Conspiracy Theories as a Coping Mechanism?

Corplos

Student
C
Joined
Apr 7, 2006
Messages
26
A thought wormed into my head a while back. I'm thinking that people who so feverently believe in elaborate Conspiracies might be doing so as a sort of defense mechanism to trauma. This may only apply to Conspiracies involving massive, horrific events, such as 9/11 or the Holocaust. But think of it, millions of people herded like cattle into death camps, murdered with such terrifying efficency. Or the fact that over three thousand lives were obliterated in mere moments. Can you imagine one million of anything, let alone six? Do you even know three hundred people, much less three thousand?

My thoughts are that the CTers are just reacting with some hyperacute form of Grief, and just get stuck in the Denial stage. "No one could kill that many people, evil like that can't be real. They made it up, the Jews made it up so we'd feel sorry for them, the bastards!" or "How could the government fail to stop something this big! How? The government must've let it happen, they orchestrated it!"

So, instead of moving on with the stages and into acceptance, they dwell on it, moving back & forth between anger and denial. The CTers are confused and afraid, and don't really understand why everyone else isn't as scared as they are, so they respond by thinking that they have The Truth and everyone else is just too scared to see it. It's a big, scary world out there & evil things seem to happen without reason. Everyone reacts to grief in different ways, some tell jokes to hide it, others cry & show it to the world.

If anyone with backgrounds in Sociology of Psychology sees an error or misunderstanding that I've made, by all means correct me, any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:
I'm not normally one to psychologically analyze trolls, but I think you've got CTers covered pretty well.

Happy B-day and welcome to the forum.

I've got some line from a JFK conspiracy-debunking show trying to shape itself in my brain. Essentially, people couldn't accept that a lone gunman killed one of the most powerful men on the planet.
 
An interesting thought that I think might apply to some conspiracy theorists. I have a different idea, though. I think that the reason some people believe in CTs is because it gives them some kind of "insider information." They feel special for having it all figured out, while others still believe "the delusion." Although, I think your idea of being stuck in denial influences this greatly. How can they believe the truth if they refuse to look at it?

I guess it's just another way of making sense of the world. Not a very factual way, though.

BlackCat
 
Corplos said:
If anyone with backgrounds in Sociology of Psychology sees an error or misunderstanding that I've made, by all means correct me, any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I've got a Pschology 101 which didn't touch on any of these issues but I'm still happy to claim you nailed it.

It follows in almost every CT. The actual conspiracy is less threatening to the theorist than the 'official story'. WIth 911 it stands out a mile. All the different forms of death on that day were too horrible to contemplate, and so many refuse to do it. Notice how the disappearing plane theories have the passengers cheerily spirited away and the quietly snuffed out. Notice how the evil do-ers are now greedy white men, who are so much easier to understand than these strange fanatical foreigners.

Also what I find very telling is that 911 presented an enemy that few really know how to defeat. It may take decades, and it may sadly involve more war. But the CTers don't need to worry about that - turns out the real enemy simply fears a litte exposure. Since all the CTers are prepared to offer is forum chatter and dodgy websites, I find that staggeringly convenient.
 
Between Corplos and BlackCat, I think you have most CTers figured out.

A few that I've debated are contrarians. They don't want to immediately accept the orthodox explanation for anything, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But they get to the point where they assume anything that is believed by most people must be wrong. They are REALLY annoying.
 
Corplos said:
A thought wormed into my head a while back. I'm thinking that people who so feverently believe in elaborate Conspiracies might be doing so as a sort of defense mechanism to trauma. This may only apply to Conspiracies involving massive, horrific events, such as 9/11 or the Holocaust. But think of it, millions of people herded like cattle into death camps, murdered with such terrifying efficency. Or the fact that over three thousand lives were obliterated in mere moments. Can you imagine one million of anything, let alone six? Do you even know three hundred people, much less three thousand?

My thoughts are that the CTers are just reacting with some hyperacute form of Grief, and just get stuck in the Denial stage. "No one could kill that many people, evil like that can't be real. They made it up, the Jews made it up so we'd feel sorry for them, the bastards!" or "How could the government fail to stop something this big! How? The government must've let it happen, they orchestrated it!"

So, instead of moving on with the stages and into acceptance, they dwell on it, moving back & forth between anger and denial. The CTers are confused and afraid, and don't really understand why everyone else isn't as scared as they are, so they respond by thinking that they have The Truth and everyone else is just too scared to see it. It's a big, scary world out there & evil things seem to happen without reason. Everyone reacts to grief in different ways, some tell jokes to hide it, others cry & show it to the world.

If anyone with backgrounds in Sociology of Psychology sees an error or misunderstanding that I've made, by all means correct me, any input would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Good post, man. Welcome.
 
It may be a coping mechanism for some. For others, when I listen to the way in which they argue and refuse to give any ground, it strikes me more as a kind of substitute religion. (Close, but not exactly the same) Not to mention the ease at which both religion and conspiracy theory can expand to cover all possibilities.

For example:

Skeptic: "Carbon dating indicates the world is much more than 10,000 years old."

True Believer: "God only created it to look that way."
_______

Skeptic: "Flight recorder data, cell phone calls, and eyewitness testimony all corroborate a plane crashing into the Pentagon."

True Believer: "That's what the Government wants you to believe. All those things were faked.

Skeptic: "Well, if what you say is true, wouldn't someone eventually come forward and reveal the story to the media?"

True Believer: "They're in on it, too!"
 
The coping mechanism hypothosis runs into problems which you consider the people who belive the moon landing was a hoax. Various conspirocies theories probably have diffenerent attractions. The moon hoax one plays stongly to the "I'm special" attraction.
 
