# Why is the Right so credulous when it comes to conspiracy theories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 17, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903 "2019-10-17T14:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/21 "2019-10-17T15:35:24Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > You said my OP was a cartoon version of the other side. I was trying to give real examples. **They may not believed by the majority of registered Republicans** … Indeed. > [@l0k1](#): > > **… but would you be surprised to hear Fox News promoting them?** I would be surprised, yes. I admit here that I am coming from a position of ignorance – I rarely catch Fox News. … I’m trying to understand more about where you are coming from. Specifically regarding Qanon and Pizzagate … I had considered both to have been pretty much summarily rejected by virtually everyone on both sides of the ailse. I mean, sure, I bet I can Google them and find many fringey blogs and such recounting sordid rumors. But that’s the nature of the Internet in 2019 – everyone has a voice. ---
**Author:** ![l0k1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@l0k1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l0k1)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/22 "2019-10-17T15:40:59Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Indeed. > > I would be surprised, yes. I admit here that I am coming from a position of ignorance – I rarely catch Fox News. > > … > > I’m trying to understand more about where you are coming from. Specifically regarding Qanon and Pizzagate … I had considered both to have been pretty much summarily rejected by virtually everyone on both sides of the ailse. I mean, sure, I bet I can Google them and find many fringey blogs and such recounting sordid rumors. But that’s the nature of the Internet in 2019 – everyone has a voice. Fox News will frequently discuss on their editorial shows conspiracy theories like Sandy Hook, and Seth Rich, and back in the day Vince Foster, if Pizzagate and Qanon are too fringey for you, lets concentrate on these. I’m not saying that all rightwingers are credulous regarding conspiracy theories, I’m saying that conspiracy theory supporters are more likely to be right wing, and that rightwingers with a national audience are more likely to promote them. I only see Fox News when it is on in a public building, but I see its style of reporting on bullshit quoted and referenced in other media constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/23 "2019-10-17T15:45:45Z")
Pre-Trump, my WAG would have been that the political right is somewhat more likely to believe that there is a vast force of evil that operates in shadowy fashion behind the scenes (not necessarily working in conjunction, but just, that the right is good guys vs. bad guys.) Hence, a death with suspicious timing must be an assassination, etc. In the Trump era now, though, I’m not sure that is the case anymore. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/24 "2019-10-17T15:47:26Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > I don’t know what definitions you need clarified. Specifically: “mainstream reach and large audiences”. I don’t think someone like Alex Jones has that. I also think that it’s difficult to achieve “mainstream reach and large audiences” via modern social media – admittedly, that may be a reflection of me being old and out of touch. When these conspiracy theories are taken seriously on the op-ed pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, or the Big-Three networks’ evening newscasts, I will be more concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/25 "2019-10-17T15:47:54Z")
From my time spent on Democratic Underground, I think the political left is now definitely giving the right a run for its money. There are DU-ers convinced that the GOP is rigging elections, etc. I’ve seen a thread on DU in which someone theorized that someone hijacked Malaysian Airlines 370 for the purpose of selling its spare parts on the black market (as if any airline would want to buy fenced Boeing 777 spare parts in such shady fashion.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/26 "2019-10-17T15:53:20Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > **I’m not saying that all rightwingers are credulous regarding conspiracy theories** , I’m saying that conspiracy theory supporters are more likely to be right wing, and that rightwingers with a national audience are more likely to promote them. The title of the thread is “_Why is the Right so credulous when it comes to conspiracy theories?_” I took the unqualified phrase “_the Right_” at face value. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/27 "2019-10-17T15:54:21Z")
