Prologue

I have recently become fascinated around the psychology of the term 'Conspiracy Theorist', and the more I think about it the more fascinating I find it. I started writing this article with that as the main subject, but as I wrote it quickly developed to deeper need to understand. The fact is, It can be applied to so many things our life. And I would like to argue that it drives and control how we live our lives.

My reflections around this started when I became accidentally witness and participant to what I like to call a "social experiment". It was not planned nor meant as a social experiment, but the more I think about it the more sure I am that it is exhibiting an important clue in human psychology. Social experiment is probably wrong by definition, but I think the principles apply. 

 

Disclaimer: I have no professional background in Psychology, nor have I done extensive reading on the subject. But I am hoping this will ignite a debate. I am very interested to hear what other people think, especially if they disagree. This article is based purely on my own reflections. 

 

The "experiment"

Recently me and Mr.X was discussing the controversial subject around 9/11 2001, specifically around the subject of the 3 towers collapsing. Don't worry, this will not be about conspiracy theories. And I would also like to point out that Mr.X I know as a highly rational, intelligent and compassionate person. As well as creative and very good at what he does. I mention this to emphasize that this is not a discussion around logic and intelligence. 

 

The discussion was Specifically about the official explanation regarding the collapse of the two twin towers and WTC7. My stance in this discussion was that I do not believe the official explanation on how they collapsed. And in fairness I do suspect there might be a conspiracy behind. But I do not know that, and I do not claim to know that. Mr.X had the opposite stance, brushing it off as Conspiracy Theories. Which isn't completely wrong by definition. Who is right and who is wrong is irrelevant for this discussion. And as our views were opposite we obviously didn't agree. And I made the big mistake by trying to "shove my views down his throat". As you can imagine the discussion wasn't very productive due to my aggressive stance. And that was unfair from my side. It was also me that brought up the subject. 

 

A few days later, MR.X send me link to a Youtube video of a mini-documentary that was aired on Norwegian national television. And stated something like: "Have a look at this video, I have been searching but wherever I look the conclusion is always 'Conspiracy Theory'. Almost as if 'Conspiracy Theory' is irrational by it's own right. 

 

The interesting thing about this video is that they present a alternative explanation to why the 3 towers collapsed. The explanation itself is not important, but the fact that they presented an alternative explanation to the official version is. After they presented the details of their theory (which was interesting), they talked about how the witnesses that heard explosions gave the groundwork for all these crazy theories. And that they hoped this would help people to refrain from falling for the conspiracy theories. 

 

The video actually agreed with my stance, that the official version cannot be correct. They take it further and claim to have the explanation, a claim I am not making. However this video was used as an argument against my position in the discussion, despite that the video actually agree with me. 

 

What lies behind

It might sound comical at first, someone highly intelligent trying to argument against you by essentially agreeing without realizing it. But I think it is a very serious question, I think psychology behind it happens to us all on a dayly basis. I will go so far as saying I belive it drives us. And this is where it gets interesting. For me, it bring up a very philosophical question. How could this happen? And what made it possible for this to happen. I want to try and get to the root of that.

 

On the surface I think it is as simple as preconception. We have been told trough media and Hollywood films that 'Conspiracy Theorist' are crazy people wearing tin-foil hats that are promoting crazy 'Conspiracy Theories'. As well as politician promoting that idea. My suspicion is that it boils down to the end of the video when they started talking about conspiracy theories, logic went out and emotion took over. Despite the fact that the video actually agrees with me, I suspect that the word 'conspiracy theory' triggered this emotional preconception. 

 

Interestingly I am being called a conspiracy theorist from time to time, and until recently that used to offend me. But why should it? Where does this negative notion about anything related 'Conspiracy Theories' is automatically false and wrong? I did not claim to know what exactly happened. In fairness I do however however have suspicions that it could have been a conspiracy, and that there are pretty strong evidence to suggest that. But at the same time I do not claim to have all the answers. Again this is not about right or wrong, or if I am a 'Conspiracy Theorist' or not. But the psychology around how people conceive the term 'Conspiracy Theorist' and many other things. But one important point is; Why did I get offended? Isn't that the proof that I actually have some of the same negative preconception? If I did not, I would argue I should not have been offended. On the other hand I think it is a bit more complicated than that.