For some of them, it's fairly simple. Their credo is: All the world is mad save me and thee. And even thee hath me concern'd.
 
Corplos and BlackCat, you make very good points.

I have an additional theory that:

a) they are fundamentally opposed to war, and the war on Iraq in particular. They think that they are nice people doing the right thing, but they have no sense of proportion;

b) they feel they are the battlers, the pawns in the game, disenfranchised and without say in the governing of their country, empowered only by the vagaries of free speech. I've come across the occasional jaded ex-serviceman, but mostly they have never worked in any sort of government position or position of responsibility. They are anti-government in principle.

To test my theory of a), I've started a poll at the Loose Change forum. (I thought about the wording for quite a while, but it may only prove what liars they are. :rolleyes: I'd appreciate comments here, but not there, nor votes, as I want them to answer the question.)
 
shuize said:
It may be a coping mechanism for some. For others, when I listen to the way in which they argue and refuse to give any ground, it strikes me more as a kind of substitute religion. (Close, but not exactly the same) Not to mention the ease at which both religion and conspiracy theory can expand to cover all possibilities.
Click to expand...
I also think that it's a substitute for religion. 911 was not only traumatic but astounding too. When I watched the attack of the WTC live on TV I had lots of emotions: the horror, the amazement, the surprise, the feeling that I was presencing a cornerstone in the history of mankind. It was like, you know, unbelievable, like a scheme of Fu Manchu gone real. Hundred millions of people presenced that spectacle, I can't imagine the turmoil of traumas and fears it created.

The massacre of 3-11 in Madrid was also quite traumatic in Spain, but as far as I know we don't have any home made CT about this attack. Maybe our long history of terrorism and external aggressions mitigated the paranoia; apesimist is a well informed optimist, they say.

edit for syntax and grammar. Sure there're some more flaws left yet :boxedin:
 
Last edited:
hurdygurdy said:
The massacre of 3-11 in Madrid was also quite traumatic in Spain, but as far as I know we don't have any homemade CT about this attack. Maybe our long history of terrorism and external aggressions mitigated the paranoia; apesimist is a well informed optimist, they say.
Click to expand...
although the loosers claim that the Madrid and London bombings where "false flag" operations as well. I think you make a good point about Spans history with terrorism, I have often thought that the reasons that the 7/7 and 21/7 bombings in London didn't attract many (any?) home grown CTs is that they where effectively just one more in a line of terrorist attacks in London, whereas the USA prior to 9/11 could not contemplate a serious external threat to its civilians, having never really had to deal with that in its past.
I also think that 9/1 CTs play on the mythology of the USA to a certain extent, most Brits are too self deprecating to regard their government as anything other than ranging between mildly to totally incompetent, whereas your average CTer has a faith in the power and efficiency of the the Us government which would embarrass even the most fervent American patriot.
 
brodski said:
I also think that 9/1 CTs play on the mythology of the USA to a certain extent, most Brits are too self deprecating to regard their government as anything other than ranging between mildly to totally incompetent, whereas your average CTer has a faith in the power and efficiency of the the Us government which would embarrass even the most fervent American patriot.
Click to expand...
That's very true. But it's a strange sort of faith. They believe the government is almost god-like in it's ability to conduct an operation on the scale of air strikes/bombings against the Pentagon and World Trade Centers without any of the conspirators disclosing that information. And yet, at the very same time, they believe that their group has somehow managed to defeat this nearly invincible leviathan by discovering the "truth" -- without any apparent ill effects.
 
Penn and Teller made the conspiracy-coping link on the episode of "Bullsh!t" that concerns conspiracy theories. The analogy was made with a ballon bursting with the prick of a needle.
 
I’m no expert, but I’ve known a CTer or two IRL, and they inevitably strike me as having some kind of personality disorder. I think the same or a similar disorder makes one vulnerable to joining a cult.

Part of my reasoning is that these folks seem to have problems outside of merely coping with traumatic historical events. They have problems interacting with people in general, and making sense of their lives.

Their problems aren’t huge -- they’re “high functioning” -- but the coping mechanism theory may only be part of the story.
 
[Derail] Nice avatar, Ryan. Remember one old joke I never got to use, since Randi stopped using the rock thing so often in his commentaries, or talking about how crowded it was: "I've telekinetically accelerated the rock to the speed of light, so it has infinite size and mass... It's so tempting to crush them all." [/Derail]
 
BronzeDog said:
[Derail] Nice avatar, Ryan. Remember one old joke I never got to use, since Randi stopped using the rock thing so often in his commentaries, or talking about how crowded it was: "I've telekinetically accelerated the rock to the speed of light, so it has infinite size and mass... It's so tempting to crush them all." [/Derail]
Click to expand...


:D

[more derail] I just wish I could fit more names. I'm thinking Gary Schwartz needs to be up there, among many, many others. [/more derail]
 
orphia nay said:
Corplos and BlackCat, you make very good points.

I have an additional theory that:

a) they are fundamentally opposed to war, and the war on Iraq in particular. They think that they are nice people doing the right thing, but they have no sense of proportion;
Click to expand...

To test my theory of a), I've started a poll at the Loose Change forum. (I thought about the wording for quite a while, but it may only prove what liars they are. :rolleyes: I'd appreciate comments here, but not there, nor votes, as I want them to answer the question.)
Click to expand...

Whoa now. Plenty of people are fundamentally opposed to the TWAT and the Iraq War without being conspiracy nuts.
 
ImaginalDisc said:
Whoa now. Plenty of people are fundamentally opposed to the TWAT and the Iraq War without being conspiracy nuts.
Click to expand...

If it is asserted that all conspiracy nuts are people who oppose the Iraq War, it would not follow that all people who oppose the Iraq War are conspiracy nuts.

But I understand where you're coming from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom