...The basis of conspiracy theories shows trends of repetition throughout history that implement fear into everyday life. True or untrue, conspiracies are still followed, almost religiously, by many people. Theories that are wrong are still being pursued by people, and the choices they make based on those theories influence how they live their life. Conspiracies start from a source that is displeased by a particular group or activity. The source of the conspiracies usually makes them to slander the group that they are displeased with. The global catastrophe, which was known as the end of the world, compelled fear into the minds of people everywhere. For decades, 2012 was prophesized as being the end. The Mayans had carved a calendar that mysteriously stopped on December 21, 2012. Because the Mayans were such a highly respected and omniscient civilization, people instantly believed that the world would end based on their predictions from thousands of years ago. “The Maya invented an accurate calendar almost 2,000 years ago which measured time in 394-year periods known as baktuns and some anthropologists believe the 13th baktun ends on December 21. While some experts say the calendar never actually predicted an apocalypse, it has been interpreted that way by doom mongers all over the world.”(“End” N.A.). Others believed that a massive planet, four times the size of Jupiter, called Nibiru would collide with the earth or come close enough to shift the world’s polar axis and cause a...
Words: 834 - Pages: 4
...The political science literature of conspiracy theories remains decades old and robust. Beginning with Hofstadter (1964), researchers began to investigate the “paranoid style” of American politics while in the midst of the Cold War and McCarthyism. Although these early investigations helped to build a solid foundation of literature on conspiracism, the focus of this review remains to highlight and synthesize the most recent literature, which will in turn help to address the complex question of this paper. Recent surveys indicate that half of the American population endorses at least one conspiracy theory (Oliver & Wood, 2014). For instance, as of 2015, 36% of American respondents believed that the United States government had either assisted...
Words: 402 - Pages: 2
...“One problem with the focus on speculation is that it tends to promote the growth of the great intellectual cancer of our times: conspiracy theories.” ~ Gary Weiss. This quote means that, if there is a problem or something sounds suspicious, we will investigate it and come up with our own reasons for why it happened. Though sometimes the theory we come up with may sound stupid, we still believe it. The conspiracy theories are intellectual cancer because some theories actually sound more believable than others and it just spreads and becomes an epidemic. Some theories are just that interesting. Would you trust a memory that felt as real as all your other memories, and if other people confirmed that they remembered it too? Even if it was false?...
Words: 469 - Pages: 2
...After reading Fish’s essay, I arrived at the conclusion that a conspiracy theorist is an individual who seeks out the truth behind an event. A conspiracy theorist may also be an individual who researches alternative explanations for situations that may not be widely accepted. I think anyone can fit into this category because anyone can do thorough research to uncover the truth behind a certain event and draw conclusions about who or what caused that event. There can be a range of definitions for the term, “conspiracy theorist.” Most of these definitions include some sort of covert or secret planning by either an organization or the government of a country. The term has more negative connotations than positive connotations because most people...
Words: 277 - Pages: 2
...“Theory” is based on the idea used to a justify a course of action.With in the article by Jesse Walker “A theory about conspiracy theory” and Seitz Wald’s article “ Why people believe in conspiracy theories”. They have proved many similarities and differences. Political paranoia is everywhere, but having also accusations tell us about the people who believe in them. The conspiracy theory in Jesse Walkers perspective is that, “ Some conspiracies are real, of course, but even a conspiracy theory that is entirely false has truths to tell us about the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe it…it tells us ways people view the world” .The meaning of this quotation is that people are allowed to believe in conspiracy theories in order to shape the way they live and their emotions of the society. On the other hand Seitz- Wald’s theory states that their are “ Psychological forces like motivated reasoning have long been associated with...
Words: 535 - Pages: 3
...What are conspiracy theories? - Explanations – power relations A conspiracy theory is an explanatory proposition that accuses two or more persons, a group, or an organization of having caused through secret planning and deliberate action, an illegal event or situation. People formulate conspiracy theories to explain, for example, power relations in social groups and the perceived existence of evil forces. - Oxford English Dictionary: The American Historical Review - 1909 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" occurred in a 1909 article in The American Historical Review Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? - A sense of control There are number of factors, but probably one of the most important ones in this instance is that, paradoxically, it gives people a sense of control. People hate randomness, they dread the sort of random occurrences that can destroy their lives, so as a mechanism against that dread, it turns out that it’s much easier to believe in a conspiracy. Then you have someone to blame, it’s not just randomness. - Psychological forces (VS evidence-based thinking) Psychological forces like motivated reasoning have long been associated with conspiracy thinking, but scientists are learning more every year. On the other side there is the evidence-based thinking which most of the people who do not believe in these theories have. o Motivated reasoning Motivated reasoning is an emotion-biased...
