From: rpattree2@gmail.com   
      
   Nearly Half of Americans Believe At Least One Conspiracy Theory    
   William S. Burroughs once said, "Sometimes paranoia's just having all the   
   facts."    
      
   By Rose Eveleth    
   SMITHSONIANMAG.COM    
   APRIL 8, 2014    
      
      
      
   It can be easy to mock conspiracy theorists, but here's a not-so   
   conspiratorial fact: you're surrounded by them. Nearly half of Americans   
   believe in at least one conspiracy theory, whether it's who shot Kennedy, who   
   was behind 9/11 or where Obama was    
   born.    
      
   A recent study by researchers at the University of Chicago compiled four   
   different surveys that asked Americans about their familiarity with conspiracy   
   theories. Most people had at least heard of the various theories, and 55   
   percent of them agreed with    
   at least one. These included statements like: "The current financial crisis   
   was secretly orchestrated by a small group of Wall Street bankers to extend   
   the power of the Federal Reserve and further their control of the world's   
   economy." That was the most    
   popular theory, with a full 25 percent of people believing in it. Here's   
   another: "Vapor trails left by aircraft are actually chemical agents   
   deliberately sprayed in a clandestine program directed by government   
   officials."      
      
   The researchers argue that "Americans have a high degree of familiarity with   
   conspiracy narratives and exhibit high levels of agreement with them." But   
   only to a point. Most people have a pet theory. While over half agreed with at   
   least one conspiracy,    
   very few endorsed two, and even fewer signed on to three. Those who do hold on   
   to a handful of conspiracies do so in a consistent way, the researchers   
   say--people who believe that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii are also more likely   
   to believe that    
   billionaire George Soros " is behind a hidden plot to destabilize the American   
   government, take control of the media, and put the world under his control."    
      
   One particularly interesting part of the study is just how willing we are to   
   accept these counter narratives, regardless of their familiarity or   
   plausibility. When presented with the theory that "the U.S. government is   
   mandating the switch to compact    
   fluorescent light bulbs because such lights make people more obedient and   
   easier to control," 17 percent of people said they can heard of this   
   conspiracy, and 10 percent agreed. There's only one problem with that: this   
   theory was made up by the    
   researchers. So it couldn't be a theory that anybody had actually heard   
   before.    
      
   So why are Americans so taken by these theories? Rita Handrich at The Jury   
   Room walks through one explanation:    
      
   Large portions of the population are drawn to the Manichean-style narrative   
   with the struggle between good and evil and that this tendency is particularly   
   strong in "the high proportion of Americans who believe we are living in   
   biblical end times". The    
   researchers seem to believe that conspiracy theories are simply part of the   
   American experience particularly for the many of us for whom "complicated or   
   nuanced explanations for political events are both cognitively taxing and have   
   limited appeal".    
   Conspiracy theories are more exciting and engrossing and thus, we choose, in   
   some cases, to believe them.    
      
   And sometimes things that seem like conspiracy theories turn out to be true.   
   (Hello, NSA.) As William S. Burroughs once said: "Sometimes paranoia's just   
   having all the facts."    
      
   TAGS    
      
   New Research Politics Psychology    
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   About Rose EvelethRose Eveleth    
   Rose Eveleth is a writer for Smart News and a producer/designer/ science   
   writer/ animator based in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the New York   
   Times, Scientific American, Story Collider, TED-Ed and OnEarth.    
   Read more from this author | Follow @Roseveleth    
      
      
      
      
   Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nearly-half-   
   mericans-believe-least-one-conspiracy-theory-180950455/#CgIjv8ASdSogLBOp.99    
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)