I think This Can Be Stated Easier

[Minimalist]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien...99511.html

Scientists discover the reason people believe in conspiracy theories

Mind-set of those with unusual beliefs about everything from 9/11 to moon landings linked with support for creationism

But the reason they support both is that they are fucking stupid.

[Anomalocaris]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien...99511.html

Scientists discover the reason people believe in conspiracy theories

Mind-set of those with unusual beliefs about everything from 9/11 to moon landings linked with support for creationism

But the reason they support both is that they are fucking stupid.

“Dunning Kruger” and “stupid” can both be replaced by the word “religion”.

[fromdownunder]

It seems likely that many conspiracy theorists are that way because of the "I know something that you don't" factor.  They think that they are smarter than everybody else and this can be tied in to the YEC belief that the world is only 6,000 years old.  "I know stuff that all those stupid scientists are wrong about" because I am really, really smart.  "I was the first to say in print that (select any event) is fake news because (insert spurious reasoning here)"

There is a mercifully nearly defunct Forum - Cluesforum - where it is a badge of honour to be the first to declare the new Trumpism, fake news, about any event.  The latest shooting, the latest earthquake, the latest hurricane, the latest pandemic,are all instigated by THEM (no, not the giant ants) because, well, they never seem to have and end/if as to why a particular event happened.  

It does come down to ego.  The YEC believes that his/her god sends a message through the Bible and that he is a special little flower who go to heaven forever.  The Conspiracy Theorist may be a YEC, or may not. but needs to put his stuff in the public domain, so that he will be recognised and become world famous in Man's eye, and if he is the first to do it, well, superhero.


Norm

[Minimalist]

"I know stuff that all those stupid scientists are wrong about" because I am really, really smart.  "

No doubt, Norm.  As Robert Green Ingersoll once noted:



This is what makes "belief" dangerous.

[vulcanlogician]

Socrates makes sense now, doesn't he?

[Minimalist]

Far more than that stupid fucking bible.

[Fireball]

Socrates drank hemlock! He must have been wrong!  

Actually, "hard science fear" is a problem in modern US culture, as it has been for centuries elsewhere. US media isn't helping.

I recall that when I graduated the university, I had a truer understanding of how little I actually knew. It was like standing at a tide pool, seeing it teeming with life, then looking out at the ocean, and thinking, dayamn.