Sure, ‘Pizzagate’ is bunk, but does a conspiracy theorist lurk inside all of us?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theory of 2016 claimed that Hillary Clinton and other high-ranking US Democratic Party officials were operating a child sex-trafficking ring from a popular pizzeria in Washington, DC. The conspiracy had migrated from internet message boards to the national news when a 28-year-old man wielding a rifle set out to investigate the claims for himself, and ended up firing three shots inside the restaurant before finding nothing suspicious and surrendering to the police. It’s easy to write off the gunman, and anyone else who came to believe ‘Pizzagate’, as gullible, disturbed and severely misguided.
But as this short documentary from the UK filmmaker Charlie Lyne argues, the insidious way in which conspiracy theories plant seeds in the human brain is far more complex. In fact, it’s likely that you’ve fallen prey to one or two conspiracies yourself. Shrewd and darkly funny, Personal Truth has been a film festival favourite in 2018, screening at the Full Frame Documentary Festival, AFI Docs and Aspen Shortsfest, among others.
At one point, the film mentions the "backfire effect". Since denialism, as a psychological phenomenon, fascinates me, I went Googling:
The topic goes back to the mid-oughts. A well-read series posted beginning in 2006 included this:
In 2006, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler at The University of Michigan and Georgia State University created fake newspaper articles about polarizing political issues. The articles were written in a way which would confirm a widespread misconception about certain ideas in American politics. As soon as a person read a fake article, researchers then handed over a true article which corrected the first.
For instance, one article suggested the United States found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The next said the U.S. never found them, which was the truth. Those opposed to the war or who had strong liberal leanings tended to disagree with the original article and accept the second. Those who supported the war and leaned more toward the conservative camp tended to agree with the first article and strongly disagree with the second. These reactions shouldn’t surprise you.
What should give you pause though is how conservatives felt about the correction. After reading that there were no WMDs, they reported being even more certain than before there actually were WMDs and their original beliefs were correct.
But!! After three follow-up episodes ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) in 2017, this year brought:
The popularity of the backfire effect extends into academia. The original paper has been cited hundreds of times, and there have been more than 300 articles written about it since it first came out.
The backfire effect has this special allure to it, because, on the surface, it seems to explain something we’ve all experienced — when we argue with people who believe differently than us, who see the world through a different ideological lens — they often resist our views, refuse to accept our way of seeing things, and it often seems like we do more harm than good, because they walk away seemingly more entrenched in their beliefs than before the argument began.
But…since those shows last year, researchers have produced a series new studies into the backfire effect that complicate things. Yes, we are observing something here, and yes we are calling it the backfire effect, but everything is not exactly as it seems, and so I thought we should invite these new researchers on the show and add a fourth episode to the backfire effect series based on what they’ve found. And this is that episode .
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I'm fascinated by "how we come to believe what we believe".
Before the election of Donald Trump, it was easy to dismiss Tea Partiers as wackos worthy only of laughter. They weren't worth the time needed to really dig into why they "think" as they do.
So now I'm willing to spend some time trying to understand what makes them tick.
... and gosh! I learn that I myself tick because of the same mechanisms. Cool stuff!
Not for the faint of heart.....
We won because the electorate didn't want to dine on the Marxist manure that the left keeps serving. But the Democrats seem to enjoy to scarfing down large portions of the vile stuff. To make themselves feel better they have concocted a far fetched collection of wacky conspiracy collusion theories that explains their losses, claiming the Putin overturned the electon with Trumps help. They're such silly people.
...because of half wits and ideologues doubling down on their misconceptions and bogus conspiracy theories.
"Those who supported the war and leaned more toward the conservative camp tended to agree with the first article and strongly disagree with the second. These reactions shouldn’t surprise you.
What should give you pause though is how conservatives felt about the correction. After reading that there were no WMDs, they reported being even more certain than before there actually were WMDs and their original beliefs were correct."
