# Why do conspiracy theorists preach? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592 "2013-04-24T14:44:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/21 "2013-04-24T23:17:48Z")
I think that a lot of the conspiracist thinking has an origin in fact. This is because many of the big events of our time (like the Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.) came about as the result of botched CIA operations. These were planned in secret, acted on in secret, and never explained by the government-so naturally, people would suspect other forces at work. Take the Iran Contra scandal-we had an admission that operatives of the US Government broke laws, defied congress, and indulged in many highly illegal actions. As for the Kennedy Assassination-we now know that the CIA conspired with criminals to murder Fidel Castro-and later denied that these things happened. Governments lie-and with a secret agency like the CIA starting wars and initiating murders, who knows what the extent of this is? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/22 "2013-04-25T22:23:12Z")
I don’t think it’s about feeling important. It’s just a desire to get other people to believe what you do. It’s a basic part of being human. The fact that they are so utterly convinced of these things while most people think they are stupid just increases that desire. There’s this satisfaction of knowing that other people agree with you that these people seek. A satisfaction most of us take for granted. I’m not saying that conspiracy theorists don’t think they are important, just that it has little to do with why they share their theories. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/23 "2013-04-25T23:03:56Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > [slight hijack] > > What I don’t understand is, if you’re a card-carrying CT do you have to believe in EVERY theory? I don’t think CT believe in all theories. But I do agree they are more likely to believe in multiple ones–especially if they involve the same system. So if they think the federal government intentionally brought crack cocaine into the inner cities, then they are also likely to believe that the federal government invented HIV and infected poor people with it. If one happened, why not the other? I think some people don’t recognize when they are being a CT. They think they are merely being skeptical of conventional wisdom, which is something to be lauded. They called Galileo a wackjob too. But CTs mess things up by creating an alternative explanation based not on evidence, but on imagination. I’m a fan of being skeptical. I don’t really trust anything wholeheartedly. But I’m fine with being doubtful for awhile. Some people just can’t stand not believing in something, even if it’s crazy. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/24 "2013-04-25T23:47:20Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I remember an earlier thread from that guy that I thought was fairly revealing. He was asking about two eighties sci-fi movies - I think it was _Night of the Comet_ and _The Last Starfighter_. In both films, the first time you see the main character, it’s a reflection of their face in the glass of an arcade game cabinet. He was absolutely convinced that this was somehow significant. Not in an Illuminati/Tr-Lateral Commission sense, just that either one of these movies _had_ to be referencing the other, or they both had to be referencing some other, earlier film. He couldn’t accept the idea that two mediocre film makers might come up with the same mediocre shot independently. > > I was not at all surprised later on when he started talking about big C Conspiracies. Exactly the same sort of thought process at work in both situations. Holy shit, _WarGames_ begins the same way! We are through the looking glass here, people! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/25 "2013-04-26T03:30:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Exactly. If the conspiracy is so well organized that they can succeed without the slightest snag in its execution, then they certainly would kill anyone who stumbled onto the truth. And, more pointedly, if it was so well organised and pervasive, how come a no-account little schmuck like you is one of the elite to crack it? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/26 "2013-04-26T03:56:28Z")
I fail to see why this is surprising.😕 If I knew about some very, very important truth that most people are unaware of, I too would try to get the word out… ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/27 "2013-04-26T06:24:34Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I fail to see why this is surprising.😕 If I knew about some very, very important truth that most people are unaware of, I too would try to get the word out… This. Indeed, I would go further. If you firmly believe, as conspiracy theorists do, that there is some malign conspiracy withholding the truth from the majority of people, and (as is usually the case with such theories) actively oppressing people, it would be utterly irresponsible not to do your best to get the word out. The belief systems in question may be false and irrational, but, once that is granted, the efforts to tell the world about it are, in themselves, both rational and morally commendable. Having mentioned Galileo in his first paragraph (not that there was any secret made of the attempted, but highly ineffectual suppression of Galileo’s views) teh OP goes on to ask (with reference to the alleged Bio Station Alpha) “How is my knowledge of such a thing going to help me feed my family and pay my bills?” Could you not ask exactly the same question about Galileo? How did the knowledge that the Earth orbits the Sun, rather than vice versa, help anyone in the 17th century (or even now) to pay their bills or feed their family? Lets judge everything by that sort of crass standard: Such an ass, that Galileo, wasting people’s time with such crap. He deserved everything he got, eh? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/28 "2013-04-26T11:34:44Z")
