Philosophy of conspiracy theories and the (social) media

[Roel]

It seems to me that conspiracy theories and the media have a big correspondence, and this is also due to the propaganda. Conspiracy theories are as old as humanity, even in the stone age people claimed that there was something big behind decisions, and conspiracy theories can also be made up by people with schizophrenia or some other mental disease which make them make up things. Though, sometimes conspiracy theories might be not complete nonsense, and this is where the problems start.

Politics have used conspiracy theories a lot, in the west communists were portrayed as evil and capitalism as the good side, something which belongs to protestantism and not to the 'evil atheist ideology' called communism. Communists on the other hand heard that capitalism was something which was similar to nazism, you see this in modern left-wing politics in which it is sometimes claimed that capitalism is a lesser form of nazism.

Although it is propaganda and may seem like nonsense, there is a core of truth somewhere. Communism indeed started as an atheist ideology based on the capitalist system which failed and which was criticized by Karl Marx, while he also encouraged people to oppose the people of the system of capitalism. This in turn is related to other conspiracy theories, namely that Karl Marx was an 'agent' which tried to create chaos among workers and their leaders in order to destabilize the society. There are also conspiracy theories that a group which tried to overthrow the gouvernment in the 18th century but got prosecuted by the gouvernment, the Illuminati (literally: the enlightened people) is still active and their plan would be to create a world order by creating conflicts in the world. These conspiracy theories however, although they look very interesting, have not a lot of proof and although it's interesting to think and read about them, just give us alternative theories but no sources which we can rely on pretty well. Anyway, communism didn't start because of religion, but it started because of poverty and thus is an ideology which is an atheist ideology, as it was opposed to the church, maybe some of you also know the video material about Stalin destroying churches as the church shouldn't get too much power as this would reduce his power and maybe let him lose his power as the communist leader.

Nazism also isn't completely unrelated to capitalism. The nazis were, with the reason that there was communism, financially supported by capitalist bankers from the United States. This is not strange, as communism was threatening their business and they wanted anything, even if it was nazism, to counter the danger of an ideology which was against the ideology which gave them power, this might be a good reason why nazism was financed by bankers. An example of this relationship can be seen at this graph, which originates from the blog: jacobinmag.com/2014/04/capitalism-and-n ... nd-nazism/

Image: jacobinmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/ ... raph-1.jpg

This graph originates from The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze.

Like you can see, there is some truth in both sides, and that might be the reason why conspiracy theories still occur in our society. There are also conspiracies which become truth and which are dangerous, for example Islamic fundamentalists or quite the opposite of it and anti-religious extremists like Anders Breivik. A similarity in all ideologies and religions is that they can create negative images about each other and also create conspiracy theories about each other of which already a lot of people have experienced problems. For example Arabs which can be regarded as terrorists by people in the west for the simple fact that they are muslim or Arab, or western people to be people which want to overthrow the Islamic culture and replace it by a western culture which wants to destroy the Islam, which is thought by muslims in the Islamic world and which is comprehensible. All these things however are triggered by the media and I think that the core of the media is to create hostile ideas about other parts of the world, just look at the difference of news reports about the Islam, Russia and the West at the BBC, Al Jazeera, RT (Russian tv) and there is a huge difference based on the main influences of the country. It also depends on the country.

What do you think of conspiracy theories and it's relationship to the media?

[Cogito ergo sum]

I think Karl Popper summed up conspiracy theories quite well when he claimed that any act of government or even the act of an individual has and always has unintended consequences. Some of them good and some of them can be very, very bad. According to Popper it is not the fault of the policy but it is just we can never know everything that is going to come from a decision. I have found that most people who believe in conspiracy theories are, for the most part, paranoid, uneducated and simple minded or liner minded. They also, for the most part, do not believe in the randomness of things. It seems to terrify them that things just happen and there isn't always a cause for it. That being said, I do believe that you should hear both ends of every story, then using sound (unbiased) judgment and "pure" reason come to an educated and plausible conclusion. But for the majority of conspiracy theorist both the former and the later are missing.