Words: 1044 - Pages: 5
...Before I explain why I would limit the information content of conspiracy theories and political misinformation on the internet, first I need to define and distinguish what classifies as a conspiracy theory and political misinformation. Conspiracy theories and political misinformation are more common than most people believe. There are conspiracies in every aspect of our lives. They come in many form and nuance. It can be blatantly false, or too systematically complex to prove wrong. It is fair to point out that the word “theory” in conspiracy theory is not used in the same understanding or value of the term “theory” used by scientists in industry and academia. Anyone can have theory and the meaning of that term can differ greatly from one to another....
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...only about 50% of citizens receive vaccines for their children. Evidently this is the lowest level in Australia and is compared to South Sudan (McCutcheon, 2015).There are various researches that have come up to explain how conspiracy, paranormal, and spirituality are related to anti-vaccination, but it is clear that none of them was bold enough to explain why. For instance, in line with conspiracy theory, Kata (2010) states of how 75% of the websites she researched on made claims of cover up, where regulatory bodies had information about vaccines they were from the public. Orac (2014) states of how conspiracy in the Muslim world made people into believing polio vaccines were evil plans by the Western nations to sterilize Muslim youth and reduce them in number. In the same sense, 50% of websites stated of how the government purportedly protects vaccine manufacturers and doctors from possible harms caused by vaccines (Tuteur, 2011). Other researchers have tried to elaborate on how spirituality and paranormal is in essence in line with anti-vaccination campaigns by creating perceptions of reality and empowerment unlike conspiracy (Daum&Weibe 2010). Despite a wealth of research on the way anti-vaccination is predicted by paranormal, spiritualism and conspiracy, none has been bold...
Words: 2920 - Pages: 12
...doctors and other medical professionals. Other parents seem to look at homeopathy, nature and metaphysical tendencies to resolve their medical dilemma as regards to the vaccine.[Huntley and Peeters, 2010; Battles, 2008]. It is at this point that Lewandowski et al. [2013] and his believed that with an increase in knowledge the worldview polarization of science also doubled. Apparently, these issues are evident to point out to the fact that anti-vaccine attitudes are predicted by them. But there is very limited research in place, to depict the underlying factor beneath these forms of psychosocial behaviors against vaccines. The notion of worldview approach to anti-vaccine over vaccines is a current one and stems from paranormal, spiritual, and conspiracy beliefs over the vaccines. These non-evidence ways of life seem to reach out to the attitudes parents depict over vaccines for such a long time.[Jolley and Douglas, 2014; Goertzel, 1994] There those, who see that vaccines are unsafe, impure according to God’s purpose of creation [O’shea, 2001] and even with governments like the Australian taking the Slovakian approach [Kasarda ,2013; Behrmann2010 ],...
Words: 6697 - Pages: 27
...The incident at Roswell has sparked conspiracies and distrust towards the government and intrigue in the population. Debates have spawned from the Roswell incident as to whether or not aliens exist, with either side giving information that they find proves if aliens are real. The problem that steams from this though, is the circular reasoning of no evidence does not necessarily disprove or prove anything. Summed up as the idea that the evidence does not disprove the theory, but it also does not prove it. Throughout the chapter, Goldberg describes the results of Roswell, from the responses from the government and the community. The government would avoid the questions posed by those who are interested and claim that the incident was not a case of extraterrestrial interference. People claimed to be silenced by threats or appeals to nationalism. The overall result from the incident at Roswell, New Mexico was distrust and the idea that the truth was somewhere out there....
Words: 1042 - Pages: 5
...Communication and Crisis Paper Tara Littleton HCS/320 1/18/16 Ann Maleta Communication and Crisis Paper Official reports indicate that the public water supplies in several different towns in the area are contaminated with a biological agent that is life threatening. Being the director of the Emergency Management Office, there has to be a contingency plan put into place within the office’s organization and with the public without creating a widespread panic. Knowing the situations in the past, the issues have to be dealt with immediately. Doing research and using the information from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor malfunction in 1979, will help to know how to respond to this disaster. Even though there were no deaths or injuries from this particular incident, it drew a lot of media attention and created great concern within the local area and surrounding areas. The major forms of communication used in this situation were three major television networks and the local radio stations. Also, there was another situation in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina went through New Orleans and left it devastated. Many of the local citizens and their families were affected and most of them...
