New studies: ‘Conspiracy theorists’ sane; government dupes crazy, hostile

[OilemFirchen]

3. A derp sandwich, deep-fried in derp, with extra derp sauce.

Last edited Fri Oct 10, 2014, 01:40 AM - Edit history (1)

The most recent study was published on July 8th by psychologists Michael J. Wood and Karen M. Douglas of the University of Kent (UK). Entitled “What about Building 7? A social psychological study of online discussion of 9/11 conspiracy theories,” the study compared “conspiracist” (pro-conspiracy theory) and “conventionalist” (anti-conspiracy) comments at news websites.

The authors were surprised to discover that it is now more conventional to leave so-called conspiracist comments than conventionalist ones: “Of the 2174 comments collected, 1459 were coded as conspiracist and 715 as conventionalist.” In other words, among people who comment on news articles, those who disbelieve government accounts of such events as 9/11 and the JFK assassination outnumber believers by more than two to one. That means it is the pro-conspiracy commenters who are expressing what is now the conventional wisdom, while the anti-conspiracy commenters are becoming a small, beleaguered minority.

Here's a challenge DUers:

I believe these two nutballs eat forty litres of mice brains a day. Each.

Let's have an informal poll, shall we? We'll count the results at some random date or time... probably in the future.

If the majority agree, then that'll be conventional wisdom. And, by extension, sanity.

On your marks...