[Roel]

I think Karl Popper summed up conspiracy theories quite well when he claimed that any act of government or even the act of an individual has and always has unintended consequences. Some of them good and some of them can be very, very bad. According to Popper it is not the fault of the policy but it is just we can never know everything that is going to come from a decision. I have found that most people who believe in conspiracy theories are, for the most part, paranoid, uneducated and simple minded or liner minded. They also, for the most part, do not believe in the randomness of things. It seems to terrify them that things just happen and there isn't always a cause for it. That being said, I do believe that you should hear both ends of every story, then using sound (unbiased) judgment and "pure" reason come to an educated and plausible conclusion. But for the majority of conspiracy theorist both the former and the later are missing.

Regarding individual conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones you are right. But in the cold war the US media announced, inspired by the soviet union how communists were an evil wanting to take over the US. The Arab world regards the west as evil, but I don't know in how far the media also claim that. I believe that looking at geo-politics distrust of other countries with other interests can lead to these ideas. A good example are Ukraine and Russia and their media coverage of the current events. In conspiracies theories like 9/11 and religious conspiracy theories Popper has a point, but you are rather dumb if you don't see the influence of the Kremlin in Russian media. Of course not everything said in other media is nonsense although most of it is and that is the problem which I was talking about in my OP.

[Cogito ergo sum]

Of course I see the influence of the media no only in Russia but in America as well. It seems that the majority of people base all of their opinions based off of the "media". I would say a person would be rather "dumb" if they even listen to anything the media says at all. It is no longer a form of gaining information about the geopolitics of the world and what the powers that be are up to. It has become a 24 hour non-stop form of entertainment where an event happens and everyone jumps to the most extreme conclusions to gain ratings and then the majority of the people forget about what the story was because a newer better one is always coming out.

[UniversalAlien]

Conspiracy theories and the media -- you must be kidding! Why would the propaganda arm of the conspirators uncover itself to the well 'dumbed down;' public? Even old Rushie {Rush Limbaugh} avoids conspiracy theories like the plague. I tried bringing this subject up on this forum way back and found little interest - apparently philosophers fear what they can not understand.

Does the media cover the Masons and the Illuminati {old favorites of conspiracy buffs}, or say the Bilderbergers {leading group of wealthy elites}, news media never mentions their meetings does it?; and then of course there is the Bohemian Grove, and of course The Council of Foreign Relations {admittedly their agendas are accessible to the public}. Other conspiracies concerning say 'The New World Order' are natural deductions from the meetings of known conspirators. And why you say is it conspiracy? - Simple, many of these 'movers and shakers' meet in private closed door meetings and their agendas are unknown - the way that organized crime and the Mafia used to {maybe still do} meet.

Final words - Most of the media is owned by these conspirators - and don't expect them to expose their hidden agendas. And the big question of some 'conspiracy nuts' of today is if WWIII occurs will it be by accident or by design to control world population?

Be careful of those 'paranoid conspiracy nuts' And welcome to the 'New World Oder'

[Cogito ergo sum]

Conspiracy theories and the media -- you must be kidding! Why would the propaganda arm of the conspirators uncover itself to the well 'dumbed down;' public? Even old Rushie {Rush Limbaugh} avoids conspiracy theories like the plague. I tried bringing this subject up on this forum way back and found little interest - apparently philosophers fear what they can not understand.

Does the media cover the Masons and the Illuminati {old favorites of conspiracy buffs}, or say the Bilderbergers {leading group of wealthy elites}, news media never mentions their meetings does it?; and then of course there is the Bohemian Grove, and of course The Council of Foreign Relations {admittedly their agendas are accessible to the public}. Other conspiracies concerning say 'The New World Order' are natural deductions from the meetings of known conspirators. And why you say is it conspiracy? - Simple, many of these 'movers and shakers' meet in private closed door meetings and their agendas are unknown - the way that organized crime and the Mafia used to {maybe still do} meet.

