No, “many conspiracy theories” did NOT “turn out to be true.”

[@JJMcCullough]

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code JJMCC at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: incogni.com/jjmcc

[@flmis]

The ONLY conspiracy theory that is true is that the earth is flat! Gravity doesn't exist I tell you! Earth is just accelerating upwards! (jk)

[@DeKevers]

Have you actually looked into this company or just taken the offer?

[@osmosisjones4912]

If You have to reedit Your menory imagin false menory . Hold block out reality incoherent values and goal poste amplify emotions to extremes to block out reality and keep incoherent values and goal poste unaware of eachother all to maintanes sanity. Is Sanity and mental health 🎉the same thing

[@drstone3418]

So we should discard actually examples that happened in reality to hold on Hypothetical models not supported by observable reality

[@Charles-js3ri]

The only outright conspiracies I can think of that turned out to be true are the Poebus cartel and Ethylene. The later being tenous. Phoebus was a ploy by light bulb manufacturers to play with planned obsolescence to make more profits. The conspiracy was the cartel angle. Ethylene, or putting lead in gas because you can't patent ethanol was a conspiracy by Charles Kettering, and Thomas Midgley to convince people that lead would not be damaging. Midgely famously poured the substance on his hands and huffed it in front of some reporters. He also spent time in Florida receiving chelation therapy.

[@nunciomassara7534]

Why are people mad at the shadow government when they could just be mad at the real government?

[@NimanWielder01]

Shadow governments feel more manageable.

[@PsRohrbaugh]

You don't feel so bad when you elected a good guy who is being thwarted by the deep state. You feel a lot worse when you just voted for a corrupt moron.

[@MidwestArtMan]

Por que no los dos?

[@xbabu142x]

Because as we can't travel into the shadow realm to fix it, we can procrastinate, lament and wax poetically on socially media about it.

[@user-hg4jk2q]

Because they elected the real government.

[@myself2noone]

This reminds me of when someone told me to " do my research on the CIA." And by the end of it, I'm just like "wow the CIA are pretty bad at lying."

[@AuraHero]

Seriously, it's impressive how many times they messed up overseas and had to be bailed out by another country.

[@xbabu142x]

Truly and utterly. The did all the bad but holy crap are they a three stooges parody every single time. When I read up into them, I came out that wondering if that was Twilight Zone scripts I just read.

[@craigstephenson7676]

the more i research conspiracy theories, the more I believe that nobody is competent enough for them to be true.

[@maplematoke]

@@craigstephenson7676 Yet still , millions of people do .

[@AholeAtheist]

True, but yet they get away with it all.

[@DugrozReports]

Where's the line between a conspiracy theory and just plain "people in authority lied to us?"

[@sweatervestful]

Great question. His description of a scheme or plot sounds hardly distinguishable from a conspiracy.

[@MastaBaitaAmbatukam]

Or just individuals in power accidentally misreading a fact

[@victoriagore470]

​@@MastaBaitaAmbatukamyou can't be serious 😅

[@msjkramey]

​@@victoriagore470do you think people in power are infallible and always the most educated person on every topic they have to talk about? Just because misinformation can be malicious doesn't mean it always is. Sometimes people eff up. And we need to encourage people to make earnest corrections when they do

[@sillyking1991]

the motive, generally. conspiracy theorists...well, the ones that aren't frauds or actually insane, aren't generally interested in the truth or facts. They're much more interested in feeling smarter or better than other people. they like feeling as though they themselves know the truth that everyone else is blind too. Thats why their attempts to convince people usually come with a healthy dose of condescension, self-aggrandizing, and patronizing. they're also often characterized by misuse of real facts, or straight up making things up.

[@bj_]

Those articles read like "Top 14 times my broken clock was right in the last week"

[@JJMcCullough]

It’s more like “top ten times a stick in the backyard almost functioned as a sundial if you give it a lot of benefit of the doubt.”

[@xbabu142x]

@@JJMcCullough Uh you saw me huh. In my defense I had an edible and was trying to see why the dog found it so interesting. Those were not measurement tools, had other sticks out to see if there was difference in stick. Good stuff out here in BC, that's for sure.

[@TheOne_6]

#1: Monday 22nd July at 7:03 AM

[@TheBossua]

@@TheOne_6 #2: Monday 22nd July at 7:03 PM

[@TheOne_6]

@@TheBossua #3: Tuesday 23rd July at 7:03 AM

[@ethantucker92838]

I think Michael from Vsauce gave a very insightful explanation for conspiracy theories: Conspiracy theorists often think like theyre on TV, in the sense that when something doesn't make sense to them, it must be a plot hole. The reality, as he says, is that "sometimes children go out in winter without coats."

[@knutthompson7879]

I agree with this totally. In dramatic works - political thrillers, police procedurals, spy movies - there are these sneaky but in the end easily understandable plot lines that explain everything and many people assume real life must be just like that. I find real life is never that tidy. Often, even usually, there is no deeper plot at all

[@DG-dy4tv]

And sometimes Munchausin kids just drink the kool aid and eat the soup... and die.

[@therethere508]

It's people who are clever but can't grasp uncertainty

[@AuraHero]

It's very telling that many conspiracy theorists invoke movies and television when they describe the enemy and their plans. Alex Jones is a great example of this, invoking numerous movies whenever he is trying to back up his claims, tying them into whatever news or documents he's blatantly chosen to misinterpret that day.

[@marshall3861]

I agree with this 100% but it’s important to note that an government committee has said that it’s more likely the night that the JFK assassination was a government conspiracy. And in a courtroom 12 jurors found the same thing for the MLK Jr assassination.

[@otterylexa4499]

The sadly ironic thing is that when a genuine conspiracy comes to light, invariably there was never any conspiracy theory about it.

[@benyminolla]

Yes like many terrible thing Don't have theories about If you guys when governments do terrible things, they usually cover it up or keep people from hearing about it pretty well so nobody know the terrible thislngs they do

[@hmnhntr]

Well, if it was so easy to see it coming that random people on the Internet could figure it out, it wouldn't be very secret. That's like the first and biggest problem for a lot of these.

[@hedgehog3180]

A lot of conspiracy theories also just seemingly serve as noise that crowds out actual important important issues. Like the conspiracy theories about water fluoridation seem to do an amazing job distracting from the actual issue of ground water pollution due to fertilizer and pesticide run-off.

[@David-uc4hc]

Then maybe you haven't followed the right journalists.

[@theodorejenkins6066]

Um...every single conspiracy theory that's been "verified" in recent years I already knew about beforehand. I still remember how fast people changed from "the government isn't spying on everyone they need a warrant!", to "if you're worried about them spying you did something wrong!" After Snowden leaked what he did. Anyone who believes that their aren't dark actors in high places is just not paying attention. Bush lied about WMDs to start a 20 year war ffs!

[@Boredman567]

The Tuskegee study is also often misrepresented as the victims being actively poisoned or infected, rather than the study negligently withholding healthcare from them. And too often I see people talking about it in term of black Americans' distrust of the government and health care, as if it's a substantial and rational reason to avoid vaccines or doctor visits today. A Jim Crow era study that ended when it was exposed shortly after the Civil Rights movement. It's important to learn about it and condemn its shocking lack of ethics and disregard for black lives, but it shouldn't be used as propaganda against black people seeking health care.

[@LuckyHicks2]

What's really screwed up about this, at least for me, is how it reflects a major breakdown in communication. It's a lot less cumbersome to say "The government poisoned a group of black men in the 60's", compared to the more technical story of negligence and institutional apathy towards the black people's health. This misinformation is bad, but it's not being said maliciously - it's just that not everyone is hyper-aware of misinformation, or how to spot it. Because in a perfect world, you shouldn't have to fucking do that. You shouldn't have to learn these tools, and it sucks that we have to. By complete accident, there's two different Tuskegee stories - one real, one conspiratorial. But not everyone knows which is which, and that...well, that sucks.

[@seneca983]

As a minor nitpick, I wouldn't call it "negligent" because it was fully deliberate.

[@HKRAQ]

They had to conspire to not give them the necessary healthcare

[@adamlam9600]

During the summer of 2020 after George Floyd, some media used it to "justify" why many black Americans didn't want to get the Covid vaccine. As if the memory of the Tuskegee study was somehow a major factor in this--when the media was bringing Tuskegee to the fore DURING 2020, teaching many about it for the first time! The new coverage was just a way to paint these particular groups of African Americans as actually still siding with the left-wing even though they didn't want the vaccine, because it's a reaction to historic racism. As if any of that matters for a personal health decision! It doesn't!

