Now everyone's paranoid

[UM-Bot]

Frank Furedi: There was a time when conspiracy theories used to be an object of middle-class scorn and humour. They tended to be about alien abduction or the faking of Elvis's death. Or - more sinister - that the Holocaust never happened.

But now more and more otherwise intelligent, university-educated people are embracing conspiracy theories as they become more respectable and mainstream.

View: Full Article | Source: The First Post

[Tsathoggua]

Interesting editorial and opinion, though I would have to first question where they get the 36% figure. If that is true, it is actually quite sad for us as Americans. Personally, I know no one who believe either of these alternative theories regarding 9/11 or the Katrina disaster, but I have heard these figures before--mostly from media outlets and from politicians.

It's a shame that people in authority and in charge of information distribution tend to play off of peoples fears for their own gains and agenda (not all, but a disturbingly high percentage, nonetheless). Yes, things were botched in both of these events, but to think that it was an actual conspiracy... Hmm, quite sad indeed!

Great post SaRuMaN.

[Mysterious Molecules]

Statistics are never true. Infact they are as useful as crap. People use them to proove points to people that don't think ahead.

Here in Denmark for example we are having major political changes beeing done because of a statistic beeing made from 300 people. Now if you divide the 300 up in 5.1 million you will see just how many times those phony "100%" could be turned completely around.

Statistics are good for curiousity and making status, but i think it's very sad when they are accepted as reality and used to proove political opinions.

[Unlimited]

I think people are just getting smarter....not everyones buying what there govts selling these days....

[Lilly]

I read the full article. For my 2 cents the final paragraph there says it all:

We cannot accept that politicians can make a genuine mistake or that what happened was an accident. Nothing happens by accident. That is why we are so ready to believe that behind every tragic event lurks a hidden agenda. Conspiracy theories save us the trouble of facing the confusions and uncertainties of our ever changing world.

It's like a popular bumper sticker (in the US) reads: "**** Happens". Better to move on and seek real knowledge and solutions to our problems if you ask me.