Conspiracy theories

"They know the truth, but they have all conspired to keep it secret." … "They say that because theyre a pampered elite out of touch with the real world." "They say that because theyre politically biased." "They have financial incentives." "They dont know any better, theyre in the grip of a powerful fallacy." "Well, thats followers of the X movement for you, they just hate everything good and decent." "I dont listen to what that person has to say, hes a known liar and fanatic." … Standing on the outside, what you should ask yourself is, "If theyre wrong, would they ever find out?"

"I say this to the militias and all others who believe that the greatest threat to freedom comes from the Government instead of from those who would take away our freedom: If you say violence is an acceptable way to make change, you are wrong. If you say that Government is in a conspiracy to take your freedom away, you are just plain wrong. If you treat law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line for your safety every day like some kind of enemy army to be suspected, derided, and if they should enforce the law against you, to be shot, you are wrong. If you appropriate our sacred symbols for paranoid purposes and compare yourselves to colonial militias who fought for the democracy you now rail against, you are wrong. How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on Earth live in tyranny! How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes!"

"Oh, there’s no high quite like getting the focused attention of powerful enemies. Nothing is better guaranteed to make you feel important in the world, which may be why conspiracy theories are so popular among frustrated underachievers."

"I didn’t know much about Conspiracy, but I did know that its theorists were mostly paranoid and tended to value conviction above evidence."

"It’s almost comical. Nobody knew anything, but everybody took that as proof of the hypothesis."

"The mechanisms that are making conspiracy theory convincing are not strictly informational. There are all of these other aspects to it, including felt aspects. Conspiracy theory is about arranging ideas in a particular way that allows [the thinker] to feel a certain way. And at exactly the same time [conspiracy theory] is about a particular feeling organizing the information. You sustain yourself in this emotional space and that’s what makes the ideas line up in a particular configuration."