[@trentknopf7234]

The thing is tho, it wasn’t that healthcare was “negligently” kept away from them. It was intentional to observe the effects of the disease. Negligence implies that they didn’t foresee the outcomes, despite them being fairly well known before the Tuskegee experiment. They just wanted ”sound” scientific evidence and knew that the African American population was still neglected and discriminated against enough for them to reasonably get away with it

[@Markephillips77]

The reason these articles exist has nothing to do with convincing people that believing in conspiracy theories is good. They exist for one reason: money. They want people to click out of curiosity and then provide absolutely nothing in exchange for the click, but their numbers go up and thus they make more money from advertisers. The people who write these articles are probably freelancers or digital content creators whose sole purpose is to get people to click. Click…so you don’t click on something else that might show you the truth about what’s REALLY going on…because THEY don’t want you to find the truth! Wait…am I a conspiracy theorist now?

[@Craxin01]

I'd say it's less they don't want you to know what the truth is and more they don't care what the truth is. They only care about how much money they can get and how fast.

[@Soapy-chan]

i wonder why advertisers pay for these things, because how many of the visitors do actually buy that random coffee machine they get shoved in their face?

[@Craxin01]

@@Soapy-chan If advertising didn't work, they wouldn't do it.

[@Soapy-chan]

@@Craxin01 exactly

[@roymarshall_]

@@Soapy-chan there is major selection bias here. If you're questioning why anybody would click on ads, that just means you're not in the target demographic. I had a door-to-door salesman/scammer visit recently. I thought "who falls for these scammers, its so transparent that they're lying". But the answer is: I'm not the 75 year old agreeable grandma that they're hunting for.

[@amaliapursell]

This is why I stopped using the word "conspiracy". It has become a loaded term. (I also stopped saying conspire and conspiring.) It's etymology is just "agreement", basically. So you can just say: "These companies agreed to defraud their stockholders." The rest of the context gives you their criminal intent without using the term conspiracy, which unfortunately implies some x-files level shit now. Semantic drift has made the word sort of useless.

[@amaliapursell]

There are people who are whistle blowers on big business and other institutions that I think we should listen to, but... That still isn't a "conspiracy theory" that some random non-journalist or insider person "figured out". Actual "conspiracies" among bad actors in power have been outed by journalists and whistle blowers in the past, and there are plenty of examples. But we might as well start calling it a plot, heist, scheme, con, or grift (or agreement) because now conspiracy means something pretty different. Interestingly, the word symphony also has the same etymological meaning but in Greek instead of Latin. Musical agreement in this case.

[@xbabu142x]

Why just be truthful with it, I'm always conspiring on dad jokes, the cornier the better. Ask any kid I teach or am related. Instant 1000 year stare they don't know when and where, they are terrified.

[@dorriley3954]

then how do you sing Winter Wonderland?

[@xbabu142x]

@@dorriley3954 Mostly with my vocal chords, sometimes I try with a digerdoo, but I'm terrible sounding with that.

[@jaytotheareokay]

anti-Semitic drift has kinda impacted the word too lol

[@ttkn5056]

Nothing really gets me down as much as opening TikTok and seeing the stupidest conspiracy theory video with thousands of comments of teens believing it uncritically.

[@darkfool2000]

Honestly, I find it just as bad when people believe every bad thing they hear without fact checking it. Any allegations or even rumors of allegations accepted as fact without any consideration.

[@maplematoke]

Tiktok is the worst when it comes to conspiracy theories but youtube is also a den for crackpots . Same with 4Chan and sometimes Reddit too ... not to mentioned Facebook which is a haven for wackos

[@LuckyHicks2]

@@darkfool2000 Honestly, I imagine there's more double-checking people than we think. It's just that they tend to be less vocal, more cautious, and less willing to engage with those posts than someone more confident and...let's say "brash." Not saying you're wrong per se - It's just this whole thing is really socially complex and it gives me a headache thinking about it.

[@darkfool2000]

@@LuckyHicks2 I view that as an extension of the bystander effect. People assume that the other people did their research. You need to be able to point to a clear chain of evidence, or you're just taking on faith.

[@Chrnan6710]

I'm pretty sure every bright mind on Instagram believes in HAARP weather engineering, which is hilarious since I've known about the conspiracy since the 2000s and the reasons behind its recent explosion are so painfully stupid and tired

[@bryancorrell3689]

My theory that Apollo 11 really DID land on the Moon is air-tight.

[@jakeandhenryvideos]

You still believe in the moon?

[@justdavedoindavestuff3479]

I don't want to burst your bubble, bro, but technically it was the lunar lander and not actual Apollo 11 that landed on the moon. Just have to be pedantic about it. 😀

[@xway2]

I heard the American government was behind that whole operation. The signs are clear as day.

[@lainiwakura1776]

@@justdavedoindavestuff3479 But we were on the moon and that's the important part!

[@iambadatcomingupwithcomeba2060]

The rocket would have melted the cheese we couldn’t have landed on the moon

[@MrAmadeus1998]

J.J. is being paid off by Big Hair™️, that’s how he has such luscious locks.

[@olinrolseth3303]

I believe some elite society is pulling levers behind the scenes that allow J.J. to put out banger videos every week

[@ethantucker92838]

True!!

[@TKinfinity01]

It’s very suspicious how every one of his videos are “award winning”. Who is awarding these videos? Why are they winning? These questions must be answered!

[@danielgertler5976]

Well it certainly isn't the CRTC!

[@blanchemoyaert3714]

😄

[@blanchemoyaert3714]

😄

[@matthewdrummond1340]

13:07 They don't need microchips to track us. I used my phone for 92 hours last week. Tracking us would easy. They just couldn't be bothered tracking most of us

[@Turdfergusen382]

^This guy hasn’t heard of Edward Snowden or the NSA. 😂 🤡

[@3p1cand3rs0n]

i think you misunderstand what "tracking" entails in the modern world. Your phone carrier (Verizon, etc.) really does know where your phone is at all times. They are required to keep logs of this information. So if anyone with access to those logs wants to know exactly where you were today, or a week ago, or several months ago... they can easily find out. they don't need to actively follow you around. your location is always logged.

[@ALuimes]

@@3p1cand3rs0n I wonder if phone tracking explains why the cops approached me at my local casino and warned me the YMCA called them to complain that my shorts were partly falling down in the pool. I'm NOT kidding.

[@troodon1096]

Unless you're on some kind of watch list, odds are likely that Google tracks you more than the government does.

[@neoqwerty]

@@3p1cand3rs0n No, dude was saying that he's literally got a device that can be tracked MUCH more easily than secretly implanting a microchip inside of a human without the human's knowledge. Which is true, even if we don't factor in that "off" tends to not mean "actually powered down" but rather "not visibly active but can be remotely turned back on", or that our carriers have the data and logs. Even WITHOUT the carrier's authorization and removing the battery to be sure it isn't gonna stay playing possum long, phones constantly tattle to multiple cloud services about where they're geolocated and embed it into pictures' metadata. Even a pleb can pull a rough map of where you went from your photos alone. And that was OP's point. Tracking microchips are like the blockchain: it's an over-engineered and frankly crap solution to an already-solved problem that was born from feverish minds that probably need a neuropsychologist and either a therapist or some meds to get healthy again. Except at least the blockchain exists as is. Microchips are just useful for lost pets and lost luggage, and even then it's passive and when you try to put it inside a living thing the living thing tends to reject it.

[@yomamasapeach]

Conspiracy theorists almost always tend to be raving narcissist, who think they have access to esoteric knowledge that the rest of "sheeple" don't have. The idea that you know better than everyone, that you're a free-thinker, and can see the world for what it "actually" is stems from the fragile ego of these theorists who cannot accept their own limitations as a single person. It also is proof of their immense lack of belief of goodness in people, attributing everything as malice instead of incompetence/stupidity (Hanlon's razor). When you meet the real nuts in real life you quickly realize the entire conspiracy bull is an exercise in ego boosting, and they are not actually curious about discovering the truth, they want to pretend they found it out first.

[@hmnhntr]

A common refrain that demonstrates this is how often they'll just rant about doing your own research rather than simply providing their supposedly abundant proof, when asked.

[@meetim6271]

@@hmnhntr Not really. A lie travels the world while the truth gets its boots on, and the truth very often exists between the lines of the available information and requires a lot of time and effort to parse out and explain, and the impatient normie aint listening anyway. Who's got time for that? not me.

[@meetim6271]

I dont doubt that some are like that but to use that as a general characterisation is confirmation bias. The 'raving narcissists' (is that even real?) are easy to identify, but the vast majority with more socially acceptable characters slip under your radar.

[@briancooper9983]

That sounds like a conspiracy theory.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@meetim6271 That's just a roundabout way to say “I will not be providing evidence for my beliefs”.

[@erraticonteuse]

It's like that South Park episode on 9/11 conspiracies: it's actually better for the government for you to believe they're capable of pulling off conspiracies while also being easier than trying to pull off actual conspiracies.

