The Psychology of Qanon

[colfax_m]

Maybe the democrats are calling the many "voter fraud" claims "conspiracy theories"? Read the following article about the PA legislature's concerns, that the governor and secretary of state ignored and certified the vote anyway?! How many more legitimate voter fraud issues are there? None, they're all just "conspiracy theories"........the courts already dismissed all of them......

This complaint was not ignored, it was politely explained that the analysis that these legislators produced was based on incomplete data and therefore completely useless.

Yes, these are just conspiracy theories. One of the hallmarks of conspiracy theories is that any attempt to refute them is ignored or explained away by expanding the conspiracy.

Did Pennsylvania Record 205,000 More Votes Than Voters?

Pennsylvania officials warned of "the dangers of uninformed, lay analysis combined with a basic lack of election administration knowledge."

www.snopes.com

It's very easy for people to make these allegations and for them to become viral. What is far less likely to become viral is the facts that disprove these allegations.

Totally agree with you that once an allegation is made, there is no "nothing to see here" that will stop the allegation.
The only thing that would have stopped the "conspiracy theories" cold is Barr starting an FBI/DOJ investigation to list them all, and give details disproving them all.
All the sweeping under the rug is not going to satisfy anyone who voted for Trump.
Right now Xiden is illegitimate until proven otherwise.

Really? Barr already said that there wasn’t evidence of widespread fraud and he was labeled a deep state traitor and ignored. The FBI is ignored by the right wing for years. This is a nice solution on paper, but I don’t think in real life it’s going to be successful. The power of Trump to manipulate what his devotees believe is just too strong.

Nothing is being swept under the rug. It’s just that the FBI and DoJ aren’t going to be doing investigations into “everything”. For one, they don’t have the manpower to satisfy the flurry of allegations. Two, a lot of these allegations aren’t all that factual, or are very speculative and a lot don’t actually allege any wrongdoing specific enough to actually investigate. Case in point is this “discrepancy” you mentioned. There’s no specific allegation to investigate other than to know that the analysis is based on incomplete data. It doesn’t take the FBI to figure that out.

 

[HappyJoy]

He was renting the house. If there is one thing Harold Ford Jr. is, it's not a liberal.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

You are so predictable.
At minimum, 98% of Americans wouldn't even know who Qanon is if it wasn't for foam-at-the-mouth leftist going batshit crazy about them.
EXACTLY like white supremacist. The left made them out to be a massive organization with strong influence in all things conservative. When in fact, they are nothing more than a handful of rednecks in the middle of nowhere that have exactly ZERO influence on anyone. Except the left.

But alas, desperate people do desperate things.

 

[Dragonlady]

It's interesting that this thread is turning into another debate on conspiracies about election fraud. I don't believe those are specific to Q-Anon (though I'm open to hear more) however it's often times the same individuals whose world views are easily shaped by the dark corners of the internet.

Discrediting the MSM is the gift that keeps on giving for the right. Now that they've convinced conservatives that the MSM is so biased as to be lying about everything. This allow FOX and others to lie with impunity because any effort to fact check or discredit their own false information by the MSM, is immediately met with bleats of "fake news".

 

[Mac1958]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

You are so predictable.
At minimum, 98% of Americans wouldn't even know who Qanon is if it wasn't for foam-at-the-mouth leftist going batshit crazy about them.
EXACTLY like white supremacist. The left made them out to be a massive organization with strong influence in all things conservative. When in fact, they are nothing more than a handful of rednecks in the middle of nowhere that have exactly ZERO influence on anyone. Except the left.

But alas, desperate people do desperate things.

And another one.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

You are so predictable.
At minimum, 98% of Americans wouldn't even know who Qanon is if it wasn't for foam-at-the-mouth leftist going batshit crazy about them.
EXACTLY like white supremacist. The left made them out to be a massive organization with strong influence in all things conservative. When in fact, they are nothing more than a handful of rednecks in the middle of nowhere that have exactly ZERO influence on anyone. Except the left.

But alas, desperate people do desperate things.

And another one.

Indeed... another person who finds your post humorous... albeit desperate need to feed your denial.
Keep it up though... kinda funny.

 

[kyzr]

Maybe the democrats are calling the many "voter fraud" claims "conspiracy theories"? Read the following article about the PA legislature's concerns, that the governor and secretary of state ignored and certified the vote anyway?! How many more legitimate voter fraud issues are there? None, they're all just "conspiracy theories"........the courts already dismissed all of them......

This complaint was not ignored, it was politely explained that the analysis that these legislators produced was based on incomplete data and therefore completely useless.

Yes, these are just conspiracy theories. One of the hallmarks of conspiracy theories is that any attempt to refute them is ignored or explained away by expanding the conspiracy.

Did Pennsylvania Record 205,000 More Votes Than Voters?

Pennsylvania officials warned of "the dangers of uninformed, lay analysis combined with a basic lack of election administration knowledge."

www.snopes.com

It's very easy for people to make these allegations and for them to become viral. What is far less likely to become viral is the facts that disprove these allegations.