Another reason that the Right believes CTs so much is that a lot of conspiracy theories posited by the Right make “sense” - not in the sense that they would actually be done, but in the sense that their theorized aims or goals make sense. For instance, if illegal immigrants are likely to vote Democratic, then it makes perfect sense that the Democrats would want to bring in as many illegal immigrants as possible, to turn the ballot box blue. If one believes that dead people are voting or D’s are voting multiple times, then it makes sense that the Democrats would try to stymie voter-ID laws so as to enable illegal (D) voting. If one believes that the D’s are trying to make gun ownership look bad, then it makes sense that the D’s would stage some false-flag shooting massacres to make the public think badly of guns, etc. Doesn’t mean it’s factually accurate, but the posited motives make sense. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/28 "2019-10-17T16:15:48Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > {…} Jeff Epstein suicide threads {…} Riiight, the Clintons murdering Epstein to hide their ‘Pizzagate’ activities is a left wing conspiracy! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![l0k1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@l0k1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/l0k1)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/29 "2019-10-17T16:28:31Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > The title of the thread is “_Why is the Right so credulous when it comes to conspiracy theories?_” I took the unqualified phrase “_the Right_” at face value. Then let me apologize for my poor phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/30 "2019-10-17T17:03:36Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’d have to say I don’t think the OP has a valid theory. Conspiracy theories are believed equally by ether political persuasion. They just believe different ones. > > The right: pizzagate, The Clinton’s murder list, Birthers > > The left: anti-vaxxers, moon hoaxers, 9/11 truthers, chemtrails > > People have this innate need to feel they are not at the mercy of a cruel, random world, that they are in control. People just choose different things to grasp on to. As others pointed out, those from ‘the left’ are not quite so. Others form the right or center here like \*\*Shodan \*\*and \*\*XT \*\*are missing one important bit, sure, many from the left do fall for conspiracies too, but at less rates than most on the right, looking back, I do think looking at the issue of fake news is important here since that issue does correlate a lot with the conspiracy theories one: > **[Most Americans Who See Fake News Believe It, New Survey Says](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/fake-news-survey#.clBomDAlD)** > > An exclusive Ipsos poll conducted for BuzzFeed News found that 75% of American adults who were familiar with a fake news headline viewed the story as accurate. > [@](#): > > On average, Clinton voters judged 58% of familiar fake news headlines as accurate, versus 86% for Trump voters. (These percentages are based on 434 judgments by Clinton voters and 634 judgments by Trump voters.) > > A fake story about the pope endorsing Trump was seen as accurate by 46% of Clinton voters compared to 75% of Trump voters. The hoax about an FBI agent connected to a Clinton investigation being found dead was seen as accurate by 52% of Clinton voters and 85% of Trump voters. And then there are very important differences: > **[We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here's What We Learned](https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs)** > > "The whole idea from the start was to build a site that could kind of infiltrate the echo chambers of the alt-right," says Jestin Coler, whose company, Disinfomedia, is behind some fake news sites. > [@](#): > > During the run-up to the presidential election, fake news really took off. “It was just anybody with a blog can get on there and find a big, huge Facebook group of kind of rabid Trump supporters just waiting to eat up this red meat that they’re about to get served,” Coler says. “It caused an explosion in the number of sites. I mean, my gosh, the number of just fake accounts on Facebook exploded during the Trump election.” > > Coler says his writers have tried to write fake news for liberals — but they just never take the bait. And the reason is that, while there is -sadly- a good number from the left that fall for conspiracies and fakery, many do not fall for it because they are not afraid to tell their peers about the fakery by pointing at fact checkers or more accurate media; unfortunately, \*\*many on the right even make a sport of shooting down the fact checkers too \*\*and that points as to why many more on the right do fall for conspiracies and fakery. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/31 "2019-10-17T17:04:39Z")
