How Doing Research can Lead Both In and Out of the Rabbit Hole

No, I think Hama is right, for a lot of people, it IS about feeling special, feeling that they are part of some bigger crusading fight against the stuff that is hidden, that THEY don;t want you to know about but yet they have obtained this secret hidden knowledge.
This is a great draw for many people in different ways. Just like when Aleister Crowley said he discovered the secret ancient magick of wise old egyptian mages, if he said he just made it up, no-one would have followed him.
Look on all those adverts that pop up on websites about the secret fad diet that Doctors don't want you to know about, see how famous person shed the pounds with this secret regime!! for only $50, we show YOU how to get the body of your dreams!! etc.
I think it depends on the type of CT. I don't think the ones that involve fear make anyone feel special, trust me I know because I've been down that path...
 
How do you know this? Do CTer's tell you they feel special?

Some CTers valiantly defend their beliefs no matter how fear provoking the CT is, and will dismiss or attack discussions that go against their belief. This leads me to suspect that there is an egotistical reason as to why they guard their beliefs so closely, hence feeling special. I've discussed chemtrails with CTers on youtube plenty, and it's appalling how quickly I can be called a shill, a sheep, and be told to "wake up" as though they are more enlightened than I am. I can think of few other reasons of why one would guard their beliefs, especially negative ones, unless believing gave them some kind of personal comfort or make them feel special in some way. I would be interested in seeing other reasons, though I am no psychologist.
 
Some CTers valiantly defend their beliefs no matter how fear provoking the CT is, and will dismiss or attack discussions that go against their belief. This leads me to suspect that there is an egotistical reason as to why they guard their beliefs so closely, hence feeling special.
I understand why you might believe that, but does that also mean people who see the "light", who know a CT is bs feel special as well. Because they aren't duped in the same way as the believer. I don't think the believer feels special, but possiby the proponent of it, the ones who created the theories and think they have a better understanding of the world around them. I in now felt special during my struggles.

I can be called a shill, a sheep, and be told to "wake up" as though they are more enlightened than I am.
I also thought the ones that believed in a CT were called the sheep or sheeples. The "wake up" actually goes both ways to be honest with you. Many times I was told to wake up because I couldn't see through the bs. I don't think its a fair generalization is all I'm saying, but I also concede that there are plenty of people on this site who have a great deal more experience than I have, so I'm also willing to accept what you and other say as your opinion..
 
You are right, it is not a fair generalization, and can go both ways. That said, it really depends on the individual. You may not have felt special, but (of course in my opinion), many others do. When Charles Veitch turned his back against his 9/11 theories, oh how quickly did he get death threats, hacked, and get called a CIA agent by his former CT friends (and even people he didn't know). The culture of CT communities always did interest me in this regard, because some people go to great lengths to defend their beliefs, and sometimes as far as personally attacking others. It makes me wonder why people do this, and I suspect it's because these beliefs gives them a sense of personal security and identity. You and I may not be like this. We can be presented with new information and merely change our thought process if it is within reason, but others may differ.
 
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Very much so. The CT world is very much like a religious cult. You are taught Dogma (i.e Contrails don't persist chemtrails do) and expected to follow it. People who don't believe are viciously attacked, but none more so than people who have left the flock.

In general, it is the person who does NOT believe in the CT that is told to wake up and is called a sheeple. The CT world is very black and white. If you believe a particular alternate theory is bollocks, because you can see the obvious flaws in the argument, then you are accused of being a troll, a paid shill or just a sheeple who blindly believes everything the MSM tells you.

I think Rico's answer echoes my own thoughts. People obviously don't TELL me they feel special but their behaviour leads me to think that, as if they are a member of the "chosen ones" in a religious cult. Jason is also right that there are clearly people who get into debunking for similar reasons. It makes them feel great that they are not gullible fools.

Of course, the other problem with the whole CT world is that if you are a major CT believer, but some crackpot theory comes along that even YOU can tell is utter tripe, what then? Admit SOME Ct'ers have completely lost touch with reality? probably not because you have to entertain the possibility that you yourself might have as well. SO the easiest way to reduce cognitive dissonance is to assume this is all part of the conspiracy and that these really extreme views are disinformation spread by the bad guys to make the CT movement look bad. The same goes for ex members. Charlie Veitch was hailed as one of the good guys, one of US, but as soon as he changed his mind on CT theories, he wasn't just someone who changed his mind, he was CLEARLY A CIA PLANT all along, stringing everyone along trying to change others' minds as he had his "conversion".
 
I too think that, while almost no one actually says "This makes me feel special,"
it's often pretty apparent. YouTube comments, especially (IMHO) seem to be full
of bold, declarative statements from people who don't present themselves as thoughtful types,
and the basic rules of science and reason seem foreign to them
(many seem to think that science is "just opinion"...someone else's opinion, that is no more significant than any random opinion)
and yet, by "knowing" this "insider" info, they have leapfrogged all those pretentious
types that wasted all those years in college.


Or, as Ralph said when Creationism replaced Evolution at Springfield Elementary: "Now Lisa's the Ralph."