[@josephlikely3849]

George Monbiot in The Guardian: "The obvious corollorary to the belief that the Bush administration is all-powerful is that the rest of us are completely powerless. In fact it seems to me that the purpose of the “9/11 truth movement” is to be powerless. The omnipotence of the Bush regime is the coward’s fantasy, an excuse for inaction used by those who don’t have the stomach to engage in real political fights. Let me give you an example. The column I wrote about Loose Change two weeks ago generated 777 posts on Comment is Free, which is almost a record. Most of them were furious.. The response from a producer of the film, published last week, attracted 467(2). On the same day I published an article about a genuine, demonstrable conspiracy: a spy network feeding confidential information from an arms control campaign to Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE. It drew 60 responses(3). The members of the 9/11 cult weren’t interested. If they were, they might have had to do something. The great virtue of a fake conspiracy is that it calls on you to do nothing."

[@Craxin01]

"Then who really did 9/11?" "Duh, it was a bunch of pissed off Arabs!"

[@originaldarkwater]

I'd even take that a step further and say that people who believe in conspiracy theories do so because they are terrified of the reality that humanity is just bumbling around semi-randomly. Better that an evil cabal is in control than no one at all.

[@Kyotosomo]

Extremely Common South Park W

[@taxirob2248]

that's my longstanding view on the JFK murder. It's better that the people live in fear of a shadow government than get a mail order carbine and change world history with their own two hands.

[@zacharydechant1303]

I only believe in one conspiracy. Way, way back in the 1980s secret government employees dug up famous dudes and ladies and made amusing genetic copies. Now their clones are sexy teens, now they’re going to make it if they try. Loving, learning, sharing, judging. Time to laugh, and shiver, and cry…

[@JJMcCullough]

It's not that much of a conspiracy, you can visit the high school where they all go, it's a public place. It's even called "Clone High."

[@enon8116]

@@JJMcCulloughyeah well India didn’t really appreciate how one clone turned out so….

[@tannerwilson4843]

@@JJMcCulloughThe Clone High Animated Show should have lasted much longer! It was really funny and enjoyable!

[@JJMcCullough]

@@tannerwilson4843 it’s literally in its third season right now

[@Saltiren]

​@@JJMcCullough 3 seasons in 20 years? I guess they did have to grow the clones which took time

[@CrunchyLikeness]

This makes me think of a friend of mine who's an absolute tankie and thinks the PRC is democratic. Evidence doesn't support this claim, but when you're upset about the state of capitalism, you'll believe anything.

[@jameswilkerson4412]

There *is* a case that its meritocratic, though. Seen the recent INET video on China?

[@dickartist]

but if he's a tankie, democracy can't fit into his beliefs, so someone here is politically illiterate if it isn't both of you

[@lightfeather9953]

​@@jameswilkerson4412that's such a meaningless point. Basically any autocracy could be described as having meritocratic elements. You're missing the point while providing off topic defense of the CCP.

[@Thedimensionalwarrior]

Of course it's a democracy, democracy is the will of the people, and what is the PRC called again? That's right the PEAPOL's Republic of China

[@Nicolas-eg2nq]

mmm , it is democratic , its just a different system that the one western countries use or have imposed in other third wolrd countries

[@benjaminrobinson3842]

It would have been more accurate to call the articles "10 times cover-ups turned out to be true," but that would probably not have attracted as many clicks.

[@JJMcCullough]

Sometimes they weren’t even coverups. They were just things that weren’t widely known.

[@cly_]

​@@JJMcCullough"Top 10 times things that were weird were true"

[@ethansloan]

@@JJMcCullough "10 Times things happened that don't get taught in history class"

[@liberalcitydweller]

⁠@@JJMcCullough “Top 10 times that people in positions of power did things”

[@blew1t]

@@cly_Top 10 Things That Happened

[@crypticcorgi8280]

A lot of the mental gymnastics they employed is called the "Motte and Bailey Fallacy." Where they seem to be making a point for one argument. But when questioned. They fall back to a more defensible argument. Example: asserting an extreme claim about immigrants being criminals (the bailey), then retreating to a more moderate stance on immigration policy (the motte) when challenged. These fallacy are almost always purposeful and they leave enough room of plausibility for the second argument when challenged. But the Motte and Bailey Fallacy could also be an unchecked cognitive biase.

[@spiderjerusalem6887]

mass immigration has caused violence to shoot up. Please take your apologia somewhere else. Taking everyone you don't agree with and lumping it in with 'muh racism' is so lazy, just like JJ.,

[@xbabu142x]

It can also get you slapped in the face with a whole full sized tilapia in the face and loss of friends IRL though. Many such cases. Academic debate has rules and consequence it is fun. The only time I would ever accept that from is children, since they're cute and want to learn. Also you do feel a sense of duty towards them if you are in academia. Otherwise it's not even up for discussion time to pull out the you have to be this hot to be this crazy bar chart.

[@Misstborn]

something that really frustrates me is the conflation of conspiracies and conspiracy _theories_. so many times, media will talk about supposed "conspiracy theories" that are just _conspiracies_ that were never actually _theorized_ about it's extraordinarily difficult to keep a lid on all but the most mundane of conspiracies, so the vast majority of purported conspiracies are so likely to be false solely on the likelihood of them not having had the lid blown on them. and the actual conspiracies that don't get the lid blown on them are very boring, and thus nobody theorizes about them.

[@EmpressMermaid]

The reason i don't give much credence to conspiracy theories is that people just aren't good enough to pull them off. The number of people who not only have to perform their work perfectly but who have to keep their mouths shut is impossibly high. Anyone who's ever been a project manager will agree. I mean, ever try to get even a dozen people on the same page?

[@wombatpandaa9774]

This is such an important perspective. We have seen countless times throughout America history actual, real conspiracies, and the difference between them and the theories is that the people committing conspiracy are never organized enough to pull it off without spillage.

[@jakeroper1096]

Also, when you really stop to look at it, coincidence happen literally all the time. It would be far weirder if coincidences didn’t happen in regards to whatever events we think are tied to the conspiracy. A billion things happen per day, a chunk of them will line up just on chance alone.

[@Eldeecue]

Yup. I forget where I read it, but at about 10 or 11 people, keeping a secret becomes completely impossible. Somebody is gonna squeal, somebody is gonna blurt it out to their wife, or son....or have a death bed confession. Most of the higher echelon of conspiracy theories require thousands, if not tens of thousands of people to remain completely silent and complicit, and be so for their entire lifetimes. Humans just like to yak WAY too much for this to even remotely plausible.

[@RunePonyRamblings]

The real conspiracy: the media promotes idiotic conspiracy theories to distract from actual wrongdoing. Ever notice how UFOs and/or seem to randomly take over the news cycle out of nowhere? Whenever that happens, take a look at what the government or Big Biz were up to that week.

[@pukeskylark]

There are tons of whistleblowers, they’re discredited as conspiracy theorists lol

[@plucas1]

Education is something that is supposed to continue throughout your entire lifetime. 18 y.o. is only when the government stops wholly subsidizing it.

[@gabrielethier2046]

Bot

[@brokkrep]

Bot

[@AduckButSpain]

Yep, and you clearly did not get any.

[@Leafsdude]

Sadly, some people think "education" means believing what you want to believe and finding evidence for it, instead of searching for the evidence and accepting the sound inductive conclusions from it that lead to predictive models. Or, more generally, that "learning" means figuring things out in whatever way you want to, instead of a very precise methodology (namely, epistemology and/or the scientific method).

[@ianbelanger7459]

The conservative framing of conspiracy theories as a failure of character, i.e. a lack of interest in education, is both wrong and useless. Conspiratorial thinking is not the result of improper moral training in regards to education, but a fundamental emotional need of people to make sense of a world that doesn't always make sense. The most powerful conspiracy theories have bound the emotional explanations to other emotions within the target audience reinforcing the rightness of the explanation with a core belief. It is more prevalent today because the world is changing and there is money to be made making people feel better regardless of the objective truth.

[@WarrenPeaceOG]

The other side of conspiracy theories is the term being used to dismiss evidence of scandals and crimes as mere 'conspiracy theories,' or dismiss whistleblowers as conspiracy theorists. It's very effective

[@robgronotte1]

Examples?

[@WarrenPeaceOG]

@@robgronotte1 "The Grayzone has downplayed or denied the Chinese government's human rights abuses against Uyghurs,[32] published conspiracy theories about Xinjiang, Syria, and other regions,[33][34] and published disinformation about Ukraine" ~ Wikipedia

[@otisdylan9532]

@@WarrenPeaceOG There's no evidence that anyone but Assad used chemical weapons in Syria, so it's proper to call claims to the contrary conspiracy theories.

[@xbabu142x]

Especially heinous since the whistleblower is always providing legally culpable proof not even making stuff up.

