New studies: ‘Conspiracy theorists’ sane

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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So, sanity is now defined by simply belonging to a group that has the majority in opinion? Do I really need to point out the obvious flaw? If the majority of people think the Earth is flat, would that make those who think it is not insane? Illogical.

I'd also love to know how they rationalize a study population that could be so homogeneous. According to their methodology, one either believe all of the conspiracy theory, or believes all of the official explanations based on whether a single comment supports one explanation or the other. That is dubious. In other words someone could believe most of the official report, and post one comment that takes exception with some detail, and that would have been coded as a conspiracist.
 
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Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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So, sanity is now defined by simply belonging to a group that has the majority in opinion? Do I really need to point out the obvious flaw? If the majority of people believe think the Earth is flat, would that make those who think it is not insane? Illogical.

I'd also love to know how they rationalize a study population that could be so homogeneous. According to their methodology, one either believe all of the conspiracy theory, or believes all of the official explanations based on whether a single comment supports one explanation or the other. That is dubious. In other words someone could believe most of the official report, and post one comment that takes exception with some detail, and that would have been coded as a conspiracist.
yeah noticed that too, we are becoming such a black/white, left right society no wonder there is little balance in many many things these days.
 

captain morgan

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A Mouse Once Bit My Sister
So, sanity is now defined by simply belonging to a group that has the majority in opinion? Do I really need to point out the obvious flaw? If the majority of people believe think the Earth is flat, would that make those who think it is not insane? Illogical.

In the absence of being able to prove something, but pointing to some anomalous reason like secret gubmint bodies and black helicopters, then the 'conspiracy' has no merit

I'd also love to know how they rationalize a study population that could be so homogeneous. According to their methodology, one either believe all of the conspiracy theory, or believes all of the official explanations based on whether a single comment supports one explanation or the other. That is dubious. In other words someone could believe most of the official report, and post one comment that takes exception with some detail, and that would have been coded as a conspiracist.

Maybe it was a conspiracy to develop the homogeneous population in the first place
 

Retired_Can_Soldier

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Mar 19, 2006
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So, sanity is now defined by simply belonging to a group that has the majority in opinion? Do I really need to point out the obvious flaw? If the majority of people believe think the Earth is flat, would that make those who think it is not insane? Illogical.

 

Tonington

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Oct 27, 2006
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yeah noticed that too, we are becoming such a black/white, left right society no wonder there is little balance in many many things these days.

You can find the article here, with all it's dodgy methodology:
Frontiers | “What about building 7?” A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories | Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences

Interestingly, it was the conspiracist coded comments that were less likely to provide support for their own position. While the conventionalists were more hostile, the conspiracists were more likely to be derogatory of alternative explanations.

In the absence of being able to prove something, but pointing to some anomalous reason like secret gubmint bodies and black helicopters, then the 'conspiracy' has no merit

Well, an absence of evidence still doesn't mean that the conspiracy can't be true. It's just unlikely. However, the conspiracists were far more sure of themselves as being correct, despite providing less evidence. The fact that non-9/11 conspiracy belief is highly correlated to belief in the 9/11 conspiracy shouldn't be surprising either.
 

Cliffy

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Nov 19, 2008
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No two people think the same way or have the same opinions on any given subject. Everybody has had different life experiences that colour how they perceive reality and truth. If everybody is different, unique, then there is no such thing as normal or sane. By definition, everybody is insane, so who is drawing lines in the sand to say who is and who isn't? It is illogical to think you are sane and that there are groups of people who think alike.

Having said that, those who accept the official story are sheeple. PLLLTTTZZZ!!!!
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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Being sane doesn't mean you're right.
isn't that the truth!

You can find the article here, with all it's dodgy methodology:
Frontiers | “What about building 7?” A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories | Frontiers in Personality Science and Individual Differences

Interestingly, it was the conspiracist coded comments that were less likely to provide support for their own position. While the conventionalists were more hostile, the conspiracists were more likely to be derogatory of alternative explanations.
thanks ton
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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Being right doesn't mean you are sane, either. Right and wrong are only relative to your way of thinking. I think it is one of those "judge not" things we were warned about.
to a degree, but somethings are just more right than others in the grand scheme of things, and people who are more highly evolved have a better or clearer understanding of more right than someone less evolved.

wisdom leans toward truth