Conspiracy Theories Test Flashcards

Question

What is “Schrödinger's Cat”?

Answer 1

* The notion that if a cat is in a box, can’t be seen, and may have been exposed to a deadly toxin, may be considered both dead and alive at the same time * In conspiracy theories, the notion that two contradictory things may both be true at the same time ( Believing in two conspiracy theories that directly contradict each other) * Osama Bin Laden wasn’t killed on the order of Pres. Obama, but died years earlier of complications from diabetes AND is still alive and living in custody * HIV doesn’t exist AND HIV is a plot by Western culture to wipe out African culture * Believing in A conspiracy theory makes you likely to entertain ANY conspiracy theory, even two that directly contradict each other

Answer 2

* Start from their existing ideology * Create conspiracy theories even before there is an official story * Will buy-in to a made-up conspiracy * Believe two conspiracy theories that contradict each other * Refuse to listen to debunking...because the debunking is part of the conspiracy

Answer 3

* The government ensures that its citizens never question the system by brainwashing them with subliminal messages encouraging unthinking conformity and addiction to a mind-numbing drug * People are just supposed to work, consume, and die

Answer 4

* The Tissue-Culture King” about a biologist who discovers the secret of telepathy but to protect himself from counter-attacks fashions a hat of metal foil * Since then, “tin foil hatters” have used them to prevent mind-control efforts by the government, spies, mobsters, corporations, people with ESP, and aliens

Answer 5

The beginning of academic consideration of conspiracy theories.

Answer 6

The less people trust, are satisfied with their lives, the more powerless they feel, the more likely they are to buy into conspiracy theories.

Answer 7

“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people”

Answer 8

*When we can’t be in control ourselves, we believe someone else is * God – “Everything happens for a reason” or “God has a plan for me” * The government – for good or evil * A powerful enemy – better an enemy than chaos

Answer 9

* Mild paranoia is common among entirely ordinary people * Being on your guard can be a highly intelligent and appropriate strategy * But we tend to err on the side of being suspicious * We’re so good at spotting ulterior motives that we sometimes see them behind innocent behavior

Answer 10

*The subjects were told that they were being treated for “bad blood” * Started when there was no treatment for syphilis * But treatment withheld even once there was treatment and the study continued for decades until a whistleblower alerted the press

Answer 11

A forum for discussing the major issues facing the world * But according to conspiracy theorists, they aren’t discussing, they are deciding * The next recession * The next terrorist attack * The next war * Toward a single globalist government * The New World Order * The assassinations of JFK, RFK, Lincoln; global warming; vaccines; pollution; food additives; chem-trails; child abuse; the Black Death; the British royal family

Answer 12

If you CAN explain something simply, DON’T do it more complicatedly

Answer 13

* The higher someone scores in openness, the more likely he or she is to believe conspiracy theories * Openness includes being imaginative, adventurous, emotionally aware, intellectually curious, and appreciative of the arts * People who believe homeopathy, psychic abilities, ghosts, superstitions, New Age spiritualism, and/or urban legends are more likely to believe conspiracy theories

Answer 14

The intellectual underground where all manner of weird and wonderful ideas flourish

Answer 15

*There are things we know we know; there are things we know we don’t know; but there are things we don’t know we don’t know” * We don’t realize what we don’t know * And our brains tend to fill in the blanks

Answer 16

*She literally diagnosed the cause of her son Evan’s autism by googling “autism” * When confronted with the actual scientific evidence she responded by saying, “My science is named Evan, and he’s at home. That’s my science.”

Answer 17

* She determined that AIDS is not caused by HIV but by drug use, anal sex, or the drugs used to treat AIDS * She said, “I am living in perfect health without AIDS medicines...I urge all of you to question what you have been told about HIV and AIDS * When she became pregnant, she took no medicine to prevent the transmission of HIV to her daughter * Her daughter died before age 4 and Maggiore died of opportunistic infections common to people with AIDS

Answer 18

*Received psychic messages that revealed that the world is secretly ruled by an evil race of interdimensional reptiles called Archons Originally, humans lived without war, famine, or pollution * Then the Archons took control * In order to create fear, confusion, and hatred, every negative event - every war, recession, natural disaster, and terrorist attack – is engineered by men (or reptilian/human hybrids) acting as puppets of the alien Archons. *The Archons feed off human fear and hatred and instead of living in the original paradise we are trapped in a virtual reality prison of a universe they created (which is really a hologram) * When the plans of the Archons are completely exposed their control over us will be broken and they will be defeated.

Answer 19

“The hero’s journey” * Leaving home, guided (supernatural), death and rebirth, conquest of monster (fatal flaw), return home a hero * “Overcoming the monster”

Answer 20

*Studies have shown that we tend to sympathize with the underdog * This advantages the conspiracy theorist who presents himself as the unlikely hero, completely over-powered, but identifying and ultimately defeating the monstrous evil that is the conspiracy * Claiming unfair disadvantage, therefore, is par for the course with conspiracy theorists

Answer 21

Ex: The Joker, Voldemort *They are driven purely by greed, self-interest, cruelty, cunning, ruthlessness, and egotism * We have an irresistible compulsion to sort people into just two categories: good or evil

Answer 22

* A man carried an umbrella on Dealey Plaza on the day JFK was assassinated * He appears to have opened it just before JFK was shot and closed it right after * Witnesses said he opened the umbrella and held it conspicuously aloft, thrusting it up and down and spinning it around

Answer 23

*Weaving unrelated and inexplicable anomalies together * Refusing to see things that are there; seeing things that aren’t there * Finding meaningful patterns that are not there * Denying coincidence * Two things can be true and also unrelated

Answer 24

Our intention detector only needs the slightest suggestion of deliberate movement to see intention

Answer 25

In fact, our intention detector assumes everything that happens happens because someone intended it. *Alcohol can diminish our ability to detect a lack of intention * The need for a speedy decision can also inhibit our ability to determine lack of intention

Answer 26

Trying to understand another’s intention by supposing you were the other person

Answer 27

The illusion that most people are probably thinking what we’re thinking

Answer 28

We want the magnitude of an event to match the magnitude of whatever caused it; i.e., big events have big causes

Answer 29

Small things can have big consequences

Answer 30

*First, we collect facts Then we come to a rational conclusion * But the reality is that our brains often work in reverse * The conclusion comes first, then our brain seeks out the evidence to fit what we already believe

Answer 31

We interpret ambiguous events in light of what we already believe

Answer 32

Showing people the facts can often make them even more confident of their misunderstandings

Answer 33

*Even the smarter and more educated are susceptible to confirmation bias and conspiracy-thinking *We all deal with the chaos of the universe by trying to see order where there isn’t any * It is this impulse to see order that makes us susceptible to conspiracy- thinking *And we need to overcome this hard-wiring of our brain to do effective research

Conspiracy Theories Test Flashcards

(57 cards)