Somebody here or in a related thread speculated about what drives the conspiracy types. Several suggestions came up:
1. Are they trying to deny truths they find too awful to endure? (A humane idea; hell, I wanted to blank out that fearful day.)
2. Are they just paranoid? Maybe they can’t bring themselves to believe anything authoritative.
3. Are they delusional, i.e., simply believers by nature?
While all of the above may be involved, I think it’s nothing more complicated than vanity: CTing allows them to be know-it-alls.
The Cter thinks, “Am I poor bumbling nobody? A failed gas-pump jockey living in condemned housing? A dropout, a demi-literate failure, a cull? No, by god! I have unique knowledge, I’ve penetrated the schemes of the best evil minds in the world! –I- by Jesus know things all those lumpen-intellectuals can’t grasp! –I- am superior to ALL of them!”
You’ll note how condescending they get when first contradicted: “Lissen, pal, you ain’t in the picture, ya ain’t even in the frame yet. Lemme clue you in, lemme bring ya up to speed here!” Now the tables are turned; in the midst of a lifetime of inadequacy, suddenly they are the brightest kids in class. From Special Education they make the leap to Gifted and Talented! (I’m using grammar-school terminology on purpose.)
If they’re challenged further, they get abusive, pretty damn quickly: “Nyahh, yer nuthen but sheeple! Ya can’t even SEE how the system works! Jerks!” Etc. Their far, far greater knowledge, wisdom, and insight entitle them to be abrasive to anybody, everybody, all the time, and to the end of their days.
So it’s fun to be a conspiracy believer. It’s gratifying.
And yours truly has had it up to the back teeth with these pathetic jokers. I don’t use smileys; is there a puking one?