How 9/11 shaped the Misinformation Industry

[Angrboda]

To me, it seems that modern conspiracy thinking was shaped in the 90s with the movie JFK. I still can't believe what I hear today in interviews people praising that movie and that lunatic Oliver Stone. I mean, it was a mainstream movie and people just accepted it.

I remember even watching the episode of the TV show "Bones" where they were researching the JFK assassination of a lone gunman or several shooters, and to my amazement, they didn't conclude the episode for what I can only guess is that there are so many people believing the conspiracy that they didn't want to offend the big chunk of their audience.

Of course, what further shaped people's minds in the 90s was the X-Files where they were selling people week after week the notion that the American government is some sort of supernatural force which has no bounds to cover up anything from everyone in the world. I mean, I guess most people saw it as fun fictional entertainment, but if they didn't think it all through they got caught up in the 9/11 conspiracies.

But then again, maybe the major factor for deluding people were the usual suspects of those who sell biorhythm charts, horoscopes, religion, etc.

I suspect it's a supply and demand thing. That style of thinking provides utility of a sort to some people allowing them to profitably occupy niches in our modern political and social ecology that may not have existed or been as profitable prior to some event, invention, or both, perhaps multiple. And on the supply side, it's been immensely popular for charlatans like Alex Jones. In a way, it's not much different from religion. Religion postulates that hidden factors are at play in our lives, and if we possess and hold on to certain special knowledge about the deeper meaning of existence, we're better off for doing so.