Final words - Most of the media is owned by these conspirators - and don't expect them to expose their hidden agendas. And the big question of some 'conspiracy nuts' of today is if WWIII occurs will it be by accident or by design to control world population?

Be careful of those 'paranoid conspiracy nuts' And welcome to the 'New World Oder'

I don't think philosophers are afraid of what they cannot understand, maybe some, but they wouldn't be very good philosophers. I'm sure there is an elite group of ultra wealthy people who control some things that go on around the world but who cares? It's not like it will change anything if everyone knew about it any way. That is my main issue with conspiracy theories is that they always seem to fall into some sort of "Utopian" ideal that once these powers that be or the "new world" order is taken away or stopped that everyone will be happy and the world will be such an amazing place. What they fail to see is that only you as an individual is in control of his or her own happiness. It is a dangerous game to play when you link your own happiness or well being to some external object whether that is a conspiracy theory or a car or a house or any other object that is outside of your own inner cognitive functions.

[UniversalAlien]

I don't think philosophers are afraid of what they cannot understand, maybe some, but they wouldn't be very good philosophers. I'm sure there is an elite group of ultra wealthy people who control some things that go on around the world but who cares? It's not like it will change anything if everyone knew about it any way. That is my main issue with conspiracy theories is that they always seem to fall into some sort of "Utopian" ideal that once these powers that be or the "new world" order is taken away or stopped that everyone will be happy and the world will be such an amazing place. What they fail to see is that only you as an individual is in control of his or her own happiness. It is a dangerous game to play when you link your own happiness or well being to some external object whether that is a conspiracy theory or a car or a house or any other object that is outside of your own inner cognitive functions.

I agree with most of what you just said but believe we should not be naive and not be aware that some of the power plays of the world's power brokers are being played out behind closed doors and may have hidden agendas that the media {which they own} refuses to cover. If all these 'legal' conspirators disappeared would the world be a better place? - Probably not, organized crime and the Mafia would fill in the power vacuum - Maybe Nietzsche was right - all of history is a power struggle.

[Cogito ergo sum]

I agree with most of what you just said but believe we should not be naive and not be aware that some of the power plays of the world's power brokers are being played out behind closed doors and may have hidden agendas that the media {which they own} refuses to cover. If all these 'legal' conspirators disappeared would the world be a better place? - Probably not, organized crime and the Mafia would fill in the power vacuum - Maybe Nietzsche was right - all of history is a power struggle.[/quote]



Obviously we should not be naive and should educate ourselves about the world around us. But that is not found in the opinions of others (news and media) but it should be done on an individual basis. The individual should form his own opinions about the world and understand the true nature of his own mental faculties and then bring that into society separate of what may or may not be happening behind closed doors.

[UniversalAlien]

I'll sum up my view this way - One of the things that made Nietzsche a great philosopher is his ability to cut through much of the BS of other philosophers and show his readers what was {and is} real. Nietzsche saw human history as a will to power. That said and if that is the truth 'conspiracies are inevitable' as the movers and shakers of the world stage compete and fight for world dominance. But what the proverbial 'New World Order' means in such a paradigm is still open to speculation.

[Mechsmith]

I suspect that there is often a rather fine line between conspiracy and co-operation. For instance in the not uncommon "interfaith" food pantries are the operators co-operating to improve local standards of living, or are they conspiring to preserve the status quo and priveleges of the ruling class?

Are Congresses and Parliaments co-operating to maintain and improve their various countries or are they conspiring within the group to keep their priveleged positions?

Is the immigration problem in the southwest U.S. a sympathetic response to humanitarian concerns, or a conspiracy to provide cheap agricultural and domestic labor to the well off?

Perhaps the difference between conspiracies and co-operations is merely in the intent?

[UniversalAlien]

Perhaps the difference between conspiracies and co-operations is merely in the intent?

No I don't think so. Conspiracy might involve cooperation among the conspirators but by its very nature a conspiracy maintains a hidden agenda - no one knows for sure what the conspirators are up to, their means of making their agendas manifest, or their final goals. - This the is scary part about conspiracies.

