friends group who knows where all the cool bars in town are." The allure of being "in the know is certainly not unique to conspiracy theorists, but I think it clearly is a major part of the appeal.