Why are they so popular these days? Is it merely the cunning exploitation of naive and foolish public by clever business people and charlatans? Is it an authentic attempt to promote transparency and compensate for a totally worthless corporate media whose primary function is to promote the Platonic "noble lie" ?

I would say it's both, although in individual cases it can be very difficult to tell the difference. What do you all think?

The media has been developed to keep you buying. if they can scare you into thinking that the world is going to blow up sometime within the next 5 years then people are going to corner the market and sell you more and more useless crap that will make you wonder why u actually bought it. ~Live Free or Die Hard, 2007
it is a clever scheme that can make you rich.

The thrill of conspiracy is exhilirating to some. It gives them that extra "umph" that the truth is a lie. That way, there would always be excitement in contradicting whatever the other person says.

The corporate media in America tends to report what is convenient for their interests/sponsors, but I never saw them report the more crazy theories out there. They have standards you know.

The Russian-Georgian war comes to mind, and the unanimous choir of reports of "Russian aggression" from every large news channel on TV, even before any relevant facts were acquired. It got less biased after OSCE officials confirmed that Gerogia's aggression was unprovoked, but it didn't undo the impression left on average American.

Do powers that be do things behind the scenes? Absolutely.
Are all the crackpot "theories" floating around bullshit? More than likely.

I tend to agree with the OP all in all.
The idea that you possess some secret esoteric insight into the workings of the world is satisfying.


Just watch Onion NEWS. That's where I get my facts from.

Yeah, I agree, The Onion tends to be the only reliable news source these days.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I know what you are saying and I'm not disagreeing with you at all, but that is just a funny combination of words to me. The media does have standards today, but they are subterranean and the media of 50 years ago would call them all liars.

As for the main topic at hand, I agree with just about everyone else who posted, so unless this thread gets more interesting I will stop here.

Conspiracies being so popular today? I think no. I'm quite sure conspiracies and such theories existed since there was the first corrupt ruler.

Oh, also take into consideration, some, just some conspiracies are true.

What causes conspiracy theories to develop? Psychologists have found that in order to understand a major or unexpected event, people look for meaning in it, the why and how of the event. Unfortunately, accurate information may be scarce immediately after the event and the lack of information leads to rumors and guesses.

Legal scholars and Vermeule (200 describe what happens in their paper, Conspiracy Theories:

Whenever a bad event has occurred, rumors and speculation are inevitable. Most people are not able to know, on the basis of personal or direct knowledge, why an airplane crashed, or why a leader was assassinated, or why a terrorist attack succeeded. In the aftermath of such an event, numerous speculations will be offered, and some of them will likely point to some kind of conspiracy.

To some people, those speculations will seem plausible, perhaps because they provide a suitable outlet for outrage and blame, perhaps because the speculation fits well with other deeply rooted beliefs that they hold. Terrible events produce outrage, and when people are outraged, they are all the more likely to attribute those events to intentional action.”



This, and like some of you say, capitalism.

And on a more serious note; Most of the people who claim stuff are right. It's just that if anyone had proof he'd be shot. And if someone manages to survive he'll be considered mentally insane.

If you're trolling, get out.
If you're serious, please get out.

And on a more serious note; No.

anyway, conspiracy theories are popular because we want something to rage and rebel against. 'the government' is the most prized target because after all, it's the last boss of the 'establishment'. this is most popular from teens/young adults (just look at this community), because we're frustrated with the 'system'. most of us don't know whats wrong, it just is, especially those horrible child x dog mating experiments the chinese commies made on the moon. also, it's legal and considered neutral to be hateful towards the establishment, while hating a specific group of people for a specific reason means actually standing for something and taking criticism for it. most of the previously mentioned age-groups can't handle that.

all this made possible with DEMOCRACY