The left is absolutely just as bananas when it comes to conspiracy theories. If right win conspiracy theories seem to be more visible now, that is, in my opinion, due to two things: 1. Trumpism is an extreme view. Extreme right wingers have more position and pull in the halls of power than they used to, largely because of Trump, who is a conspiracy theorist. This has helped preposterous right wing conspiracy theories latch on to normally legitimate political activities. Look at how many Qanon nuts go to Trump rallies. There is no left wing equivalent to Donald Trump in America today. and 1. Extreme right wing views have more efffectively marketed themselves; the left has no equivalents to Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, or Glenn Beck if he’s still a thing. There ARE left win conspiracy theorists. Lots of them. They have just failed to elect anyone or start a popular radio show. You can find left wing conspiracy theorists all over the place but they’re nobodies. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/32 "2019-10-17T18:15:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The left is absolutely just as bananas when it comes to conspiracy theories. > > If right win conspiracy theories seem to be more visible now, that is, in my opinion, due to two things: > > 1. Trumpism is an extreme view. Extreme right wingers have more position and pull in the halls of power than they used to, largely because of Trump, who is a conspiracy theorist. This has helped preposterous right wing conspiracy theories latch on to normally legitimate political activities. Look at how many Qanon nuts go to Trump rallies. There is no left wing equivalent to Donald Trump in America today. > > and > > 1. Extreme right wing views have more efffectively marketed themselves; the left has no equivalents to **Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, or Glenn Beck if he’s still a thing**. > > There ARE left win conspiracy theorists. Lots of them. They have just failed to elect anyone or start a popular radio show. **You can find left wing conspiracy theorists all over the place but they’re nobodies.** I could go on with just the Fox News personalities like Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson. As for why the ones on the left haven’t succeeded it’s because as a whole conservatives in the contemporary US are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than liberals are. My opinion is that as conservatives in the US are more susceptible to wishful thinking and seeking out biased sources than liberals are. That’s why none of the kooky liberals have huge audiences. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/33 "2019-10-17T18:19:30Z")
The left failed to elect someone who believed in vast, right-wing conspiracies at least. See also Diebold. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/34 "2019-10-17T18:19:36Z")
> [@Buzzfeed via GIGObuster](#): > > On average, Clinton voters judged 58% of familiar fake news headlines as accurate, versus 86% for Trump voters. (These percentages are based on 434 judgments by Clinton voters and 634 judgments by Trump voters.) > > A fake story about the pope endorsing Trump was seen as accurate by 46% of Clinton voters compared to 75% of Trump voters. The hoax about an FBI agent connected to a Clinton investigation being found dead was seen as accurate by 52% of Clinton voters and 85% of Trump voters. I do tend to believe that Trump voters are more credulous about conspiracy theories than Clinton voters, but the examples here don’t show that. _Of course_ Clinton voters are going to be less likely to believe stories (hoax or not) that show Clinton in a bad light or Trump in a good one. In order to get an accurate measurement you need to control for that. I’m also not sure that a measurement of belief in fake news stories is a good proxy for conspiracy theory beliefs. Like, of those two fake stories, only one of them is actually a conspiracy theory. Linking a dead FBI agent to the Clintons is an implication that there’s some vast conspiracy to cover up their imagined misdeeds. But the Pope endorsing Trump, while bullshit, isn’t _conspiracy_ bullshit. There’s no need for a conspiracy for a religious figure to endorse a politician. I don’t agree that both the left and right wings equally buy into conspiracy theory bullshit. Yes, the extreme ends of both have equally nutty conspiracy theories. But the important question is not how crazy the fringe is (both fringes are crazy), but what percentage of voters buy into the bullshit. The fact that the right is electing actual conspiracy theorists while the left doesn’t isn’t a fluke. It’s because the electorate on the left largely hasn’t bought into the fringe ideas and the right has. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/35 "2019-10-17T18:26:05Z")
IMHO, the Right generally falls for false facts, while the Left falls for false motives. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/36 "2019-10-17T18:29:35Z")