 

My Theory

My theory (that might be incorrect) is that trough the media people have a negative emotional connection to the term 'Conspiracy Theorist'. So in this case when at the end of the video they talk about conspiracy theories, that is automatically makes it a counter argument against me as I am promoting conspiracy theories. But yet, it actually agrees with my point. I believe that this emotional connection, sub-consciously dismisses any alternative theories due to the preconception that 'Conspiracy Theorist' is only negative. And that this automatically makes claim related to Conspiracy theories seem crazy, but on a emotional subconscious level. 

 

There are some really crazy conspiracy theories out there, and that obviously have an impact. But I really doubt that this alone would cause this pre-conception. I am going to make the argument that he media are very good at highlighting some of the really crazy theories. But they are not as good at highlighting the more rational ones. Including those that are publicly revealed and acknowledged. It does seem to be an effective tool to 'curb' real conspiracies, and we all know conspiracies do happen. They even make Hollywood movies about conspiracies that are revealed and admitted. But the point is that this negative emotion around 'Conspiracy Theorist' makes people automatically sceptical and often dismissive to anyone suggestion that people in the position of power could be involved in conspiracies. 

 

Let's go deeper and broader

Let's assume for the moment that I might be correct about the emotional connection and that this occurred trough media influence. How could this happen, how is it possible that the media basically have successfully implanted this notion that all conspiracy theories are automatically false and crazy. Conspiracy theories are just one example of many I think. We all have preconceptions that are based on a negative emotional subconscious connection. I definitely know I have, and that includes the term 'Conspiracy Theorist'. How else could I have been offended by it? Only when I sat down and really tried to reflect on it rationally, I realized how irational it was to get offended. 

 

There are many examples that I believe is rooted in the same basic human emotion that I think makes this possible. Some other examples:

- Black and Hispanics in the US, social experiments have shown that even blacks are more skeptical and less trusting to a random stranger if he is black. 

- Muslims; I am very anti-racist myself but I have to be honest and say I have I on multiple occasions caught myself having negative thought I don't want to have. For example on airplanes I have caught myself thinking hmm, could that be a terrorist. Even though I know it's wrong, and it makes me ashamed. 

- Jews, I think there are both conscious and subconscious negative emotion with Jews. To use myself as an example, rationally and logically I know it is wrong to be skeptical to Jews. But subconscious I tend to be skeptical until proven otherwise, but at the same time i know it is wrong and it goes against my most basic values. Yet I catch myself feeling or thinking it. When I see a orthodox Jew I have to really remind myself those feelings are wrong. Just because I strongly disagree with the Zionist agenda, doesn't mean all Jews are Zionist or fascists. 

 

We could make this list very long, but I think it is safe to say we all have irrational subconscious negative preconceptions. Whether we are aware of it or not. At this point in time I feel fairly confident that the media plays a big role in this. Whether this it is intentionally or not I am not going to speculate about here. In same cases it probably is, but in many cases it is obviously not. 

 

But what makes all this possible, why is it seemingly so easy to plant these type of ideas in our subconsciousness that keeps popping into our consciousness whether we like it or not?

 

Fear and reward system

I believe what makes this possible is one of our most basic and fundamental emotions. Namely FEAR. 

 

Just think about it, don't we live in a fear based society? From we were children we grew up to fear punitive measures by our parents and teachers. Instead of understanding the moral and ethical aspects around thing we did that was perceived as wrong, we got punished for it. So instead of being made to understand the consequences of what we did wrong, we FEAR the consequences. Even though we grew up loving our parents we also FEAR them. We FEAR their acceptance according to their convictions, and on some subconscious level we may even fear they wouldn't love us as much if we did not do as told.

 

I grew up with strict and loving parents, I was never physically or mentally abused. But yet still to this day I find myself worrying of what they might think of me. Isn't that highly irrational? I fear what they might think of me, but at the same time my parents only worry about me and my own family's health and welfare. 

 

As we grew up, we FEAR that we will not fit into society and what it expects of us. We constantly FEAR what other people think of us. We fear that we wont get good enough grades, we fear we will not do well enough at work. We fear we wont have enough money to pay the bills. 

 

We have all heard the term 'Fear is your worst enemy', yet our lives are completely driven by fear. Often irrational fear. 