Words: 1488 - Pages: 6
...confusing, a conspiracy that dates back thousands of years and has no clear answer. The Illuminati, a mysterious secretive society with plans to conquer the world and rule with force, has fascinated conspiracy theorists since before modern times. Though the idea has been around for thousands of years, plaguing the minds of the easily convinced and threatening world domination, the question remains: is the Illuminati really a group of tight-lipped masterminds, secretive enough to hide their identities and existence? Or is this yet another easily arguable conspiracy theory created to shock the masses and instill hysteria in the general public? Before we can delve into that question, it is important to first attempt to understand the facts (or lack thereof) surrounding this “society”, by exploring the origin of the Illuminati, its members, and the “evidence” (or lack thereof) that proves its existence. As interesting or compelling as one set of facts may be, there are hundreds of other websites, documentaries, and books claiming to have found truth in another, entirely different, set of facts. For the sake of argument, several of the most prominent theories will be brought up and investigated. These sets of facts occasionally conflict with one another even on the most basic of topics. As is clearly visible when simply discussing the origin of the society, many different people hold onto very different ideas. Perhaps one of the most entertaining theories explaining the...
Words: 2585 - Pages: 11
...The X-Files is one of the brilliant examples of television series, originated as a cult show and dawned into the renowned show among a wider range of audiences, including the academia. For nine seasons, the show ran for about ten years. After becoming so popular, The X-Files developed two films for dedicated fans across the world. One may wonder what is it that makes a long running show consistently interesting to the general audience, fans, scholars, and even critics. A possibility is the usage of metaphor and genre in order to explore wider themes that are not immediately apparent to the viewer regarding subject matter. To put it simply, The X-Files goes beyond the limitations of horror and sci-fi. The creation of The X-Files emerged when a new and upcoming company called Fox joined network competitors such as NBC, ABC, and CBS. Fox, as a forerunner in showing television where viewers could not find anywhere comparable, embraced the unusual and controversial series based on the paranormal and bizarre phenomena. The show follows two FBI agents who investigate the paranormal from two different viewpoints, a believer and the other a skeptic. The X-Files on the Fox network was beginning nightly hour-long shows directed towards the teen to middle-aged viewers. In order to become popular for such a broad range of viewers, the series needed to attract these masses using a language they understood and meeting their expectations, such as desired genres. The mixture of the target viewer’s...
Words: 2787 - Pages: 12
...In the ocean exists an ancient god Cthulhu, sleeping in his stone house in R’yleh under the sea. He sleeps and telepathically invades our dreams, turning them into nightmares. There is a cult that follows the ancient god, and they relate the details of this ancient being and his intentions: The HP Lovecraft Wiki 2014 [“Cthulhu,” at http://lovecraft.wikia.com/wiki/Cthulhu] The most detailed descriptions of Cthulhu in "The Tale of Cthulhu" are based on statues of the creature. One, constructed by an artist after a series of baleful dreams, is said to have "yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature [...] A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings."[6] Another, recovered by police from a raid on a murderous cult, "represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind."[7] When the creature finally appears, the story says that the "thing cannot be described," but it is called "the green, sticky spawn of the stars", with "flabby claws" and an "awful squid-head with writhing feelers." Johansen's phrase "a mountain walked or stumbled" gives a sense of the creature's scale[8] (this is corroborated by Wilcox's dreams, which "touched wildly on a gigantic thing 'miles high' which walked or lumbered about"). Cthulhu is depicted as having a worldwide...
Words: 9602 - Pages: 39
...I define a conspiracy as any organized plan that is acted upon based upon assumptions of guilt with little or no proof to support accusations. Conspiracies are conniving and created out of a desire for personal gain. People fear what they cannot understand and create theories to explain why some people choose to live outside of the norm. Many of these theories are inaccurate and stem from paranoia. Today, our culture has become accustomed to diversity, but during the height of the witch-hunts being different was unacceptable and seen as a sign of witchcraft. While I do not accept everything I hear with blind faith, I am skeptical of most of the conspiracy theories that I have encountered. I am not definitive in my beliefs about conspiracies as a whole because some conspiracies seem plausible, while other seem nonsensical. It was not difficult for me to believe that witches held a “Sabbath” and celebrated by mixing the fat of children with poisonous animals such as serpents. However, I do not believe that every individual that was accused of witchcraft was in fact guilty. In some cases, such as the case of Dame Alice Kyteler, evidence showed that the accused were indeed guilty. In other instances, such as the Salem witch trials, innocent people died because they were wrongfully accused. Conspiracy theorists are still perpetuating their arguments today in premises that range from government protected aliens living in Area 51 to beliefs that September 11th was orchestrated by...
Words: 461 - Pages: 2