There's nothing as stupid and dangerous as a conservative that refuses to accept facts. We have a whole party of conservatives who refuse to accept facts about the Russian elections meddling, the Trump campaign reaching out to an enemy foreign government for aide in a national election, Trump admitting to obstruction of justice by admitting he fired Comey over the Russian investigation, Trump admitting he doesn't "even wait" for consent and just grabs attractive women by the genitals. They refuse to accept facts because the facts don't fit with their desired ideology of unlimited white Christian power in America.
Would you like some whine to go along with the daily meal of bs your hero feeds you?
Lol! I'm sure DP appreciates your absolutely perfect example of exactly what he was talking about, surprising he didn't vote that up!
I think most other people saw the impact of the tea party movement during the 2010 election. I knew they were the driving force to restoring freedom and fighting socialism in this country. Many laughed at the tea partiers but now the laughs are on them.
Most folks still are laughing at them. There's something wrong with an entire "party" which is so untethered to facts and reality, and which so easily latches on to any loony conspiracy theory which reinforces their irrational prejudices.
I'm still laughing at the teabaggers myself. Haven't stopped since their astro-turf movement started.
I just found a new source for right-wing truths compiled by none other than the esteemed Dr. Billy Wayne Ruddick himself.
I'll have to bookmark that.
I can't wait to watch the Showtime series. Everything Cohen has done has been brilliant.
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I'm with you Skrekk.
I'm really looking forward to this coming Sunday and the airing of episode 1.
Love seeing all the reports indicating that Cohen will be highlighting some of the most cartoonish people in America to help make his points.
Sarah Palin: 'Sick' Sacha Baron Cohen Tricked Me Into Interview
Joe Arpaio: I Was ‘Pissed’ When Sacha Baron Cohen Tricked Me into Interview Disguised as Finnish Comedian
Roy Moore: Sacha Baron Cohen tricked me with Israel award
Former congressman Joe Walsh admits he was also 'duped' by Sacha Baron Cohen
REVEALED: Sacha Baron Cohen goes after Republicans Dick Cheney, Trent Lott, David Petraeus and President Trump in Who Is America as Sarah Palin tells Showtime to donate profits
Oswald did it, Deano, and he acted alone!
I love conspiracy theories! Especially the CIA/Mafia/LBJ conspiracy to assassinate JFK.
Are those kids wearing shirts that say I Am Not Pizza ? Lol. Those poor kids. You can't choose your parents.
Ummm.... People??
Tbe seed is pretty cool... and the second article is... enlightening.
It'd be nice if someone took a look...
I haven't listened to the last SoundCloud link yet but the other aspects of why some people believe nutty conspiracy theories are pretty well known, as is the fact that attempts to debunk such abject falsehoods tend to backfire.
That's the topic of that last podcast: "backfire" may not exist...
As far as why some people believe loony conspiracy theories to begin with it's because humans are so good at pattern recognition that we even see patterns where none exist, like the face of "Jesus" in burnt toast.
But that also means that the archetype for that pattern already exists in some form in the individual's brain, and I think that's why so many of these loony conspiracy theories are held by right-wingers....because they're predisposed both to beliefs untethered to reality and to think ill of certain people they've been taught to despise, like Hillary Clinton. They're convinced she's guilty of something and so they're determined to find it. That's the pattern they need and want to match.
She admitted what she did was wrong but Comey and LL said no problem, go and win the presidency with our blessings.
Greg...
Hillary Clinton is probably at the top of "the most investigated person" list, and has been high on that list ever since Whitewater. Despite that ultra-intense scrutiny over four decades, one has found anything illegal. At some point, any rational person must say, "Stop! Enough! The evidence is in!"
But you (collective "you" for right-wingers) continue to presume that she is guilty of every sin under the Sun.
You are demonstrating - brilliantly - the notions that are discussed in this seed. You might learn something about yourself. I certainly did.