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They certainly don't often admit to feeling special. In fact they often recoil at the suggestion, and say instead that they felt terrible.

http://911blogger.com/news/2008-12-...hen-you-became-100-certain-911-was-inside-job
I think it's safe to say that most of us, when we went from "on the fence" to "committed truther," were sick to our stomach over the horrible truth. I know I was.
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The admission generally comes from former truthers, with the benefit of hindsight. Of course you are not going to feel overjoyed, you have discovered what seems like bad news. But it's still incredibly special bad news - something that gives you an insight into the way the world works

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread969760/pg5&mem=

As a former believer in this nonsense I can say with all honesty that I had no real idea why I believed it. I can only think of a few explanations as to why.

1. I have a general dislike of authority/government

2. I felt special "knowing" something that other people dismissed as absurd.

3. I was vastly ignorant of the physical processes that were actually taking place during the events of 9/11 so anyone who said anything even vaguely scientific who held the same position I did was somehow in my mind infinitely more credible than the majority of the scientific community.
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Those are not things you really realize are true when you are in that state.
 
Debunking to some extent elicits exact similar feelings; pointing out flaws in other people's reasoning by appealing to 'facts'. Knowledge definitely is power
They certainly don't often admit to feeling special. In fact they often recoil at the suggestion, and say instead that they felt terrible.
 
I wonder if anyone in the scientific psychology world done a study on cultural/geographic proclivities to believe in bunk in general. I use the term generally as some things are belief oriented that go to some people's core values (creationism is bunk to me but a fundamentalist will feel sorry for me for not understanding it - fine with me, but don't teach it in a science class). Other things are true bunk, that is belief trying to hide behind science: creation science, intelligent design, overunity machines, finding missing aircraft with Kirlian photography, etc. If I bring up these kinds of things in western Europe people laugh and say they are nonsense. When I talk to Americans they say: "well you can never be sure". FSU people tend to be sure that all mystical or non-conventional answers or theories must be true.
 
I wonder if anyone in the scientific psychology world done a study on cultural/geographic proclivities to believe in bunk in general. I use the term generally as some things are belief oriented that go to some people's core values (creationism is bunk to me but a fundamentalist will feel sorry for me for not understanding it - fine with me, but don't teach it in a science class). Other things are true bunk, that is belief trying to hide behind science: creation science, intelligent design, overunity machines, finding missing aircraft with Kirlian photography, etc. If I bring up these kinds of things in western Europe people laugh and say they are nonsense. When I talk to Americans they say: "well you can never be sure". FSU people tend to be sure that all mystical or non-conventional answers or theories must be true.
I don't know if there's been any so called scientific research, but there's over a dozen or so authors with credentials to make the smartest man in the room jealous. It also seems like every great scientist in human history has tried to understand why humans believe in conspiracies or psuedoscience. The typical answer always leads back to mistrust and lack of education (the right education, how to think rationally and critically or using a scientific method). Carl Sagan has written plenty of books on the subject, because he often in his earlier years stood at the edge of the rabbit hole with his fantastic ideas of how the universe worked. Others have written about it as well.

Written by MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI. Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large.
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Just signed up today on this forum. I lurked there a few times when I was looking for some debunking element.

Anyway, I can completely relate to this message. I myself was naive and believed a lof of the conspiracy theories out there. It does not mean that we were stupid, I don't think so but more likely not being critical enough at the time. I heavily compare conspirationist as members of a cult today, who are not directly responsible for their beliefs, but instead victims of conspiracy evangelist.

I'm a bit involved on other forums debunking 9/11 conspiracy today.
 
I'm new here as well. I'm looking for ways to debunk my own conspiracy beliefs. Already I have found a lot of useful information on this site. I was reading last night about the JFK speech and that was really useful.

I started researching and debunking little by little after I realized that just continually focusing on the conspiracy theories themselves was a form of confirmation bias. The satanic music industry theories I think are the ones that I have a hard time getting away from. So I'm looking to debunk the mk ultra claims and project monarch claims. I'm finding some threads here that are helping. I think that with this particular theory it's my core belief that makes it easy to believe that it's real. I am a Christian so it's easy to jump on that boat. I think I want to learn more about marketing and advertising to get a more well rounded view of this subject.
 
I really believed in all of this crap, but the whole time I believed I was also a closet believer. Meaning no one in my life, friends or family knew I was going through this. I guess somewhere inside of me was telling me it was utter horse shit, otherwise I wouldn't have been embarrassed to discuss this.

That's the way it was for me too. I thought I really believed all that stuff myself, but for the most part, I was too embarrassed to discuss very much of it with anyone else. The only exceptions would be that I did get into some political arguments with my Dad, over how great Ron Paul was and that there was some main stream Republican conspiracy to destroy him lol. Also I did discuss with one of my friends who is a semi conspiracy theorist now (I think I got him into it, which I regret) about 9/11 and a few other CT's. I got him and his brother both listening to Alex Jones a few years back and now that I try to reason with them about how AJ is full of dis-info, they won't listen to me and they think I'M crazy now. So essentially I can't undo the damage and the mess I caused by getting both of them into CT...
 
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