[@yummersreal]

​@@robgronotte1search up the assange situation

[@rriveranotario]

I think calling them theories gives them an unfair air of respectability. I like how I heard them called in German, something like “conspiracy myths”

[@danielcortez2499]

I use conspiracy fetishists.

[@hawoaliahmed6996]

They were called urban myths, rumors or gossip before jfk .

[@bahnspotterEU]

Sorry to disappoint, but as a German I‘ve only ever known them as „Verschwörungstheorien“

[@toxicwaste159]

Thats a rather recent change and its only really changed in the media. Most people still call them theories, because believe it or not, the use of the word "theory" in science is not the same as the use of the same word in casual conversation. Something being called a "theory" in casual conversation really doesnt give it any meaningful legitimacy whatsoever.

[@ungrave5231]

when did we stop using "urban legends"?

[@TheRennDawg]

I have a new tactic that I use with conspiracy theories, new for me at least, I ask for original source. Most recently, I did this with someone who claims that canned foods are poison. When I asked for the original source, she responded with, "What do you mean?" I replied, where is the original article or scientific research for this claim?. She deleted the post.

[@forthrightgambitia1032]

My tactic is to pretend to listen and try to break off the conversation as soon as possible.

[@belg4mit]

There is a line from an old Dilbert comic that is rather apt, "I respectfully decline the invitation to join your hallucination"

[@AuraHero]

@@belg4mit Kinda ironic considering the Scott Adams' current state.

[@TheRennDawg]

I am not trying to persuade the conspiracy theorist. My motivation is to try and persuade those who might listen to them.

[@bobbsurname3140]

Couldnt that be partially true? Given that cans are plastic-lined, and micro-plastics are generally harmful to our health?

[@savagecabbage138]

conspiracy theories were fun until I realized people actually believed in them

[@xbabu142x]

My brother in Brassica oleracea var. capitata truly and utterly.

[@MominEnjoyer]

I often make up little joke conspiracy theories that are fun in my head, and whenever I actually consider posting them, I always think "wait no, WHAT IF THEY START BELIEVING IT AND I BECOME INDIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR A MASSACRE?"

[@tnt-boom]

Hey conspiracy theorists, Earth isn't a sphere after all. It's a bumpy oblate spheroid.

[@URProductions]

The polar circumference is 0.1% smaller than the equator. Earth is more spherical than a basketball.

[@Noah73827]

Technically it is more of a sphere than a cue ball

[@dynamitewolft4194]

@@URProductions what are mountains then

[@ngoma]

@@dynamitewolft4194 you’re too close,change your perspective, then you will understand.

[@PetroBeherha]

Bingo.

[@MysticOfTheSands]

Let us disambiguate "conspiracy" as: 1) a plan/plot devised by a small group of people to the detriment of and without the knowledge or consent of the larger population of which they are a subset (conspiracy, that is, in the restricted, realist sense) and 2) the cosmic clusterfuck, "everything is a lie!!!!" type. You're right to sternly rebuke the latter, but as for the former--people do conspire against one another often enough, goodness knows. Sometimes ineptly, too--either in the sense that the plot fails or in the sense that it succeeds but the effect of the damn thing backfires when the outcome should have been obvious.

[@JJMcCullough]

That’s why I said the “Theory” part matters

[@CharlieQuartz]

@@JJMcCullough A theory doesn't have to be popular or widely known about, it's just an idea/hypothesis/supposition held by at least one person. We all have ideas about how people of advantage conduct secret tactics to pursue illegal or unsocial activity, and these can rightly be called conspiracy theories.

[@craigstephenson7676]

There's still a lot of the first type of conspiracy theories that don't hold weight. Too many people just exchange blind trust for blind distrust, which isn't any better.

[@MysticOfTheSands]

@@craigstephenson7676 Very true. Negative dogmatism is still dogmatism.

[@uromvictor]

​@@JJMcCullough The term conspiracy theory has been slapped on anything that questions popular societal think. A clear example is the origin of covid 19 & UFO 🛸. So saying people should question thing is clearly not scientific to start with. Or saying people shouldn't build theories around their experiences is totally wrong.

[@gottkonighorus1493]

Why would anyone argue that you`d have to chip people to track them? You can track phones for many years now. It`s not hard and even advertised as a feature and I don`t know many people running around without one.

[@theprofessionalfence-sitter]

Conspiracy theories do serve a purpose: they are about group formation. By professing ones believes in an outlandish conspiracy theory, one sabotages ones relationships to 'normal' people, thereby showing ones commitment to fellow conspiracy theorists - this is the same reason some people express extreme political believes. That conspiracy theories are not actually about the conspiracies, themself, can be seen by the fact that conspiracy theorists rarely, if ever, actually act on their professed believes and that people who later turn against and denounce a conspiracy theory almost never do so because of factual information but due to changes in their personal lives.

[@hedgehog3180]

This is called “Costly Signalling” in sociology, you show your allegience to a group by taking an action that is costly to you but is hard to fake. Professing a belief in conspiracy theories qualifies for this because the act of professing the belief is in itself costly.

[@haraldisdead]

Caveat: There is also an inverse problem; intelligent people ignoring big problems because they think that "yea, they're assholes" is just too simple an explanation.

[@GreatWhiteElf]

Not sure I understand, could you give an example or two for what you mean?

[@Cadet4wi10]

​@@GreatWhiteElfNot listening to someone because you don't like them is a simpler way to put it

[@sas_quatch]

The rhetoric of a blustering asshole can affect things in negative ways, even if it’s not directly policy. Ex: How Trump’s rhetoric can decrease trust in democratic institutions. He claims elections are rigged (not only 2020, he claimed it in 2016 before he won). Yes, one can be an asshole and notice a problem, but how you go about carrying out a solution also matters. Trump prevents the border-and-Ukraine bill from being passed because wants it to be the border topic to be something *only he* can fix.

[@8stormy5]

Yep. People have the same problem correctly understanding Hanlon's Razor as with any other razor, you're only supposed to prioritize charity if malice can't explain the situation as well. I see many people attributing to incompetence what is actually far more readily explained by malice.

[@terdragontra8900]

@@sas_quatch Its a feedback loop that is complicated, though; I think Trump managed to get elected in 2016 because he tapped into mistrust that was already brewing. His personal choices have affected history, and he is remarkable in several (broadly bad) ways, but some other politician would have tapped into that populist gold mine pretty fast, methinks.

[@AndriiZ]

To say conspiracy is not possible, is to say that people are unable to plan things in groups. which is ridiculous.

[@Rath_Burn]

One issue is if a whistle blower leaks info and out a someone, and that person just tries to sweep it under the rug by calling it a conspiracy theory, but later it's proven to be true, it give artificial belief in other conspiracy theories.

[@sollamander2206]

Notable lack of mentions of CIA Cold War shenanigans.

[@TheMysteryDriver]

All these mainstream outlets are mouthpieces for the gov

[@sydssolanumsamsys]

its because theyre too true to deny but talking about them and the logical extension of them into the present puts you outside of the political establishment, a territory mr. mcullough does not breach.

[@dkroll92]

most of those are only known to begin with because the CIA publicly disclosed them in the 1970s. Nobody was talking about the "heart attack gun" before the director of the CIA showed it off at a televised Congressional hearing for example

[@hedgehog3180]

@@sydssolanumsamsys That's a very nice strawman and ad hominem combination you have there.

[@sydssolanumsamsys]

@@hedgehog3180 neither a strawman nor ad hominem

[@wheressteve]

I'm hear mostly to hear the numerous "aboots".

[@williamkarbala5718]

I’ve studied many conspiracy theories and the two things they all have in common is lack of human error and massive scale. Any screw up is not just a screw up, it’s part of the plan and every conspiracy is a huge vast web, ignoring the fact most crimes involve a small personal crew to minimize leaks and fuck ups. I hate conspiracy theories.

[@David-uc4hc]

@williamkarbala5718 what conspiracies have you studied? Sounds like you didn't look into NSA mass surveillance, weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to war with Iraq, congress' insider trading, Israel using AIPAC to buy our politicians... these are all true conspiracies with undeniable evidence.

[@onewingedangel9189]

I find it interesting that none of the ones with some sort of substance like MKUltra (people were theorizing about mind control experiments long before that came to light) or the FBI-MLK lawsuit were covered

[@robgronotte1]

MK Ultra wasn't an attempt to do "mind control" in the way most people think of it - they weren't hoping to create zombies to do their bidding. They were just hoping for some kind of "truth serum" to allow them to discover the plans of their captured enemies. I wouldn't consider that to be "mind control" even if the experiments had been fruitful, which of course they weren't.

[@AlextheRed1917]

​@@robgronotte1 One of the experiments was laser focused on getting a lady who hated guns to pick one up and shoot her friend.

