Conspiracy Theory Addiction Is Real

[Kev45]

I recognize you don't understand how this works, like all of you internet scientists. You're a bull**** artist, kid and come back when you have a grown up argument. Only the other day, you were suggesting "billy gates" is responsible, so please, keep taking the medication.

 

[Brass]

I recognize you don't understand how this works, like all of you internet scientists. You're a bull**** artist, kid and come back when you have a grown up argument. Only the other day, you were suggesting "billy gates" is responsible, so please, keep taking the medication.

You must believe that the quote I showed you was not real. What makes you think it's not from fauci?

You have to come up with something.

 

[TwoWhalesInAPool]

PART SIX​

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Belief or fantasy?​

Since many conspiracy theorists have strong desires to be special or unique, they’d be attracted to fantasising about having secret knowledge that’s been hidden from the general public.

It’s easy to see why wild conspiracy theories vividly capture people’s imaginations. They make for good stories, with plots that resemble political thrillers.

It’s also fun to imagine that you’re special because you know things that few others do (just imagine overhearing a juicy secret or piece of gossip).

Because what we imagine can feed into what we believe, there’s always a risk that we accidentally allow our fantasies to infect our beliefs.

Conspiracy theorists also lack markers that ordinarily help us keep track of what’s real and what’s fake or untrue.

Are conspiracy theorists true believers, or are they just acting out fantasies?

The key to understanding online conspiracy theorists is to understand how the line between fantasy and reality can become blurred.

theconversation.com

 

[Kev45]

You must believe that the quote I showed you was not real. What makes you think it's not from fauci?

You have to come up with something.

I don't have to come up with anything at all, kid. You are just doing what you internet scientists always do, rambling incoherently. Stamping your feet and then petulantly DEMANDING a response because YOU believe YOU have solved the riddle.

 

[TwoWhalesInAPool]

PART SEVEN

No markers​

Online conspiracy spaces lack such markers. Social media puts people under pressure to constantly like, share and retweet the most juicy and outrageous content, meaning users on conspiracy platforms are constantly under pressure to act as if they believe far-fetched theories.

People also probably endorse conspiracy theories in part to signal their political loyalties, which adds additional pressure not to reveal when one is faking it. When participating in online conspiracy communities, people are also surrounded by others under these same pressures.

So, conspiracy theorists don’t see many obvious markers of the fact that they’re merely acting out fantasies, neither in their own behaviours nor in the behaviours of those around them.

 

[TwoWhalesInAPool]

PART EIGHT

It is their fantasy.

Evidence suggests that many people don't fully believe the wild conspiracy theories they seem to embrace.

That explains why, when pressed, conspiracists often stop short of saying a conspiracy theory is true.

Instead, they say they’re ''just asking questions'', 'not following the crowd'' or they demand those questioning them answer their conspiracy theory points.

Why spend so much time engaging with a theory you don’t really believe?

Why spend hours watching conspiracist YouTube videos, reading conspiracist blogs and posting on conspiracist message boards?

We can better understand these behaviours if we adopt the hypothesis that many conspiracists are merely pretending and acting out fantasies.

 

[Kev45]

Oh ffs Fred, stick to one account.

Paranoid hidey name changers shouldn't throw stones in glass houses.

Another ‘conspiracy theory’ I presume?

Yes, I am sure scientists and other academics, tend to gather all their information from the white supremacist and the other oddball sites that you gather your information from.

 

[Brass]

What we have here is a pair of posters who can't for the life of them answer even one question. They've forgotten how debate works. In this case they're being asked to explain why the FDA recommended a cycle-threshold of 40 when fauci himself said that that will cause the test to spit out nothing but meaningless results. But neither of them are going to touch that question with a ten-foot pole because it troubles their mind.

Cognitive dissonance is strong in these ones. So let's see how they dodge the question again. Let's see how creative they can be.

 

[Kev45]

What we have here is a pair of posters who can't for the life of them answer even one question.

What we have here is a pair of low grade beta males who believe that they have solved a complex puzzle that nobody else has.

Deluded.

 

[Kev45]

Weak. And proof positive that you don’t read/watch anything other than the BBC.

Pandemicoffear truly believes every word that he types. It isn't an act. This is how he "analyses" a complex issue (well above his pay grade). This is the level of his intellect. This is exactly how he reaches all his conclusions.

 

[Brass]

What we have here is a pair of low grade beta males who believe that they have solved a complex puzzle that nobody else has.

Deluded.

Are you going to explain why the FDA recommended a cycle-threshold of 40 when fauci made it clear that that's way too high?

Ya know, when you don't answer even one question, it give the impression that you're nothing but a troll hoping that your nonsense will cause the question to go away, but you and I both know that kind of thinking is childish; it's certainly no substitute for an answer to a question. Almost everyone but you knows that.

 

[Kev45]

it give the impression that you're nothing but a troll hoping that your nonsense will cause the question to go away,

Whereas, 100%, you are a troll. Who types "nonsense" and who then demands an answer to a question he himself has not proven. Uneducated rando who truly believes that "billy gates" controls the entire world.

 

[Brass]

Did you see the quote from fauci that I posted? That's proof that he said it.

So why did the FDA recommend a cycle-threshold of 40?

Let's see how this poster tries to get around that.

 

[Kev45]

Did you see the quote I posted from fauci?

What an irritating, bleating, whining, repetitive, sausage you are.

 

[Kev45]

What? Do you read ANYTHING at all? Ffs

Pandemicoffear getting all shouty and macho again, he always does when low grade sidekicks pipe up.