Totally agree with you that once an allegation is made, there is no "nothing to see here" that will stop the allegation.
The only thing that would have stopped the "conspiracy theories" cold is Barr starting an FBI/DOJ investigation to list them all, and give details disproving them all.
All the sweeping under the rug is not going to satisfy anyone who voted for Trump.
Right now Xiden is illegitimate until proven otherwise.

Really? Barr already said that there wasn’t evidence of widespread fraud and he was labeled a deep state traitor and ignored. The FBI is ignored by the right wing for years. This is a nice solution on paper, but I don’t think in real life it’s going to be successful. The power of Trump to manipulate what his devotees believe is just too strong.

Nothing is being swept under the rug. It’s just that the FBI and DoJ aren’t going to be doing investigations into “everything”. For one, they don’t have the manpower to satisfy the flurry of allegations. Two, a lot of these allegations aren’t all that factual, or are very speculative and a lot don’t actually allege any wrongdoing specific enough to actually investigate. Case in point is this “discrepancy” you mentioned. There’s no specific allegation to investigate other than to know that the analysis is based on incomplete data. It doesn’t take the FBI to figure that out.

Barr said there wasn't evidence of "widespread" voter fraud. WTF does that even mean? (Yes there was voter fraud.)
All Trump needed was a few thousand votes in PA and one other state and he wins.
Your tap-dancing and excuse making is hilarious.
The FBI can track down thousands of "insurrectionists" but can't interview a few whistleblowers to make a call on voter fraud allegations? Bullshit.
Without a formal report after a thorough investigation, Xiden is illegitimate.

 

[colfax_m]

Barr said there wasn't evidence of "widespread" voter fraud. WTF does that even mean?

As he said, it wasn’t fraud enough to change the outcome of the election. Meaning you might find a Trump supporter voting for his dead mother, but you’re not going to find anyone fabricating thousands of votes to drive across state line.

Trump lost Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. He needed more than a few thousand. He couldn’t “find” enough fraud to change the outcome. He really couldn’t “find” anywhere close to it.

I don’t know who the FBI interviewed, but I’d be willing to wager they interviewed “a few”. At the end of the day, they can track down rioters because there was clear evidence of a crime. It’s a bit different with election fraud where you don’t even have evidence of a crime, unless you assume that Trump losing is evidence, which is both dishonest and was actually claimed by some of his supporters.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

Hmmm Mac & Cheese why? Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Prince Andrew, Joe Biden to name a few. All sexual perverts and predators, all protected for years by the existing power structure, and all left leaning Dims.

Why have Dims protected these perverts for decades? Harvey Weinstein was a major Dim contributor and a close friend to the Clintons. He perversion was an open secret. Ditto Jeffrey Epstein.

Your pearl clutching is cute, but there are legitimate reasons why people have concern about powerful leftist men who sexually prey on kids. If the purpose of this thread is to actually discuss the issue then do so. But my guess is as usual this is purely a troll.

 

[Lesh]

At minimum, 98% of Americans wouldn't even know who Qanon is if it wasn't for foam-at-the-mouth leftist going batshit crazy about them.

The "joy" of QAnon is that it's a Chinese menu of nonsensical conspiracy theories. And a large majority of Republicans believe some or all of them.

Try this...back track on your "deep state" nonsense or conspiracy theory of choice and it will at some point lead back to some jerk off on youtube or a facebook post telling you to "connect the dots" that would end up looking like a fever dream from Homeland

 

[bripat9643]

I suspect that Q has a dwindling base of followers but there is probably some other lunacy on its way.
I have always had a problem with conspiracy theories, mainly because people are too incompetent to carry on a conspiracy over any length of time.

The "lunacy" is sitting in the Whitehouse.

 

[g5000]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

The belief in crackpot conspiracy theories is the result of a total lack of critical thinking skills.

 

[g5000]

I am starting to get the impression that this Q thing is being used by Biden people to discredit anyone who doesn't fall in line.

Anyone who believes in "this Q thing" discredits themselves.

 

[WelfareQueen]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

The belief in crackpot conspiracy theories is the result of a total lack of critical thinking skills.

Tell that to the girls or women raped or molested by Epstein, Clinton, Weinstein or Biden.

 

[g5000]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

The belief in crackpot conspiracy theories is the result of a total lack of critical thinking skills.

Tell that to the girls or women raped or molested by Epstein, Clinton, Weinstein or Biden.

See?

A total lack of critical thinking skills on your part.

Thank you for reinforcing the point.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Q falls into the same category as glowarmers.

 

[kyzr]

Barr said there wasn't evidence of "widespread" voter fraud. WTF does that even mean?

As he said, it wasn’t fraud enough to change the outcome of the election. Meaning you might find a Trump supporter voting for his dead mother, but you’re not going to find anyone fabricating thousands of votes to drive across state line.

Trump lost Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. He needed more than a few thousand. He couldn’t “find” enough fraud to change the outcome. He really couldn’t “find” anywhere close to it.