[@spiderjerusalem6887]

@@robgronotte1 breaking people's minds for the purpose of interrogation = not mind control. Okay so as long as your definiitons remain in the realm of the cartoonish, nothing is ever a 'conspiracy theory.' Someone should ask JJ what happened to Nordstream 2.

[@AWSMcube]

this. i focus on actual conspiracies like the ones you mentioned, not conspiracy theories (or more appropriately, hypotheses) but i still get called a conspiracy theorist for it. it is frustrating. the one conspiracy hypothesis i believe in is that the american government elevates/promotes the bullshit ones (e.g. flat earth, 5g, CERN, etc.) to distract people from the actual shady shit that they do

[@stevethepocket]

@@robgronotte1 Also it's never been proven that they actually found anything, just that they were looking into it. And honestly, I can't imagine being surprised by that. I'd want the people in charge of things to learn as much as possible about as many things as possible. Wishing ignorance upon those in power is a bad idea (and smacks of security by obscurity, at any rate).

[@desperateambrose5373]

Never attribute to conspiracy what can be more easily explained by incompetence and/or stupidity.

[@danielmikula1375]

Conspiracy theories have always been fascinating as a physiological topic to me. They're basically a metastasized version of confirmation bias, with everything that supports the premise being uncritically accepted as true, disparate information unilaterally false, and everything else twisted vigorously until it fits into one of the previous two categories.

[@lightfeather9953]

My hunch is that it's sort of built into our humanity as a way for little tribal groups to better bond with a shared worldview about outsiders, religious feelings, etc Especially when a conspiracy theory about a rival tribe planning to kill everyone might actually be true at times. People filled in the blanks on their very limited knowledge. We didn't evolve with all the learning available to us today.. it's more natural for some people to just believe the laziest easiest explanation for anything that fits their biases.

[@elijahwise4588]

History channel after 9 pm:

[@KC3YCU]

Most smokers I've encountered are well aware of the dangers of smoking, but simply don't care (or at least don't care enough to endure the hardship and sacrifice of quitting). "Well, we're all gonna die of something" is a familiar refrain

[@blakekaveny]

Also a large number of medical professionals also smoke

[@BeegDongLeFleur]

That is my take on life. Why make it into something big and mysterious? Just live and forget about the bullshit.

[@Ryan-wr8fx]

If I was told to write articles like this as a journalist I'd be looking for a new job really quick. My high school newspaper didn't even publish articles as low effort as these.

[@Mike-kw5xv]

ummmmm.... that is likely true but it is worth noting that as far as I can tell none of the articles JJ listed were written by journalists. They were written by what are now called content writers.

[@AndreDutraTV]

Media literacy is more important than ever. I appreciate you taking the time to help us navigate the internet better!

[@tomverlaine728]

It's just critical thinking.

[@5upl1an]

we ARE all chipped, we are all williling carry it around in our pockets

[@thegreypath1777]

Absolutely.

[@short-leggedturtle1315]

By looking up the word conspiracy, it is not difficult to tell that conspiracies are pretty common throughout history. All you need is a few people getting together in secret to do something thought to be bad for society. The trouble is not the belief in conspiracies but the tendency for the mind to develop irrational and complex conspiracies based on flimsy or non-factual evidence. The refusal to believe in any kind of conspiracy is just as delusional as the belief in all kinds of wacky conspiracies.

[@ondrejvasak1054]

I am not satisfeid with defining conspiracy theory as a "theory that asserts the existence of a conspiracy". If that is your only definition, many everyday events would fall into that category. There are conspiracies in our world that happen, courts convict people of conspiracy all the time. Few moths ago I read about a wife that hired her lover to kill her husband. She was convicted of "conspiracy to commit murder". At some point, before her guilt was proven, we can hypothesise that some policemen or detective had a theory about her involvement. Does that mean this hypothetical detective is a conspiracy theorist? Obviously not, that is why I think your definition of "conspiracy theory" is incomplete. Also asserting that no conspiracy theories are ever true is almost as naïve as believing in all of them. There is a lot of messed up shit that governments do and keep secret that is only uncovered years later that if somebody told you about before it became common knowledge, you would probably dissmiss it as a wacko consiracy theory. Like the Tuskegee syphilis study. Most conspiracy theories are ovbious nonsense, but we must also be careful not to automatically dissmiss all complains against the system as conspiracy theories without scrutiny. Recognizing what is a conspiracy theory and what is a genuine complaint has become increasingly difficult in our society. Maybe that is why people like Trump constantly blur the lines? Because if they propagate bunch of wacko conspiracies about everything, their supportes will not believe any genuine things they actually committed, like falsifying bussines records and paying off porn stars in order to win elections. Because many people are not able to tell the difference anymore. All of those articles articles you went trought in this video are obviously intentionally misleading for profit. Or possibly even written by AI. I don't know why this sort of "journalism" is tolarated.

[@David-uc4hc]

@ondrejvasak1054 that is the definition of conspiracy theory, and that's just something we have to live with. Which means we have to take each conspiracy theory on its own merits and actually critically think about it. There's many I dismiss out of hand or don't bother with, but when it comes to war or rogue government agencies (like the NSA or CIA), or corruption, I do my research.

[@theclimbto1]

It was July 1st, 1965 when the FTC required warnings on Advertisements, and it was January 1 1965 when the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking being a Health Hazard came out. Those Companies spent the ENTIRE 50's lying in advertising and suppressing reports about the dangers. That's over 15 Years, man. And the reason it took the US Government so long, was due to the Companies engaging in bad faith and burying reports. That's why it's a Conspiracy Theory. That 15 Years of Lying and Suppression thing.

[@kevincronk7981]

the fact that the Canadian government was discriminating against gay people even in the 90s is crazy to me. that means around the time JJ was a kid, his own government was still refusing to hire people of the sexuality he would become as an adult. it's so easy to forget that we've made so much actual social progress in recent decades, something like that would never slide these days.

[@courtneyjohnsonhaber4591]

Srsly I'm in my 30's and it's wild how much social progress has been made from when I was in highschool.

[@bragtime1052]

​@@LibertarianPatriot bro calls himself a libertarian and says that

[@christianpethukov8155]

"Progress....." 🙄 We've progressed towards some sh-t, that's for sure.

[@blew1t]

@@legaciestrWhen every gay and tran repents for their sins because of LibertarianPatriot commenting “The good ol’ days” on a JJ McCullough video, we’ll get back to you

[@eriktroske6405]

@@courtneyjohnsonhaber4591 my hometown in Indiana just had a pride event that was actually really well-attended and something that would’ve been unimaginable even 10 years ago. Before, everyone would have to go to Chicago

[@nicodemusedwards6931]

3:14 Some Conspiracy Theories did turn out to be true. Yes. And nobody in the west thought Gorillas were real for millennia. That doesn’t mean I should spend my days believing a dragon will burn down my house because “some animals we thought were fake turned out to be real.”

[@hedgehog3180]

I don't think gorillas existing was ever a conspiracy theory, a conspiracy theory requires that you allegde that there is a conspiracy and no one did that with gorillas. People in Europe just didn't believe that gorillas existed for a long time because they had no solid evidence of them and then during the age of exploration European sailors started running into gorillas and monkeys more often so Europeans accepted that gorillas existed.

[@Scape_The_Goat]

Hate the people who use the phrase "Just asking questions" as a cover for their absurd claims

[@markdavis7397]

That line of reasoning has always bothered me, for example when somebody does something obviously dim-witted and someone says "well everybody thought so-and-so was dull, but he turned out to be a genius." Yes, that can happen, and you should be careful before dismissing someone as dull. But someone appearing dull is ABSOLUTELY NOT a piece of evidence indicating genius. New evidence contrary to present evidence comes up all the time, and needs to be evaluated in an unbiased way as it comes. It does NOT change the fact that present evidence is what we have now, and is the best basis for present decision-making.

[@jev5117]

i’m going to shift away from theories, and just point out that governments do behave conspiratorially and are capable of more evil than most people are comfortable admitting. most conspiracy theories are false, but i do not believe our governments behavior has warranted our unwavering trust either

[@funfunfun275]

JJ's point is no actual long-term theory about whatever the government is up to has been true. Sure a government can conspire (more likely just people in one department) but that doesn't mean people's ravings about what they think the government is doing is at all helpful. Bad things happen because people are often bad but then trying to base your worldview on looking for patterns of conspiracy is foolish when no real evidence exists other than vague suspicion. It would be like never trusting a family member because your mom or brother once lied to you.

