Does this sound familiar ???

[jimmoyer]

"A clue to the real attraction of conspiracy theories, I would suggest, lies in the rhetoric of theorists themselves, which is filled with self-congratulatory descriptions of those who accept such theories as 'willing to think,' 'educated,' 'independent-minded,' and so forth, and with invective against the 'uninformed' and 'unthinking' 'sheeple' who 'blindly follow authority.'

The world of the conspiracy theorist is Manichean: either you are intelligent, well-informed, and honest, and therefore question all authority and received opinion; or you accept what popular opinion or an authority says and therefore must be stupid, dishonest, and ignorant.

There is no third option.

"The absurd idea that to be intelligent, scientific, and intellectually honest requires a distrust for all authority per se and a contempt for the opinions of the average person, has so deeply permeated the modern Western consciousness that conspiratorial thinking has for many people come to seem the rational default position."


--Edward Feser, writing on "We the Sheeple? Why Conspiracy Theories Persist," Sept. 20 in Tech Central Station at www.tcsdaily.com

 

[tracy]

I'd say that's true of a lot of people (if you don't think like them you are uneducated or foolish or whatever). I especially hear this type of idea coming out of conversations about religion.

 

[wallyj]

That sums the 's pretty well. Of course,they won't recognize themselves. Instead you will be the naive one.I have noticed that anything that disproves thier theories is automatically dismissed.