Americans and Conspiracy

[Wesley]

This is somewhere between an interesting commentary on what people think of official stories, a sad look at how gullible people are, and laughing at the idea that some of the questions were even asked. It is from April, but there was a recent story that said that 61% of people thought the Warren Commission wasn't accurate and then linked to this. I thought it was entertaining and wondered if anyone had any responses.

 

The full survey can be found here:

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/PPP_Release_National_ConspiracyTheories_040213.pdf

 

Here are the results:

 

Conspiracy Theory Poll Results

On our national poll this week we took the opportunity to poll 20 widespread and/or infamous conspiracy theories.  Many of these theories are well known to the public, others perhaps to just the darker corners of the internet.  Here’s what we found:

-          37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at  41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax

-          6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive

-          21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up. More Romney voters (27%) than Obama voters (16%) believe in a UFO coverup

-          28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order.  A plurality of Romney voters (38%) believe in the New World Order compared to 35% who don’t

-          28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks.  36% of Romney voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, 41% do not

-          20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not

-          7% of voters think the moon landing was faked

-          13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters

-          Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so

-          29% of voters believe aliens exist

-          14% of voters say the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America’s inner cities in the 1980’s

-          9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health)

-          4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power

-          51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone

-          14% of voters believe in Bigfoot

-          15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals (the so-called Tinfoil Hat crowd)

-          5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons

-          15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money

-          Just 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966

-          11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agree

[powder]

I think it is amazing that 14% of voters believe in bigfoot, that is a lot.  conversely, it is certainly verifiable and obvious that the psychiatric profession can only prescribe drugs for behavioral conditions that are officially categorized as 'diseases' and they add new things to the list every year, including stuff like 'road rage', and yet, the same % of people don't see that one and its written right on the bottle!  Much less than 15% of the people I know have ever seen a bigfoot and I live at sasquatch ground zero.  

[Wesley]

13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters

 

This one was interesting just for how silly of a question it is. However, I was very interested to hear how many Obama voters thought Obama was the anti-christ. That would be a fun statistic. Might uncover either joke respondents or closet satanists.

[TheRobin]

28% beliving in the NWO actually gives me a bit of hope (Feel free to imagine me with a tinfoil hat from now on, if you want )

 

But in general (and as a guy who believed some of the more weird ones at different points in my life as well): Some arguments are really convincing if you're not that schooled in critical thought and/or don't ever bother to google for rebuttals. Plus, if you have the bad luck of finding really bad/sophistry-heavy rebuttals when you start looking for counter-argument, it's very easy to assume there are no good ones.

 

Like, for me, I just recently found a very good rebuttal to Stef's "Climate Change in 12 Minutes - the skeptic's case", that was very factual and logical and with barely any of the usual ad homs. (then again, as a layman, I can't really argue whether that means it's really true or not imo). But that was like the first good rebuttal after having stumbled over maybe 5 really bad ones, that were full of fallacies insults, personal attacks etc. 

So I can certainly sympathise with how difficult it can be to find good arguments or counterarguments even on the internet, when it comes to certain topics, which may or may not be part of why people believe certain rather strange-sounding theories.

[Just]

In case anyone missed it, here's the infamous bigfoot footage stabilized:

Source: reddit

 

 

My absolute favorite writer on conspiracy theories is Steven Novella, here's a quick excerpt from an article, "Conspiracy Thinking - Skepticism's Evil Twin" on the burden of proof:

Perhaps the primary strategy of the conspiracy theorist is to make a demand for proof to an arbitrary level of certainty (meaning whatever evidence is available will never be enough), and then declare the failure to meet their arbitrary demands indicates that their alternate conspiracy theory wins by default. Sound familiar? – this is the same strategy as denialists, such as creationists.

source: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/conspiracy-thinking-skepticisms-evil-twin/

 

The man is so on-point and eloquent.  As pattern-seeking creatures some tend to dwell on anomalies of a story, thinking this missing piece of the puzzle was an error on behalf of the architect of the situation.  Being in the 'in-group', those who 'see the light', is a source of otherwise missing confidence from the folks who dwell on these things.  Great statistics Wesley thanks for the post

[powder]

wow that bigfoot video is cool, certainly looks like a dude in a suit.  

 

the Obama anti-christ thing, well, I don't even know what to think of that.

[Barry_diller]

Most of them seems extremely unplausible. But I would answer "I don't know "to most of it. Although I never forgot to wear my tinfoil hat!

[STer]

Great book for those interested in this stuff.

 

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time by Michael Shermer

[Culain]

Why isn't the most popular question asked?

 

Was 9/11 a Government set-up?

[Wesley]

Why isn't the most popular question asked?

 

Was 9/11 a Government set-up?

11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agree

 

 

This was in there. Somewhat softer language, probably to be more encompassing and get a higher return.

[Pepin]

Not really sure how I'd answer that question. Attacking beehives repeatedly isn't exactly like letting one retaliation occur, but any sane person who attacks a beehive once wants to get stung. If multiple times: they are begging for a swarm.