[@krombopulos_michael]

I think that's fine to think, because it's obviously true that governments do keep secrets and have done bad things historically. Its not smart to just say "the government said it so I believe it", but it's no smarter to say "the government says it so it must be a lie". The bad things we do know about were found out because people did the work of investigating it and gathering evidence, and we should demand that evidence. Conspiracy theories on the other hand are people just dreaming up stories about bad things the government or "big"-whatever is doing without actual evidence. Almost always it's just an appeal to a narrow motivation (usually something like "it would give them more power/money") without requiring evidence it actually happened, or fully exploring how they could pull it off or how other actors would behave if it was true.

[@igniortix]

I think your position is my end goal as for the position I would like a former conspiracy theorist that I persuaded to have. I think it maintains a lot of the sentiment and intuitions but in a much more moderate way. I think it allows for much better conversation

[@terdragontra8900]

I think most of the bad things in our world are emergent properties of complicated systems involving many people that are not decided by anyone, not due to planned coordinated action headed by an “evil” committee of some sort. (or at least, this is true more often than most people think)

[@realolivertwisted]

“Most conspiracy theories are false.” Sure. 🤡👌🏼

[@fortunatejeremy]

Anyone who tells you to "do the research" in place of answering your questions has not done the research. Anyone who has done the research would be dying to share what they found.

[@jeepmega629]

I love your "Roasting Dumb Internet Beliefs" videos. This, the Mandela Effect, and the Simpsons Predictions videos are my favorites in your channel. Just so entertaining too see you debunk and roast these dumb online claims!

[@ataraxia7439]

I used to be super super into conspiracy theories in high school like Alex Jones and David Ickle and videos “exposing the Illuminati” on KZbin etc. I truly believe I mostly just bought into that stuff because it was fun and it felt cool to feel like I was seeing stuff most ppl weren’t. I don’t think it was until I was around 17/18 that I realized how harmful it can actually be on a large scale to not have beliefs grounded in reality and to have a society that regularly contests basic truths. I do think there’s an issue where large institutions and elite groups have eroded trust regular people put in them that’s in large part to blame but the solution to that isn’t a world where we all get our truth from alternative media and cranks online.

[@TheMysteryDriver]

He was mostly right about the Frog thing. And the weird stuff they do at the bohemian grove is true. And the Bilderberg group is real and they try to hide their attendees.

[@David-uc4hc]

@ataraxia7439 I'm so glad you mentioned the erosion of trust, because yes. I agree. That's the problem here. We have a government and institutions that consistently lie. That erosion of trust is why conspiracy theories are rampant. Many conspiracies are real with evidence (where corruption is concerned, and wars). But this failure of trust leads people to go off the deep end.

[@NobodyssGirl]

Came back to say this but conspiracy theorists like to attribute malice to what can be chalked up to stupidity or incompetance. While yes, government can be malicious and harmful, a lot of times its just incompetance.

[@dkroll92]

there's a third possibility: the people doing the conspiring actually have good intentions, but their value system differs from the people they're hiding their actions from

[@hedgehog3180]

A lot of the time nothing has even happened. Like with Chemtrails, literally nothing was happening and people decided to make a conspiracy out of it.

[@akirak1871]

When there's a pattern of "mistakes" that all appear to serve one specific goal, I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask whether they're actually mistakes or not, and it can be pretty dangerous to excuse them as such when there might be something else going on. If some nutcase discharged a bullet at his neighbor's house and said it was just a gun safety screw-up and he's very sorry and he'll be more careful in the future, but then it happened again week after week, the neighbor would be totally justified in thinking that maybe it's not just incompetence. It would be perfectly logical for him to ask why no other houses ever get shot at or why no corrective action seems to be taken against future "incompetence". I realize this doesn't PROVE that a conspiracy is going on. But the longer the list of "mistakes" gets, the more likely it is that this is happening on purpose.

[@WoodEe-zq6qv]

Do you just expect me to believe that every one of JJ's videos is award winning with no conspiracy involved?

[@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745]

Right?

[@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding]

I feel that something that drives people into conspiracies is also the sense of "control it gives". There is a weird comfort to believing that a group (even a malicious one) is actualy controling everything, instead of accepting the uncomfortable and unpredictable chaos of the real world.

[@cjckdbdhx]

My thoughts exactly. It's more comfortable to believe that somebody is at the wheel and that everything happens for a reason, than to confront that the world is fundamentally chaotic and confusing and everyone is just as confused as you are

[@alexandramaclachlan7597]

Exactly! It's sad to think about how scared they must be, to desperately cling to ANYTHING that helps them make sense of it all. How human...

[@spiderjerusalem6887]

one could easily argue the opposite. Most people who 'trust' their government isn't lying to their faces (ie: conspiring) are about 75 IQ. Most of the world's dumbest absolutely need to depend on the systems they believe in holding up, even when the evidence is staring them straight in the face.

[@001variation]

If irony was poison your mother would be crying her eyes out right now. Is there not a sense of "control" and "comfort" by believing a malicious group of hucksters and con artists are trying to convince as many people as possible of false conspiracy theories so that these people are fearful and therefore more easily controlled? "DON'T TRUST THE -government- NEWS OUTLETS! THEY ARE JUST LYING TO YOU TO MAKE MONEY!"

[@blessedveteran]

Well said.

[@supervideomaker9136]

For me, I think it’s crazy how chaotic this world is. Like when you think about it, so many forces are interacting with each other and so much is not in our control. I get why conspiracy theories can be appealing. It provides a nice answer, that there is a mysterious force controlling things and this world isnt as chaotic as we think. However, I feel like going towards conspiracy theory route usually isn’t helpful at solving the problem and it’s a shame because a lot of people seem to go here

[@nocturne7371]

The headline to these articles should be "Shoddy things gouvernments or scientist have done that you might not have heard about"

[@lubamovie5841]

JJ can quibble about definitions, but all of the incidents I short listed below - note that none of these came up in this video - are examples where rumors swirled for years or decades about the US government acting clandestinely and deliberately hiding their malfeasance (aka: the truth) that, eventually, came to be proven, despite the governments efforts to suppress it from becoming public knowledge (aka: conspiracies): - domestic surveillance of citizenry (as revealed by Edward Snowden) - Bay of Pigs/Operation Northwoods - Gulf of Tonkin incident - MK Ultra program/Operation CHAOS - JFK assassination (the fact that the government STILL won't release the documents demonstrates to anyone with a sound mind that their was and is some cover up going on some level) - US backed Iranian Government take-over (the Shah) - US backed Chilean Government take-over (Pinochet)

[@halle420]

I second this.

[@pixie12]

Yeah. Like I understand his point that putting full belief into all conspiracy theories is bad, but it’s disingenuous to act like just because it’s a conspiracy theory that it’s inherently wrong to even entertain the idea that it could be true. In fact, I’d argue that it’s dangerous to write them off entirely because it prevents us from questioning the sketchy things involving the powers that be.

[@D0Y0u3v3r]

​@@pixie12 It's disingenuous to act like conspiracy theories should be trusted without the truth to back it up just because of possibilities. What makes a conspiracy theory, a conspiracy is the lack of evidence. A conspiracy theory being true isn't a conspiracy anymore. It's fact. JJ is essentially saying that someone shouldn't trust something that has no clear cut evidence until it has clear cut evidence.

[@crumblelord1302]

​@@D0Y0u3v3rI just feel like that's a cop out argument, tho. Oh, it's not a conspiracy theory anymore because there's evidence to back it up. Conspiracy theories have evidence to support them, it's just usually not very compelling evidence if you take the time to look into it. Saying something isn't a conspiracy theory retrospectively is akin to retconning something in a TV show. You just changed the definition of what it means to be a conspiracy theory, but it doesn't mean that your example wasn't one. Just because the government eventually failed to hold back the information behind MK Ultra doesn't mean that it wasn't suppressed at one point and arguably still today to an extent. I don't believe in any conspiracy theories, but I'm just being honest in the conversation.

[@crumblelord1302]

There was also -the Iran contra affair -the crack conspiracy under Reagan -tons of stuff about the Vietnam war -the MLK assassination, for the same reasons you mentioned, we don't really know how much of a coverup there was, but there certainly was some -All kinds of ATF cases -Lastly, an obvious one: Lobbyists, because at one point, people didn't believe that corporations could be that powerful in politics, but they have

[@cerilious]

While it's dangerous to legitimize conspiracy theories, I can't help want to admit to some coverups and conspiracies to gain rapport with my relatives that are already so deep on conspiracy theories that they won't believe anything I say unless I prove I'm on their side. WMDs and lightbulbs are what come to mind.

[@hedgehog3180]

Lightbulbs? Is that the “lightbulbs can secretly last forever” thing?

[@David-uc4hc]

@cerilious Wmd was a legitimate conspiracy though. The government used that as an excuse to go to war with Iraq. This is well documented. It's hardly a radical position to take.

[@David-uc4hc]

@@cerilious it's not dangerous to seriously consider evidence of conspiracy theories. There's many conspiracies with legitimate evidence.

