American embrace of conspiracy: poll

[USincognito]

Some folks on this forum like to toss a variation of saying attributed to Alexander Hamilton - "if you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything". I've been observing over the last 30 years that the opposite tends to be true. This especially seems to be the case when it comes to conspiracy theories. A recent YouGov poll on that subject had some very interesting results.

The only CT embraced by a greater number of Democrat respondents was for a belief that top Republicans were sex-trafficking children. 28% D vs. 17% R. A belief that top Dems are doing to the same was embraced by 14% of Ds, but 42% of Rs. Overall the two most embraced CTs were the JFK assassination and a secret cabal running things.

 

[Bradskii]

Some that came true

I was impressed that the writer's grandfather was correct about his well being poisoned. So much egg on so many faces. It's up there with the fake moon landings and JFK.

 

[Bradskii]

Some folks on this forum like to toss a variation of saying attributed to Alexander Hamilton - "if you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything". I've been observing over the last 30 years that the opposite tends to be true. This especially seems to be the case when it comes to conspiracy theories. A recent YouGov poll on that subject had some very interesting results.

The only CT embraced by a greater number of Democrat respondents was for a belief that top Republicans were sex-trafficking children. 28% D vs. 17% R. A belief that top Dems are doing to the same was embraced by 14% of Ds, but 42% of Rs. Overall the two most embraced CTs were the JFK assassination and a secret cabal running things.

It's a poll on stupidity.

 

[USincognito]

Deleted as post I'm replying to has been removed.

 

[USincognito]

It's a poll on stupidity.

It shows that those who think they're the "real skeptics" are actually the most susceptible to believing garbage.

 

[Bradskii]

It shows that those who think they're the "real skeptics" are actually the most susceptible to believing garbage.

I guess that if you are a skeptic it means that you are often challenging the status quo. So you're not, almost by definition, a conservative. Ipso facto, conservatives aren't skeptical. So...Jewish space lasers and Neil never went to the moon.

 

[Laodicean60]

That was embarrassing to read. The conflates a lot of things that aren't conspiracy theories with actual conspiracy theories.

Also there's a lot of F bombs in that blog entry so you might want excise the link before CF staff find out.

How do I excise it? Do you mean put a warning label?

 

[Laodicean60]

It shows that those who think they're the "real skeptics" are actually the most susceptible to believing garbage.

I let the moderators know, thanks for telling me.

 

[USincognito]

How do I excise it? Do you mean put a warning label?

It's acceptable to copy and paste the title of an article or website if the content has naughty words. Just no links.

 

[Occams Barber]

Some folks on this forum like to toss a variation of saying attributed to Alexander Hamilton - "if you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything". I've been observing over the last 30 years that the opposite tends to be true. This especially seems to be the case when it comes to conspiracy theories. A recent YouGov poll on that subject had some very interesting results.

The only CT embraced by a greater number of Democrat respondents was for a belief that top Republicans were sex-trafficking children. 28% D vs. 17% R. A belief that top Dems are doing to the same was embraced by 14% of Ds, but 42% of Rs. Overall the two most embraced CTs were the JFK assassination and a secret cabal running thin

The difference between Democrats and Republicans is striking. I pasted the comparison chart below.

There is only one instance where Dems outnumber Republicans in believing a conspiracy is true/probably true,
In most cases Reps percentages of true/probably true outnumber Dems numbers more than two to one

The obvious question is why the big difference?

I suspect the US government has been secretly slipping Magic Stupid Pills into the water supply of all Republicans.

OB

 

[Yttrium]

It shows that those who think they're the "real skeptics" are actually the most susceptible to believing garbage.

Oh great, now you're making me doubt whether I'm a skeptic or not.

I mean, more than usual. Since I'm a skeptic.

And now my head hurts. I hope you're happy.

 

[SimplyMe]

It also seems that those who claim that you should "do your own research" mean that you should watch, uncritically, YouTube videos where other CTs tell you the "facts" of their conspiracies.

 

[USincognito]

I suspect the US government has been secretly slipping Magic Stupid Pills into the water supply of all Republicans.

I know you are far more acquainted with American culture than than I am of antipodean culture, but I'm going to reply as if you're a tabula rasa.