 

I believe this fear we grow up with and that drives our lives IS what makes these type of irrational emotional preconceptions possible. When we hear the work "conspiracy theory" we fear it might be true, or we fear the person telling these theories could be crazy. When we see an Arab on the Airplane, we fear he could be a terrorist. When I see a Jew I fear he might be a fascist or Zionist. I believe these are all irrational ideas implanted trough media and the fear based society we live in. Just look at how the media is covering Islamic State conflict. Or Ebola:

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-zuLTxLBSDY" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe>

 

Weather we like it or not, trough fear the media does have allot of control of how we live our lives. One very good example of this is the latest Israel Palestine 'war' in the summer of 2014. At the time of wring this I live in The Netherlands. But grew up and come from Norway. During this conflict the media coverage of this conflict was VERY different in the two countries:

- In the Netherlands the focus was on Hamas Terrorist and the destruction they caused in Israel > You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand why this tipped the public opinion in the support of 'Israel's right to defend itself'

- In contrast the media coverage in Norway was focused on the destruction and death in Gaza. > Obviously this tipped public opinion in the support of the people of Gaza. 

 

The fact is we all are highly irrational beings driven by fear and emotion. Put fear and emotion up against rational logic; Fear and emotion will 'win' most of the time. 

 

Would we need to fear punitive measures if we were made to understand and face the consequences of our actions, rather than fearing the punitive measures.  

 

But I believe there is more to it than that. We also live in a reward based system, I believe this is closely linked to fear. Similar to fearing punitive measures instead of understanding consequences, we strive toward rewards not the result or product itself. At school we had a grade system, instead of reading and learning to gain knowledge we try to do well to get good grades so we can impress our teachers and parents. Not for self development and the power of knowledge itself. Or Simply: Doing something for the satisfaction of the result itself. One way to put it is that our lives is an internal struggle to please others. 

 

We take a professional education because that is what society expects. We fear to fall outside the system if we don't. We go to work performing tasks we don't necessarily like, but we do it out of fear for not getting rewarded. And that reward is your salary. 

 

Isn't this what makes commercial advertisement so effective? An advertisement that makes us want something we don't really need, and didn't even want before we watched the ad. A artificial need made possible by our eternal struggle for reward that plays on our subconscious obsession for reward and recognition. Would this be possible in a society not based on fear and reward, but on real understanding and satisfaction from the task or product itself? And the satisfaction by witnessing the positive impact your actions had? And not what other people think of it, or fearing how society might react? 

 

I firmly believe that in our society many of us don't pursue our dreams because we fear we might fail. And many do not even know what their dreams are, because they are to distracted by chasing reward and recognition and fearing the consequences if they don't. 

 

We are constantly being measured by school grades, performance reviews at work, how wealthy we are and how we look. If you think about it, it today's society we are being measured about almost everything. That makes us fear negative result of these measurements and strive towards the rewards of positive numbers.

 

In social media many strive towards projecting a 'perfect life', striving to make other people think you are happy. Obviously that is highly irrational, but is it a product of a disturbed mind or the product of society. I think Society. 

 

We fear death, we fear for our own lives and we fear for the lives of our loved ones. As we fear death we would like to make the most out of it, striving for as much reward we can get before we die. But is this rational? We all know we will die one day, that everyone around us will die one day. We know that in 200 years everyone and everything we know and care about will be gone, as if it never excised in the first place. 

Picture standing on a cliff. There is an army coming to get you, and the only way to survive is to jump. You know the water is deep enough to survive, but your fear takes the better of you and you get killed because you were to scared to jump. Your fear of death killed you. 

 

I would like to argue here that fear is the root of all that is negative in our lives. And that out current social systems and societies are fundamentally flawed, limiting us in everything we do. But at the same time we need fear. It is one of our most basic instincts/emotion and can save lives in emergencies, but it can also be lethal when hindering is from thinking rationally. In excess I believe it is highly destructive and limiting. Isn't it time to start looking for an alternative? 

 

This video is a very good example that alternative ways really do work. I personally wept when watching. 

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/armP8TfS9Is?list=PL1D6A31612BFFD467" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe>

 

Considering all of this, let's look at the concept of Stockholm Syndrome: 

Wikipedia: Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them.

I will Finnish with this question:  Is the comparison to far fetched? We are hostages of society and what it expects from us, and we constantly strive to please it?

Visit us on Google+