The world isnt against you.

[roid]

I have been randomly surfing the net, and have come up against some absolutely hilarious conspiracy theories. Most of which are things such as all the worlds prominent figures have been replaces by giant lizaards from outer space or all the world leaders are part of a jewish conspiracy to take over the world or some mixture of the two ( Jewish lizards?) anyways was thinking there can not seriously be that many people that belive in these sort of things are people really that desprate to have something to belive in? Some reason to explain why baad things happen?

[markfiend]

Looks like you need http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordin ... _of_Crowds

[FedoraRefugee]

True, most of the conspiracy theories are silly. Especially in politics most imagine people's values fall on a horizontal line; liberal to conservative or left to right. The truth is this is a circle, not a line. the far far left and the far far right all meet at 12 o'clock. This is where the conspiracies all fall. Birthers or Truthers, they are the same breed. Wackos. Loony tunes nuts.

But be careful in dismissing everything. Yes, indeed we all do need something to believe in. Whether it be God, Darwin, money, or social justice. Saving the earth or saving someone's soul. That is what motivates us and keeps us going. There is a difference in believing that everyone is out to get you and knowing that it is a dog eat dog world. People that go through life blind, ignoring history, and defying common sense will get eaten. Rulers DO want power, there are people who want to rule the world, there are people that will kill you for your beliefs, whatever they are. Bad things do happen and people need to explain them. No one can be totally ambivalent to everything. We need to stand up for what we believe or see those beliefs destroyed.

Life is short, and it is full of humor. It is easy to laugh at others but try instead to walk a mile in their shoes. Take it from someone who used to laugh at a certain group of nutjobs himself, but has now found himself part of that same group, it is easy to ridicule what you do not understand, but once you understand you will feel great sorrow for those who do not. People generally have reasons for what they believe, no matter how outlandish that belief is to you.

[markfiend]

True, most of the conspiracy theories are silly. Especially in politics most imagine people's values fall on a horizontal line; liberal to conservative or left to right. The truth is this is a circle, not a line. the far far left and the far far right all meet at 12 o'clock. This is where the conspiracies all fall. Birthers or Truthers, they are the same breed. Wackos. Loony tunes nuts.

You may be onto something.

Also there's the idea that as well as the left-right scale there's an authoritarian-libertarian scale too, so people's politics are mapped out on a square rather than a line: http://www.politicalcompass.org/

[FedoraRefugee]

True, most of the conspiracy theories are silly. Especially in politics most imagine people's values fall on a horizontal line; liberal to conservative or left to right. The truth is this is a circle, not a line. the far far left and the far far right all meet at 12 o'clock. This is where the conspiracies all fall. Birthers or Truthers, they are the same breed. Wackos. Loony tunes nuts.

You may be onto something.

Also there's the idea that as well as the left-right scale there's an authoritarian-libertarian scale too, so people's politics are mapped out on a square rather than a line: http://www.politicalcompass.org/

That is a very good site with great explanations of their process. I have several other political compass sites bookmarked also.

No matter your political bent it is always a good idea to evaluate yourself with these types of questions. Often the results may even surprise yourself! At the least they get you to logically define where you stand.

[Midnighter]

People's lives aren't exciting enough, so they believe in outlandish **** to make up for it.

Of course, the problem is, the rela conspiracies tend to landed in with the bull, making it hard to separate fact from fiction at times. It's a strange world we live in. and once my Jewish-Lizard God returns, he shall smite yea all.

[lexon]

I saw that sometime ago in Men In Black. It was very clear to me.

Lex