I imagine it’s got to tick off CTs to hear people constantly trump out the party line. When everywhere you turn the party line is all around you, you start feeling like YOU are the one being preached to by a bunch of brainwashed crazies. It’s hard to keep quiet when everyone in your estimation is loud and wrong. Re the fear that a CT should feel about possessing their secret knowledge. I imagine some do feel fear, but they think they are taking a valiant stand anyway. Perhaps the cabal WILL hunt them down, but before this happens, at least they’ve passed along their secret knowledge so that the fight can continue. And if something bad happens to them, this will serve as a sign they were onto something for all those who doubt. So some of them probably want to be found out. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/29 "2013-04-26T11:58:37Z")
Being a conspiracy theory aficionado typically means you are excusing your failures and ineffectualness on the grounds that evil force(s) are controlling you. So you’ve got to make at least even a token effort to show that you are battling the Man, otherwise you look even more like a helpless loser. Hence the need to preach the word. Oh, and the chemtrails make you batty and force you to blab incessantly. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/30 "2013-04-27T03:00:26Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > It’s easy pickin’s because a well-executed conspiracy is, whether it is real or the result of incorrect conclusions drawn from incomplete or inaccurate facts, by its very nature difficult to prove and readily debunked/plausibly denied. I’d like to emphasize the point made about incomplete or inaccurate facts. > [@Smeghead](#): > > There are a couple of monstrous, multi-dozen page threads out there about this already, wherein Kozmik, one of our resident CTers, claimed to be willing to explain his thought processes. As one might guess, he fails to do this in spectacularly frustrating fashion. Since I could not, by **Smeghead** ’s estimation, explain my thought processes in that thread, I’d like to lay out the facts in this post. > [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > 9/11, How could 19 guys do that? Impossible it must be something else. Which leads to all the woo, bombs, no planes etc. 15 of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia and yet the United States went to war in Afghanistan after 9/11 and not Saudi Arabia. From _The New York Times_, March 1, 2012, [Saudi Arabia May Be Tied to 9/11, 2 Ex-Senators Say](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/graham-and-kerrey-see-possible-saudi-9-11-link.html?_r=0). > [@ralph124c](#): > > I think that a lot of the conspiracist thinking has an origin in fact. This is because many of the big events of our time (like the Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs invasion, Cuban Missile Crisis, etc.) came about as the result of botched CIA operations. Kim Il-sung needed permission from Stalin to start the Korean War. Castro and Khrushchev had a meeting regarding the missiles being installed in Cuba. And, more recently, the US Secretary of State requested the Prime Minister of Turkey to postpone a visit to Gaza. From _The New York Times_, April 23, 2013, [Turkey Criticizes Kerry Over Request to Postpone Visit to Gaza](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/world/europe/turkey-criticizes-kerry-over-request-to-delay-gaza-trip.html): > [@](#): > > Turkey chastised Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday, describing his request that its prime minister postpone a visit to the Palestinian territory of Gaza as a display of arrogance. > [@](#): > > The criticism came a day after Mr. Kerry, while on a visit here, told reporters that he had urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to delay the Gaza trip to avoid inflaming tensions at a time when the Americans were trying to revive talks between the Palestinians and Israel. > [@](#): > > “Only our government decides where and when our prime minister or another Turkish official would go to, and is not in a position to seek permission or acceptance of any authority,” Mr. Erdogan’s deputy prime minister and government spokesman, Bulent Arinc, said in a televised statement. What more facts do you need? > [@ralph124c](#): > > Governments lie-and with a secret agency like the CIA starting wars and initiating murders, who knows what the extent of this is? One more fact: Governments lie. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/31 "2013-04-27T11:25:02Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I fail to see why this is surprising.