[@minervadetauro7646]

@hedgehog3180 more like "lightbulbs lasted like twice as much at first but they made them last less to sell more"

[@brittanyrussell5937]

I want "Naughty Contrarian Energy" on a t-shirt.

[@SipDisco]

yes!

[@Bruvva_Wu]

You could sell a few of those shirts to a few cheeky market investors.

[@crabser2253]

I used to be into these ridiculous conspiracies, but I later realized that the people in power are far too stupid to do any of it.

[@RealBadGaming52]

Thats public and civil servents, i doubt thier running things , just the useful idiots in the master plan, its the WEF , Davos and the likes of Soros id be worried about

[@Evan_Infinite]

This video is the definition of finding a premise and building around it. 😂

[@mjr_schneider]

One of my (least) favourite things about today's internet is that you get to see how conspiracy theories form in real time, sometimes only moments after events take place. I'm too young to remember 9/11, but I got to see it happen with COVID, the vaccine, the 2020 election, Jan 6, the Ukraine war and the October 7th attacks. And at least for me, seeing the nonsensical logic that people use to come up with these theories is very effective at inoculating me against them.

[@ZenKrio]

The thing is most of those are fact. Covid: Fauci made everything up, I knew this in March 2020 but everyone doubted it, and I knew, same with the origin, it was labeled a conspiracy to suggest it came from a lab, only it did. The jab turned out to not even be a vax, and I knew that day one, people are only realizing now due to courts. 2020 election, there are active recordings of votes being counted after things closed, and windows being sealed off so people couldn't see what was going on, when thats illegal. J6 was stated to be an FBI plot by the FBI themselves, and Pelosi just admitted that she was solely responsible for security and did nothing. Ukraine? Canadian Military knows that it started with American CIA bases being bombed by Russia because America was doing stuff there. O7th? I don't know what you mean. There are things I knew for years that are now coming out as fact.

[@scorpiowc395]

The Francis Scott Key bridge was another great example of this. Within hours of the bridge going down people on Twitter convinced themselves it was a setup to incite a race war or something

[@RealBadGaming52]

What Ukrain war conspiracies is there ? My mum think Putin is trying to ReForm the USSR

[@David-uc4hc]

@@mjr_schneider so... you take CNN's talking points about all these things at face value?

[@xbabu142x]

I work for the DoD as an informatics agent, therte is no possible way to hide such a thing with how many people could leak it and for no repurcussions. This goes for both the Canadian and the US government. The only stuff that is "hidden' away is the mass scale compute available for sutff like defense and also the DARPA proper qubit having quantum computer. If you're worried about encryption don't be, check the NIST site, the post quantum encryption gold standard is already laid out there, as per three years ago! THere is a deluge of information, especially in the US and zero in the actions to make it accesible and usable information for the populace to query, as is their constituional right. For Canadians I just do it since it feels like the actual sysadmins for the govt are just overwhelmed constantly. Some dude in Kelowna literally tried to contact the CRA to investigate Trudeau's wealth inflating "mysteriously," which was solved very easily by me just handing him the actual legally required fin records one must be providng whilst in office. Fun fact apparently if you alredy are rich, you can get richer by having investments. I can accept Trudeau as not competent but this Machiavellian villian this dude painted of him baffled me, as reality is so much more boring and droll.

[@plank201]

I don't think those publishers are necessarily trying to earn "contrarian cred" by making those lists. They're probably just trying to drive more traffic to their websites. The term 'conspiracy theories that turned out to be true' is a popular Google search term - we're talking hundreds and hundreds of searches every month - and that's probably enticement enough for people to churn out these articles without considering how they might influence wider thought.

[@sarysa]

I like to see conspiracy theories as being on the "gone too far" end of a spectrum. Said spectrum starts with a complete lack of critical thought, followed by an awareness of alterior motives, then an awareness of certain three letter agencies' tendency to go too far, and then ending with conspiracy theories. Neither end of the spectrum is healthy for society. The one saving grace of conspiracy theorists is that they force us all to become critical of the critics while also keeping us away from the other extreme end of that spectrum.

[@ShortFatOtaku]

conspiracy theories are entertaining. ancient aliens and bigfoot stuff. problems arise when people start engaging with them not as entertainment, but as fact

[@no_name-zo1hy]

Yooooo SFO sighting LFG.

[@kingofcards9]

There's a conspiracy to prevent you from making the trucker video.

[@Zibsters]

“The government put a microchip inside you to stop you from making the REAL trucker video”

[@l0lLorenzol0l]

Trucker video never, fell off

[@muzikgod]

Some I find entertaining, but it's gone too far IMHO. The science denial/illiterate is not funny/entertaining, and the majority of Canadians are really dumb when it comes to science/math! So many people are against vaccines, think the mRNA vaccines are dangerous, and look at how many people supported the freedumb convoy!

[@Ajv516]

I gave up trying to change peoples’ minds about conspiracy theories or superstitions. The discussion typically further entrenches their beliefs rather than dislodging them in any meaningful way. It’s like reaching for your keys or lighter that fell between the seat and center console in your car-the more you try to fish it out, the deeper it gets pushed down. There’s been enough studies to support this phenomena, that I’ve chosen to do more productive things with my time than exasperate someone else’s ignorance. I get it. I wanted to be one of those “beacons of truth and reason” too. But, fuck ‘em, either they’ll figure it out on their own or they won’t.

[@southcoastinventors6583]

People lie to each other and those who amass wealth and success want to general keep it. So the theories are just people attempt some sort of control over these decisions they have no control over kind of like religion. So only true part is people do bad things to one another and will lie about it.

[@DG-dy4tv]

It's better to listen to Big Brother. Love Big Brother. Julia will understand.

[@Eldeecue]

If they're close friends or family, there is an approach you can take to wean them off of it, but even that takes time and being very careful to not come off as antagonistic or hostile. Even if they themselves become antagonist and hostile.

[@jamespurchase4035]

All you can do is ask questions: "how do you know that?", "where did you hear that", "what makes you believe that?" Do you trust that source?, Why?Etc.. And then you have to listen and keep questioning until you get to the point where the edifice of "beliefs" masquerading as "knowledge" crumbles. The questions of "how do I know what I know?" Don't expect a miraculous eye-opening reaction, but you've sown the seeds of doubt which need time to germinate and grow in their mind, to flower further down the road. It was not a wasted effort. Lecturing doesn't work because we put up our emotional defences to protect the citadel of our beliefs - thinking takes precious energy😂

[@DG-dy4tv]

@@Eldeecue Never EVER doubt Big Brother. Read some Orwell, "1984". They took notes from him... or he was a prophet.... yeah, self fulfilling prophecy.

[@The_Cadaver]

I truly hate conspiracy theories, and I have nothing but vicious contempt for the people that spread them.

[@BloggerMusicMan]

I'm very happy you made this video J.J. Conspiracy theories are very annoying and even dangerous because they implicitly encourage people to follow their most paranoid fantasies rather than, as you say, encourage people to see how complex the world really is. I thought those lists would do better than they did. There are some genuinely horrific conspiracies that governments have engaged in or seriously contemplated. To take the U.S. and Canadian governments: Operation Northwoods, MK Ultra, Japanese internment camps, forced sterilization of indigenous people, Tuskegee experiments, COINTELPRO, Snowden NSA findings, etc. These are all real and show where governments can go if their power is not held in check. But part of learning is understanding the difference between acknowledging a series of unpleasant facts, and automatically thinking in conspiratorial terms because there's no other way you can explain the world. That's what distinguishes appropriate skepticism and conspiracy theories in my mind.

[@JJMcCullough]

The existence of well-known conspiracies has nothing to do with “conspiracy theories.” That’s the flaw of this whole framing.

[@BloggerMusicMan]

@@JJMcCullough I think you should read my comment again because I agreed with everything you said in your video.

[@darklelouchg8505]

​@@JJMcCulloughNo JJ, your own premise is flawed. Full stop.

[@The_king567]

@@darklelouchg8505nope he’s right you people are just dumb

[@The_king567]

None of those are conspiracy theories dude

[@The_dandy_zombie]

Conspiracy theories are the reason I’m no contact with some of my family. I despite them because it feels like it should be obviously that they aren’t true but they’d rather believe neat little theories without complexity.

[@prism_of_selves]

the lack of critical thinking is becoming an epidemic sadly. im sorry you lost those family members because of such easily verifiable bullshit

[@David-uc4hc]

@@The_dandy_zombie that's a wild reason to be no contact with family. You seriously just can't agree to disagree?

[@The_dandy_zombie]

@@David-uc4hc you’re aren’t entitled to know all the details of why I choose to go no contact but no I seriously couldn’t agree to disagree.