The embrace of conspiracy by the right has a long history in America. There was the Red scare back in the 50s, not entirely unwarranted but certainly encouraged a certain amount of paranoia. In the sixties the John Birtch Society came along and that was pretty much the same thing, but a little less mainstream.

By the seventies we have the dawning of Evangelical Christian conspiracy theory, and I think the Genesis of that (no pun intended) was Late Great Planet Earth. Eschatology and politics became more intertwined in the Evangelical mind causing them to look for patterns and signs that were typical of a conspiracy theorist. By the '80s and '90s you had Jack Van Impe, The Prophecy Club, Creationists like Hovind and Ham who didn't merely think evolution and deep time were wrong, but an orchestrated attack on Christianity, the Left Behind series. There was also the Satanic Panic.

The 90s also so the right begin to engage in secular, political conspiracy mongering. The Clinton's were running a drug and murder operation out of Mena, Arkansas. Hilary had Vince Foster murdered for (reasons). The New World Order was going to send United Nations troops in to take our guns and enslave us.

35 years of that from the Conservisphere and I can see why right is much mote likely to think a cabal of elites, most of whom are literally demonic, want to take their guns, send them to reeducation camps, and execute them if they won't take the depopulation vaccine so the earth can be reduced to a population of 500 million.

 

[USincognito]

I guess that if you are a skeptic it means that you are often challenging the status quo. So you're not, almost by definition, a conservative. Ipso facto, conservatives aren't skeptical. So...Jewish space lasers and Neil never went to the moon.

Skepticism should be more of a process even if it's a default position, otherwise one risks becoming a cynic and rejecting everything for everything's sake.

As Simply Me notes, for a percentage of the American* left and a greater percentage of the American* right, critical thinking and doing research means watching YouTube or Rumble videos instead truly fact checking and digging into the data/facts.

*I hope no is confused by my correct use of the proper adjective rather than a using grammatically tortured euphemistic term.

 

[Bradskii]

*I hope no is confused by my correct use of the proper adjective rather than a using grammatically tortured euphemistic term.

I think we're stuck with 'American', with apologies to everyone north and south of the US. Although I always use 'the US' to refer to...ummm...the United States. Latino Americans use Americano, Norte Americano or the clumsy Estadoudinense for the inhabitants.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Coincidentally (or was it? Duh duh DAAH) I saw (on X) the chart on page 17 of this meta-analysis of the correlation of various personality traits with belief in conspiracy theories.

Things positively correlated with belief in conspiracy theories (my selection):
#1: Social threat
Belief in a dangerous world
Existential threat
Powerlessness
Alienation
Intolerance of ambiguity
Rightwing Authoritarianism
Collective self-esteem
Social dominance orientation (SDO) ("a personality trait measuring an individual's support for social hierarchy and the extent to which they desire their in-group be superior to out-groups.")

Things negatively correlated (not that many and generally smaller correlations)
Individual self-esteem
#2 most negatively correlated: Actively open-minded thinking (AOT) ("is measured by items that tap the willingness to consider alternative opinions, sensitivity to evidence contradictory to current beliefs, the willingness to postpone closure, and reflective thought.") <---vital to 'real' skepticism IMNSHO

 

[hislegacy]

It is interesting that there is ZERO mention of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory that millions of people fell for and, believe it or not - there are still today some that believe it was true.

 

[JustOneWay]

It is interesting that there is ZERO mention of the Russian collusion conspiracy theory that millions of people fell for and, believe it or not - there are still today some that believe it was true.

It also makes ZERO mention of the millions Biden made from foreign sources conspiracy theory that millions of people fell for and, believe it or not - and still today most of those millions believe it is true.

 

[hislegacy]

It also makes ZERO mention of the millions Biden made from foreign sources conspiracy theory that millions of people fell for and, believe it or not - and still today most of those millions believe it is true.

and.....? Has the millions made by the Biden family been the subject of a two and a half year investigation costing 40,000,000, 19 attorney's, 40 special agents? Have the Biden's provided more than 1,000,000 pages of documentation? Has it consumed the vast majority of Main Street media on a nightly? How about 2,800 subpoenas - how many have been issued against Biden?

Not sure how the two conflate?

 

[JustOneWay]

and.....?

Not sure how the two conflate?

Really?

Neither are on the list.