😕 If I knew about some very, very important truth that most people are unaware of, I too would try to get the word out… That’s what sets you apart, and not in a good way. A rational person would have some self-doubt, would think “maybe I’m off-track on this, lemme think about it some more”. And, as I said above, think something like “of all the people on earth to crack this huge and well-kept conspiracy, why would it fall to little ol’ unqualified me?”. Either 10s of 1,000s of people have lied over a period of decades and successfully kept this secret (until I came along), OR I’m mistaken. Which is it more likely to be? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/32 "2013-04-27T11:34:20Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > 15 of the 19 hijackers were citizens of Saudi Arabia and yet the United States went to war in Afghanistan after 9/11 and not Saudi Arabia. From _The New York Times_, March 1, 2012, [Saudi Arabia May Be Tied to 9/11, 2 Ex-Senators Say](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/graham-and-kerrey-see-possible-saudi-9-11-link.html?_r=0). The US didn’t go to war with Afghanistan as a nation because they \*as a nation \*had attacked them. They invaded then because they were sheltering the instigator of the attack, ObL. What would they gain by going to war with Saudi? The Saudi nation had not attacked them - just people most of whom happened to be Saudi citizens, operating as individuals with no official imprimatur from SA. > [@](#): > > One more fact: Governments lie. A statement of no revelatory or relevance value whatsoever. Every organisation lies - sometimes. Every person lies - sometimes. You and I lie - sometimes. Yes, governments (or more usefully, people employed by governments) lie sometimes. What has that to do with their alleged ability to keep gigantic secrets for decades? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/33 "2013-04-27T12:49:39Z")
Oh, hell, no. PLEASE let’s not turn this into yet another thirty pages of banging our heads against Kozmik’s brick wall. It’s just not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/34 "2013-04-27T17:54:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yes, I don’t recall meeting CTist who believed in every conspiracy. There probably are some. Maybe it ties to the ‘special knowledge’ thing, they’re still special among their fellow believers because _they know which conspiracy is the real one_. The only one I know that believes in all CTs or at least that everything is part of a conspiracy is Alex Jones. But I’ve been convinced for a long time that he is a troll and a conman and doesn’t believe half of what he spouts. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/35 "2013-04-27T18:03:59Z")
Yeah, all conspiracy theories are basically boasting of secret knowledge. Are people who aren’t psychotic and doing well in life into conspiracy theories? Very rarely. It’s all “the reason I’m in this mental hospital/filing for bankruptcy/getting divorced is because of the Jews, not because of anything wrong with me.” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/36 "2013-04-27T18:13:05Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Oh, hell, no. PLEASE let’s not turn this into yet another thirty pages of banging our heads against Kozmik’s brick wall. It’s just not worth it. Everything else can be dismissed as window dressing. The Cliff Notes version of his theory: Lizards from outer space control the Illuminati who are actually shape-shifting Atlanteans. He really should just put it in his sig to save bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/37 "2013-04-27T18:53:33Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > Are people who aren’t psychotic and doing well in life into conspiracy theories? Very rarely. I’ve seen it enough times to think it’s not merely situational or just a mental illness. There must be some suscepetibility in enough humans that there’s no guarantee against this. There are people doing well in life and otherwise appearing to be mentally stable who still think there’s evidence of a conspiracy in the JFK case. Not just a belief, but they firmly belief the evidence clearly shows it and others would see it too if they only looked. There are people you would never imagine could believe in UFOs but due to some unexplained phenomemon they once saw they are sure that it was a UFO. They’ll admit they have no evidence, they may not believe in government coverups, but they know they saw a UFO. Perhaps no one is immune to the right story. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/38 "2013-04-27T19:59:29Z")
Jester, Imagine if your periods of delusion were not oriented chiefly on the perceived faults and negative experiences of your self and but on the perceived faults of the world. How do you think if would start, develop and ultimately change your thoughts, emotions and behaviors? For clarity’s sake, I am not asking snidely. I think you have a lot of insight to provide in answering your question which also interests me. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592/39 "2013-04-27T20:55:12Z")
**Kozmik** , don’t hijack this thread, you already have one of your own in GD. Consequently, don’t anyone goad or help **Kozmik** hijack this thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conspiracy-theorists-preach/656592.md?page=1)