Conspiracy theories: why people need to believe that the truth is hidden out there

Psychologist Rob Bretherton talks about his new book and the way suspicion can overcome rationality

There is not so much of a difference between conspiracy theorists and the rest of us. We are drawn to the idea of conspiracy because it resonates with us; we understand the idea of people being self-interested and not having our best interests at heart, and having hidden motives and getting together to do shady stuff. Conspiracy theories extend upon that and tap into these assumptions and fears we have about the world. But we all have them, thatâ€™s why conspiracy theories make sense to us all.

Not much at all. Most psychological research shows that we are all very much overly confident when it comes to trusting our own reasoning ability, our own perception, our own memory, all kinds of stuff. We live inside this kind of illusion that our brains concoct for us that we are seeing the world objectively and that we are coming to our beliefs because they are just the most sensible beliefs to have, but all the research shows we have a whole host of biases built into our brains that shape and colour our perception and beliefs about the world constantly without us being aware of it.

Who else is big into both communism and Islamism, and could exploit white guilt? This stuff is all in the playbook for BOTH of America’s major enemies - it’s how they both operate, and Obama has been surrounded by, and nurtured and raised by, BOTH communists and Islamists. He is the union of those who hate this country - who want to “fundamentally change” this from a place of freedom, prosperity, and personal responsibility to something totally different. We’re talking about people who plotted for 10 years before they ever carried out the 9-11-01 attacks; it is worth everything they have to try to overthrow freedom and establish worldwide sharia - including their very lives, the lives of their children, and everything else. Is it worth it to them? You dang right, and if you don’t understand that, then you have no business even being part of this discussion.

And for SOME of us, it is worth life, treasure, and sacred honor to defend what America is. You think this is a game of tiddly-winks, but it’s not. It’s all-out war, and freedom IS WORTH IT. To our enemies, sharia is worth everything they have, and they have a LOT of money, which is what the tiddlywinks-type people worship. Only an idiot would think that Islamists and communists would consider money too much to pay for the destruction of freedom.

It had to be the union of communism and Islamism. Neither group has enough money and power to collapse the US and/or world economy without the aid of the other; they had to unite in order to make it work. And they did. In September of 2008, right when Sarah Palin brought McCain ahead of Obama in the polls. Kevin Freeman has written (in “Secret Weapon”) about the intel we had in advance, that an Islamist economic attack was imminent.

But just forget I said anything; to you it’s not worth it so none of this makes sense and you don’t recognize when I’ve already answered what you say I haven’t. In your view, Islamists and communists are just playing tiddlywinks , like most supposed “patriots” are. They’re not in it for real, not willing to invest their life and death, their fortunes, and their reputations. Our soldiers are just pretending to lose their lives, limbs, marriages, and reputations for the sake of a greater good - ‘cause God knows America is not worth anything more than tiddlywinks (in your view). Those men on the rooftop in Benghazi died for nothing because there was no real enemy, nobody willing to pay a real cost in order to bring America down. That would be too much “bother”.

I feel sorry for you. You’ve never really understood what America even is. And that’s really, really sad. If you understood you would know it is worth a REAL defense. Our enemies are in this for keeps. And so am I, and so are the men and women that Obama has repeatedly flipped the bird at and over whose deaths Hillary has cackled repeatedly. It’s not a game. It’s life and death, and for those who are truly in this battle, your comments are extremely offensive.

America is worth it.

Oh I’m sure there’s a couple of million commie black Muslims in this country that wouldn’t have any citizenship problems. A lot of the radical black go Muslim, it’s very popular. And remember during this time you insist they were conspiring to “force” Obie on us America freely elected Carter AND Clinton. Like I said, getting a commie symp elected isn’t that tough.

I don’t think it’s a game of tiddly-winks. I just think you’re over thinking simple reality. Out here in reality things tend to work pretty simply. And the simple truth is the most likely. And the fact is we DO elect commie symps to the White House, and 8 years worth of presidency just isn’t worth the effort you think people put into conspiring to get Obie in the White House.

The Palin Bounce was a dead cat bounce and everybody knew it. Heck it was already gone BEFORE the economy puked. More proof that the effort it would take wasn’t necessary.