[@StandedJ]

Yep, truly one of the most pressing issues of our time

[@thiswillnotstandman]

Turns out conspiracies, are just another conspiracy theory. Phew!

[@izzyj.1079]

I'm surprised none of these articles even mentioned Snowden and the NSA and/or the PATRIOT act. I'm not conceited enough to assume I know everything there is to know about that situation, but if you're going to try to prove that sometimes conspiracy theories are true, that seems like a go-to.

[@JJMcCullough]

What conspiracy did it prove

[@ZechsMerquise73]

@@JJMcCullough Hmm, ehh, I don't know about this one. "They're listening to everything we say" was a conspiracy theory going back to the 1960s. Snowden's leaks revealed the capacity was there, and it's just anyone's guess as to what scale the systems leaked, and newer ones, are being used. Of course, that doesn't mean the 60s conspiracy was true, but no doubt people were wondering if such mass spying was going on before it was revealed. Maybe this is the closest best example, unless we still believe Obama that no spying occurred.

[@izzyj.1079]

@@JJMcCullough There absolutely were tinfoil hat types asserting "duh gubment is listenin to our phone calls". I'm not asserting that that necessarily proved a conspiracy theory because- as I admitted- it's very likely there's things I don't know about the subject. But for the "journalists" who are asserting that some conspiracy theory somewhere has been confirmed, it seems strange they wouldn't try to make that argument

[@robgronotte1]

@@izzyj.1079 of course the government is listening to some phone calls of people they suspect of serious crimes. I've never heard anyone deny that as a CT, and it's been used as a trope in TV shows and movies for decades. The tinfoil hat types believe that the government is listening to _their_ phone calls, which is almost certainly not true (unless they are also involved in crime or espionage). The government certainly doesn't listen to everyone's phone calls - that would take a force of people nearly the size of the entire US population to accomplish (or above the size of the population assuming you're only going to work those people 8 hours a day).

[@adamlam9600]

@@izzyj.1079 The sad reason is that the writers know that the readers of these articles aren't smart enough / straight up aren't interested in that kinda stuff and reading the background it takes to understand them, even though learning about real world stuff would be way more useful than learning about the "history" of aliens or Canada's secret gay detector or whatever

[@TheMysteryDriver]

Yet almost everything Snowden revealed was at one time considered a conspiracy theory.

[@alexandertheok9610]

yeah, curious why that wasn't included in any of the lists, then the people writing the articles wouldn't have had to waste their time trying to make stuff like the gaydar machine or the weather balloon sorta-kinda work.

[@TheMysteryDriver]

@@alexandertheok9610 well these are also picked out by JJ. There's a lot of articles that cover more real things like the ATT room 641A

[@kaiserteddie9564]

So should we just belive every conspiracy that appears? Like, qanon?

[@hedgehog3180]

No it wasn't, you clearly weren't actually paying attention to the news back in the 2000s because this shit was regularly being debated and the PATRIOT Act was one of the main criticisms democrats had of Bush. None of what Snowden revealed was news to anyone that had actually bothered to pay attention.

[@David-uc4hc]

@@TheMysteryDriver exactly. No one can ever again claim that mass conspiracy doesn't happen or even that it's uncommon.

[@beardannyboy]

JJ is really getting into his paternalistic phase

[@tylerp5839]

Fathers day no less

[@funghi2606]

So true, if I want to believe that paper straws are a way to bring communism into the world, I have the right not to be call out

[@liberalcitydweller]

I think conspiracy theories are what are paternalistic: by viewing any “elite” group of people as nefarious, they implicitly aim to discourage any group gaining power over others through completely legitimate and consensual means. They’re a lot like socialists in that way.

[@Necrotoxin44]

Unfortunately, an incredible amount of articles on the internet are just borne from content farms. Take searches to find out whether your favorite show is getting a second season, you're immediately presented tens of articles which say basically nothing. However, they brought you to them, and so their job is done, and the content is irrelevant. But, as you've demonstrated, there's a more dangerous side to irresponsibly written articles.

[@silverwurm]

Believing that someone, even someone hideously evil, is in control is more comforting than admitting that we’re just making this up as we go, and no one really knows where we’re going

[@skipperson4077]

well said. One of the worst realizations of my life was realizing how many 'adults' are just grown children...

[@kevincronk7981]

it is definitely true that there have been real conspiracies. whether or not people theorized about them before we learned that they happened is a different question.

[@hedgehog3180]

Yeah most supposed “real conspiracy theories” either weren't known about at all until some documents got declassified or some investigator discovered them, or were actually extremely well known but most people just didn't care.

[@cdollar67]

This video should have beed titled: "This is why these particular articles that chose to hyperfocus on a couple of corny "consiracy theories" are short of wrong."

[@rnrtruestories]

Feeding my daughter in wee hours of the morning. I see a jj upload and I have to click

[@jtgd]

I realize that a lot of conspiracy theories run specifically on doubts. Dont even need evidence, just doubt

[@gregoryallen0001]

wait.. this describes ANTI-conspiracy theorists tho: OBSCURANTISM

[@Nicole-xd1uj]

Honestly, I feel this video picked out some really ridiculous examples to disprove. Sure there are conspiracies that are completely based on fiction but there are some that are based on a growing body of evidence that requires unattainable knowledge to prove. I think it would have been a more interesting video to examine something that is being labeled a conspiracy right now because we don't have all the facts.

[@chrystiafreelandscankles548]

Agree 100%. These conspiracy examples are Buzzfeed-level.

[@Rainspector]

Name 1

[@Nicole-xd1uj]

@@Rainspector Covid lab leak. It was labeled a conspiracy for years and now, with more evidence of the genetics of the disease, it has become fairly well accepted that the origins probably stem from the lab although we'll never have all the details because of the Chinese government.

[@connorferguson2269]

Yup no mention of the forgian interference report or anything to close to home that might make sense.

[@anomilumiimulimona2924]

​@@Rainspectorthe coof being made by lab techs

[@Fe22234]

Working fo any modertly sized organization shows how unintenible conspiracy theories are.

[@Mrnotpib]

“Debunking is just saying ‘nuh-uh’ with receipts, known as ‘evidence’. No capital.” -Joseph Pulitzer, after a fat vape.

[@uniqueprogressive9908]

Joseph Pulitzer was a yellow journalists, look up his history

[@CharaTF2]

my conspiracy theory: my dog farted, it wasn't me

[@-beee-]

I really appreciate the distinction here between conspiracies (things that have legit happened) and conspiracy THEORIES (the notion that some people have access to a secret truth but are dismissed because of the powerful). I hadn’t thought of it that way before, so this was really helpful.

[@smareng]

JJ is only saying this under duress after they took his Knick-knacks.

[@krgoodrich1]

I believe they are actually gee-gaws.

[@SnakeitySpoonGilmour]

They seem more like tchotchkes to me.

[@greenlantern7959]

Dangit! The demons behind C-11 have finally captured JJ and forced him to submit to The Narrative

[@KolkoCat]

Me: “People that believe in conspiracy theories are so stupid-“ *realizes Epstein didn’t kill himself is technically a conspiracy theory*

[@averageelasmobranchenjoyer2972]

W H A T

[@JeffKing310]

This is a brilliant overview. Spot on JJ. Very thought provoking. The only conspiracy theory that carries weight in my mind relates to the JFK assassination. The lone gunman is still the official answer and likely closely involved but I do think there is a better than zero chance that a conspiracy existed to pull it off. Excellent video essay - clearly another award is coming.

[@PersonOfTheInternet280]

"And that's why my sponsor for today is Ground News".

[@shawnwilliam4653]

THANK YOU!!!!!!!FINALLY A TITLE THAT SAYS THE OBVIOUS.

[@Summathescorcher]

The civil ensign of Australia was a nice touch.

[@MrScottbot101]

I love how the people that complain that the federal government can’t do the simplest tasks correctly are the same ones that believe that said government is accomplishing all these incredibly intricate cover ups.

[@anomilumiimulimona2924]

I dont think you really get the idea that its not really the gov you see that would be purpotraiting the acts that are the problem.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@anomilumiimulimona2924 Do you realize how stupid it sounds when you say that there's a secret competent goverment that we just never see.

[@anomilumiimulimona2924]

@@hedgehog3180 ok, the unelected people you never see or hear about that use huge amounts of money to work deals behind the scenes. That big business corporations use to push/control secret agendas. Do you have any idea how may products and procedures are illegal in European countries do to them being incredibly harmful to humans and animals? Ever really read into prop 65? Do you understand the Chevron case? Do you understand funding for "Scientific" studies. What really is "peer reviewed" I dont think you know much about this subject, maybe you should read into it before calling others stupid, or criticizing ideas that you really havent read about.

[@Windwalker88]

I think there is some stuff happening behind the curtains we will never know about