I don’t know who the FBI interviewed, but I’d be willing to wager they interviewed “a few”. At the end of the day, they can track down rioters because there was clear evidence of a crime. It’s a bit different with election fraud where you don’t even have evidence of a crime, unless you assume that Trump losing is evidence, which is both dishonest and was actually claimed by some of his supporters.

Without a formal report its just Barr being an establishment shill. Xiden is illegitimate until everything is investigated. The PA 80,000 could be covered by more than twice the disputed number of votes.

Pennsylvania Republicans find ‘alarming discrepancy’ twice the margin of Biden’s victory - Washington Examiner

Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania say an "alarming discrepancy" in the presidential vote count is two times larger than the margin of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state.Their analysis, released on Monday by state Rep. Frank Ryan and more than a dozen colleagues, found different...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

"The Republicans said this 202,377 gap, coupled with 31,547 fewer presidential race votes seen in county data, amounts to "an alarming discrepancy" of 170,830 votes, which is more than twice the reported statewide difference between Biden and Trump."

 

[colfax_m]

Barr said there wasn't evidence of "widespread" voter fraud. WTF does that even mean?

As he said, it wasn’t fraud enough to change the outcome of the election. Meaning you might find a Trump supporter voting for his dead mother, but you’re not going to find anyone fabricating thousands of votes to drive across state line.

Trump lost Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes. He needed more than a few thousand. He couldn’t “find” enough fraud to change the outcome. He really couldn’t “find” anywhere close to it.

I don’t know who the FBI interviewed, but I’d be willing to wager they interviewed “a few”. At the end of the day, they can track down rioters because there was clear evidence of a crime. It’s a bit different with election fraud where you don’t even have evidence of a crime, unless you assume that Trump losing is evidence, which is both dishonest and was actually claimed by some of his supporters.

Without a formal report its just Barr being an establishment shill. Xiden is illegitimate until everything is investigated. The PA 80,000 could be covered by more than twice the disputed number of votes.

Pennsylvania Republicans find ‘alarming discrepancy’ twice the margin of Biden’s victory - Washington Examiner

Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania say an "alarming discrepancy" in the presidential vote count is two times larger than the margin of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the state.Their analysis, released on Monday by state Rep. Frank Ryan and more than a dozen colleagues, found different...

www.washingtonexaminer.com

"The Republicans said this 202,377 gap, coupled with 31,547 fewer presidential race votes seen in county data, amounts to "an alarming discrepancy" of 170,830 votes, which is more than twice the reported statewide difference between Biden and Trump."

See what I mean? He's now an establishment shill because he didn't say what you wanted him to say.

These are links to the same faulty analysis. These aren't disputed votes, it's an allegation based on bad information that is not useful. There's nothing to investigate because there's no credible allegation.

 

[Mac1958]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

Hmmm Mac & Cheese why? Jeffrey Epstein, Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Prince Andrew, Joe Biden to name a few. All sexual perverts and predators, all protected for years by the existing power structure, and all left leaning Dims.

Why have Dims protected these perverts for decades? Harvey Weinstein was a major Dim contributor and a close friend to the Clintons. He perversion was an open secret. Ditto Jeffrey Epstein.

Your pearl clutching is cute, but there are legitimate reasons why people have concern about powerful leftist men who sexually prey on kids. If the purpose of this thread is to actually discuss the issue then do so. But my guess is as usual this is purely a troll.

And another one.

 

[Mac1958]

Trying to find silver linings in the last four years, continued:

This period has certainly been a treasure trove of material for psychological analysis. In this instance, why has the Qanon conspiracy cult caught on with so many Americans? And how many of them will remain now that they were made fools of, on Inauguration Day?

Opinion | The Qanon conspiracy is bizarre. A psychologist explains why its supporters aren't insane.

The fear that evil forces conspire to hurt good people is deeply rooted in the human psyche.

www.nbcnews.com

In a recent study conducted by myself, Karen Douglas and Clara De Inocencio, we further investigated why this could be the case. Our conclusion? Conspiracy theories reinforce a belief that nothing in the world happens through coincidence. This refusal to recognize the role of chance leads people to develop a worldview in which hostile and secret conspiracies permeate all layers of society.

Feelings of anxiety and uncertainty also help fuel conspiracy theories. Such emotions function as a psychological warning signal, leading people to try and make sense of societal events that frighten them. This helps to explain the widespread (and ongoing) speculation that followed impactful events such as 9/11 or the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Together with Nils Jostmann and Michele Acker, we found that feelings of uncertainty, coupled with the feeling that your life is not fully in your control anymore, increases conspiracy thinking. Studies by others researchers confirm that emotions reflecting uncertainty — such as fear or worry — can increase conspiracy beliefs.

How many believers are among us here? We'll be able to guess by counting how many of them scoff at, mock, and dismiss this article.

The belief in crackpot conspiracy theories is the result of a total lack of critical thinking skills.

Tell that to the girls or women raped or molested by Epstein, Clinton, Weinstein or Biden.

See?

A total lack of critical thinking skills on your part.

Thank you for reinforcing the point.

They do this all the time, even when I predict it in the OP.