Most of these people are not dumb. Mind you I've met some that probably needed instruction manuals to put on their socks. But by and large they are not supid. One guy I've known since we were kids is very much into conspiracies. He is not dumb by any means - he has multiple undergrad and post grad degrees. I think the issue is wanting a simple secure answer - high need for closure and low tolerance for ambiguity. That may be why conspiracy theories are very popular among the political extremes.
On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:02 PM, Jerry Milo Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > > I was about to post a comment on how dumb these people are, but that is > against my personal goal of trying to keep the conversations polite. > > I would hate to have to block myself. > > > > On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 12:43 PM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> the site LiveScience had a very good take on the psychological >> processes involved here. Worth the read. >> >> >> http://www.livescience.com/26314-sandy-hook-massacre-conspiracy-theories.html >> >> >> On Tue, Jan 15, 2013 at 4:01 PM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > There is a surprisingly large group of people in this country who are >> > questioning whether Sandy Hook tragedy was really just a government >> > conspiracy...a fake event concocted to help usher in gun control, or in >> the >> > name of some other government agenda. It's not that much different from >> the >> > 9/11 truthers. >> > >> > On first blush, it's easy to be incredulous at such an idea. How can >> anyone >> > be that heartless, that stupid, etc. >> > >> > Granted, i'm sure there are some people who really are that stupid and >> mean >> > hearted, or who are so beholden to the idea of guns or whatever their pet >> > project is, that they will do whatever is necessary to shield their >> > ideology from the reality of events. >> > >> > But I think it's something else at work here...something I've touched on >> > before: It's a defense mechanism. 9/11 and Sandy Hook share the same >> > attribute of senselessness, and that scares people. That anywhere at any >> > time, some 20 year old could walk into THEIR kids school....for NO >> > reason...and kill them....is a scary idea. It brings some sense of relief >> > to think that there was a reason behind it...even if that reason doesn't >> > really make much sense. Oh, it wasn't a random act...the GOVERNMENT did >> it. >> > There aren't really 20 year olds out there capable of doing something do >> > horrible. >> > >> > It really is interesting to watch how large societies react to senseless >> > tragedies like this. The defense mechanisms can be almost as awful to >> > behold as the event....and they underscore, once again, how fragile we >> > really are. >> > >> > We are SO flawed...and we aren't even able to cope with the enormity of >> our >> > own shortcomings. And yet, we consider ourselves a higher species???? >> > >> > >> > >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:360295 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