It’s not to me, it’s reality. In reality your “plot” would take a massive cabal for multiple decades. And yet somehow that massive cabal couldn’t manage to pick a better candidate. And during that plot we freely elected two other commie symps. That’s really your biggest flaw: we’d already done it to ourselves.

And we did it to ourselves again when we elected Obie.

I understand what America really is much much better than any conspiracy theorist ever could. I understand we’re a people that excel at electing the wrong guy, and we don’t need any massive conspiracy to help us do it. I know there’s a real enemy, but I also know we do the most damage to ourselves.

I feel sorry for you. You live in a silly world of massive conspiracies not needed to explain a simple reality. You have a genetic need to elevate your blood pressure with idiocy while studiously ignoring the real world.

Have fun with your paranoid rantings. You are wrong in almost everything, and by over complicating the world you are actually making it impossible for you to be part of the solution. Because the REAL solution, the ONLY ONE THAT CAN ACTUALLY HELP, is to teach America not to elect morons.

Yeah, Malcolm X or Louis Farrakhan would have been SO electable, compared to Obama. Right. You’re so smart.

Anybody who looks at Obama’s lawlessness and what he has done to this country and world during his time in our White House, and still says that 8 years of a foreign enemy combatant in our White House was not worth what it cost the Islamist/communist alliance that put him there, has no sense at all. What did it cost them, and what have they gained? It was a very, very cheap deal for what they got out of Obama. Follow the money. The people who made the Sept 2008 run on the bank are the people who have benefitted from going on 8 years of a foreign enemy combatant in our White House. Commenting on whether Obama is a Muslim, Ted Cruz basically said people can look at who has benefitted from Obama being in the White House and see whose side Obama is on.

Americans are stupid, but a lot of them trusted the media to vet Obama. My own Secretary of State told me that there is no need to look for documentation of eligibility because the media would never let an unqualified person go unchecked. Well... media personalities were told they would lose their jobs or worse if they did the job that the state SOS’s were expecting them to do. Others have said that a person who couldn’t pass a security clearance couldn’t be nominated... well, those who do security clearances have said there is no way that Obama could have passed a security clearance. But the VOTERS are the “security clearance”, even though they have no standing/clout to get needed documentation.

So while I grant you that Americans are stupid, I also know that Americans were DECEIVED, and even at that it took criminal action on the part of the Islamist/communist alliance in order to get the job done. EVerybody thought the media could be trusted and people like me are fruitcakes. They had no idea that the media was threatened and people like me are the ONLY real vetting that stands between America/freedom and the Islamists and communists who have stated openly that they were going to destroy us through a Manchurian candidate.

This situation is WAY. WAY more serious than you will ever allow yourself to even consider, so you will keep applying bandaids. We have had 2 landslides for conservatives since Obama usurped the White House and yet nothing is stopping Obama’s lawlessness. Obama and his regime have been in contempt of court rulings so many times we can’t even keep track of it all any more, and yet there are no consequences. This is WAY beyond “just convince the voters not to elect an Obama”.

Obama’s lawlessness make Carter and Clinton look like gnats by comparison. Obama is NOT “politics as usual”, and he has the power to laugh at the rule of law because he’s Black and can call up Black riots (the plan of the communists since “Prairie Fire” was written by Obama’s pal Bill Ayers - and don’t you doubt for one minute that “Recreate ‘68” was threatened for the 2008 Dem Convention to keep Hillary’s people quiet through sheer brute force, just like the New Black Panthers, TEamsters, etc have done all along for Obama) and because his Islamist backers made a run on the bank that scared the critical people into going along with whatever those Islamist masters want

Which is almost certainly what Ghadaffi referred to in a speech in which he said he hoped Obama would not forget his Muslim faith and the world Muslims who would put him into office - but then, I’m sure you don’t know anything about Ghadaffi’s speech, do you? Just like you don’t know a whole boatload of factual information that makes up the dots that form the complete image of what’s going on. I’ve looked at those dots; you won’t because you don’t think enough is at stake. You think it’s all just “politics as usual”. You are willfully blind.

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