Projection. The right engages is conspiracies, so they see them everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/37 "2019-10-17T18:34:10Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > Fox News will frequently discuss on their editorial shows conspiracy theories like Sandy Hook, and Seth Rich, and back in the day Vince Foster, if Pizzagate and Qanon are too fringey for you, lets concentrate on these. I’m not saying that all rightwingers are credulous regarding conspiracy theories, I’m saying that conspiracy theory supporters are more likely to be right wing, and that rightwingers with a national audience are more likely to promote them. I only see Fox News when it is on in a public building, but I see its style of reporting on bullshit quoted and referenced in other media constantly. When did Fox News discuss the Sandy Hook conspiracy? Vince Foster died three years before Fox News was founded,so I doubt they did much conspiracy mongering about him. In 2007 35% of democrats polled said they believed Bush knew about the 9-11 attacks before they happened. On this very board there are people who believe that Trump has been a Russian sleeper agent for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/38 "2019-10-17T18:43:36Z")
The right has a media magnifier; the left has no such thing. BTW, I was unaware that anti-vaxxers, moon landing deniers, chem trail idiots were generally on the left. I know some anti-vaxxers are, but not all. The one conspiracy theory I believe in is that there has been a vast conspiracy lasting 25 years to blacken Hillary Clinton with hardly any objective basis. I say hardly any because of all the high paid talks she gave to bankers and others. The rest all comes from the vast right wing echo chamber: Breitbart, Fox, Drudge,… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/39 "2019-10-17T19:13:09Z")
> [@l0k1](#): > > 9/11 hoaxers are mostly right wing antisemites. My anecdotal experience would tend to dispute that. At least several years back I had several very lefty acquaintances( and one decent, very well-educated scientific researcher friend )that were 9/11 hoaxers( a few were controlled demolition-type nuts, more were ‘the hijackers were stage-managed by the government’ nuts ). The general gist is that it was a planned ops to get mass public support for the schemes of interventionist neocons to get involved in the Middle East. Usually for them it all traced back to oil. As non-9/11 hoaxer lefty they drove me a little bonkers with their nuttiness at the time and I had to carefully steer around certain meal-time gathering discussions. Much as I have had to do with my friends that were in to “holistic” medicine like homeopathy. The left absolutely has their fair share of credulous believers. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903/40 "2019-10-17T19:26:10Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As others pointed out, those from ‘the left’ are not quite so. > > Others form the right or center here like \*\*Shodan \*\*and \*\*XT \*\*are missing one important bit, sure, many from the left do fall for conspiracies too, but at less rates than most on the right, looking back, I do think looking at the issue of fake news is important here since that issue does correlate a lot with the conspiracy theories one: > > . Just FTR, I said the OP was cherry picking because, well, the OP IS cherry picking examples. There are plenty of examples of left wing CTs. What I said was that a large number of AMERICANS, left, right and center believe in CTs. It’s well over 50%. Personally, I’m with RickJay on this one: > [@RickJay](#): > > 1. Trumpism is an extreme view. Extreme right wingers have more position and pull in the halls of power than they used to, largely because of Trump, who is a conspiracy theorist. This has helped preposterous right wing conspiracy theories latch on to normally legitimate political activities. Look at how many Qanon nuts go to Trump rallies. There is no left wing equivalent to Donald Trump in America today. > > and > > 1. Extreme right wing views have more efffectively marketed themselves; the left has no equivalents to Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, or Glenn Beck if he’s still a thing. Basically, the Right Wing have been more effective in getting the crazy out than the Left has, at least in recent decades. So, we hear more crazy coming from the Right. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of crazy on the Left, or that a lot of Left Winger types don’t believe in CT’s. Frankly, this board itself focuses more on Right Wing craziness, and tends to brush off Left Wingnutism. You yourself often downplay the Lefts effect on nuclear energy in threads. Myself, I think the the Right is crazier right now, but that’s mainly because they have moved more into the main stream of one of the big 2, while the Left has not gained control of the other party, which is having their own civil war between establishment liberals and progressives. That’s why the Dems are more sane at this time, IMHO. Also, the Dems are still trying to regain their former glory wrt consolidated power in the US. The Pubs have had it and it’s slipping away, so we are in the midst of a sea change wrt politics. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-right-so-credulous-when-it-comes-to-conspiracy-theories/841903.md?page=3)