[Cogito ergo sum]

But really the cold hard truth is that any act of people or the "powers that be" are only given power by the individual who so chooses to not think for themselves. In no way does any act of government or other powers have any effect on me unless I choose to give it power. For example there is conspiricies about Facebook and them abusing their power and spying on us and so forth. Do you want to end that? Then cancel your account. The only conspiracy is that people believe they are not in control.

[DarwinX]

Conspiracy is the norm in human behaviour. I would be very suspicious of anything that happened which didn't involve a conspiracy. Humans are conspirers by nature. They seldom take the road of hard work and fair play. If there is an easy way to gain money, wealth, fame or fortune; they will find it. No, conspiracy revealers don't have a mental disease, these are just rumours which are spread by the people who have most to gain by conspiracy. They don't want anybody to find out that they are part of a conspiracy so they use psychological trickery to disguise their game.

[Titanium Survivor]

What is most disturbing about conspiracy theorists is how much power they can harness using the social media by fooling a big bunch of uneducated people.
Modern examples of that are the faking of the moon-landing, the Earth being Flat, 9/11 caused by the government, airplanes spreading chem-trails to mind control people, Area 51, and many many more..

We could take the Flat Earth conspiracy for example. Flat-earthers are estimated by millions according to social media (Their accounts on Facebook twitter and instagram having millions of followers). Flat-Earthers claim obviously that the world is flat, and they base their claims on looking outside at the horizon and seeing no curvature. They dismiss all photos and videos by NASA, and claim they're computer generated.. They even challenge principles of physics like gravity and aerodynamics and more, which is absolutely ridiculous seeing as they've repeatedly been proven both in theory (mathematically) and in practice.

To answer your question on what I think is the relationship between conspiracies and social media, I think conspiracy theorists abuse the power of media, and the media shamelessly perpetrates it in order to gain publicity. After all, more page visits means more exposure to ads, meaning more profit.
Every time I go into a discussion with a Flat-Earther (or any other type of conspiracy theorist for that matter) they tell me "go look up on youtube videos about this and you'll learn the truth". I run into this kind of people countless times. It's really not the best idea to listen to what some random uneducated person is saying in a video they've created about the government, but that's what they all respond to.

It seems like any person on the internet with a fairly large audience (thousands of followers/subscribers) is suddenly seen by the public as a good source for 'facts'.

[TSBU]

We live our life mostly guided by habits we don't understand very well, habits we got from other people and we accepted maybe because "that's what everybody does", most of this habits don't have any sense at all, sometimes they started long time ago.

It's very easy to lie, lots of people live by by lying, we accept lies as a common thing, being a publicist, lottery, beauty products... But none of them is "Big Brother", they just use weak points in other people, they use habits that their victims already have, but they rarely put an habit, and when they do, it's only one, and they do it based in the rest of habits, I'd say more, they lie as an habit, and sometimes they don't even think a lot that they are lying.

When a person starts thinking about "why?" being an adult, he gets frightened about how little he knows about his own actions, and he can't accept the truth, he can't build himself again, so he tries to do... what nearly everybody does "it's not my fault". They stop thinking in "why am I doing this, what should I do?" because that was a lot of pain. They get happy blaming... anyone, it doesn't matter. That's an habit too, so there are people who talk a lot about different conspiracies wich are not related.

You don't have to think a lot to find "evil", but they want something out of what they can do (so that they don't feel guilty living the same life than before, but having that "conspiracy theory" when they need to blame someone, or feel that they think more than other people).

Of course, some of them go further, talking abut aliens, demons, and things like that.
When a group of people is big enough, it's easy to find people who accept some... habits, by that, at the same time they can blame nearly everyone, but don't feel insecure about their own "thoughts" because there are a lot of people who "think" like them.

That's how they feel... big and small. Big enough to kill people, small enough to be majority but blame and insecure about a a smaller group (jews... or whatever).