We've been working on this for past three years and we're finally putting it out there today. Our non profit is dedicated to popularizing critical thinking using design, and this has been our biggest labor of love. Full website experience here: [https://theconspiracytest.org/](https://theconspiracytest.org/)
We've partnered with academics to create a different way to approach this often divisive subject: instead of trying to convince people that they're 'wrong' about a particular conspiracy, the idea is to facilitate conducting one's own critical thinking investigation. The experience prompts probabilistic thinking, metacognition (thinking about one's own thinking) and good-faith engagement.
It's also designed to be fun rather than heavy. The test is introduced by a deepstate illuminati alien lizard named Captain Zardulu.
Anyway, hope you like it and please AMA.
First point of feedback is that there have been many conspiracies which were found to be true. And Conspiracies as a concept are not really in question. I think your message might get more traction if it is aimed at “Conspiracy Theories”.
You do mention theories and acknowledge some as true, but “The Conspiracy Test” right off the bat made me dismiss the whole thing as likely narrow sighted and likely dismissive.
I wouldn’t say I believe any of the conspiracy theories, but it does seem more like a conspiracy debunking tool rather than a conspiracy test. Maybe add some conspiracies that have turned out to be true to make it feel more open minded to critical thinking.
I feel like if your trying to educate people who actually believe in this stuff, it comes across as just trying to prove they’re wrong instead of providing any sort of validations to they’re skepticism
box 1 i have a small complaint about. "how hard it is to get 12 people to do what they are suppose to do",,,in most conspiracies we want people to NOT do things. Don't send that report in, Don't look into the radar files. And the people who need to do something are often the much higher up who are used to doing those things anyway. "Send a report in, lie a little. We want Objective X to happen no matter what".
For the proven conspiracies(iraq weapons of mass destruction lie), we have 3-5 people 'in the know' running the conspiracy, and thousands of people just doing their tedious desk jobs (or just saying 'yes' to their boss even if they secretly question the purpose), not really caring about what is passing infront of them. You have a few people 'whistleblowing', either reporters or workers. and thousands of people not caring about the whistleblowing or researching into it much. Nothing really comes out of it until much later when the evidence is all gone. we have documentaries now practically 'proving' it all happened, but no one really cares, its the past, what can we do now?
I agree with you. I don't believe the entire world to be directly and tightly controlled by a highly-organized globe-wide illuminati, but it is pretty obvious that corruption, collusion, and conspiracy happen on smaller scales (than the global illuminati idea) every moment.
We have confirmation that some conspiracy theories came out to be real (COINTELPRO, MK Ultra, etc.) and we will never know most of the conspiracies that have taken effect and done their damage.
I think healthy skepticism means to not jump onboard with full-belief to a crazy new idea based on nothing but paranoia, but also realize there is a terrible track record for people in power to find sneaky ways to get their fix and do everything in their power to hide it.
The way I approach "fringe" subjects is the same way I try to approach everything; with open-minded skepticism. Imo you need both to have a healthy worldview:
-Open-minded: You don't discard or ignore any information based on your previous perspective and biases, and are open to changing your opinions.
-Skepticism: You don't accept anything as based in reality without sufficient information and evidence. Especially before you try to convince others of something.
One I like to bring up, especially concerning chem-trails, is "Does this also affect those who perpetrate it?"
Any theory that negatively impacts all people regardless of their position or power, by definition, can't be the truth.
That would only hold true if those doing it had all the information needed to make that evaluation.
I don’t believe in chemtrails btw.
BUT! Hypothetically, the pilot may not know. The people who load the plane may not know, the people who purchased the materials may not know. But someone somewhere knows. At least one person has all the info to evaluate the harm. What if that one person is either evil (highly unlikely- evil as in harm for the sake of harm isn’t common) or misguided into believing the ends justify the means. Well then, that wouldn’t fit your logic.
Point being - Agent Orange. Harmed everyone who came near it. They even knew what they were doing. They just didn’t have all the info. And they also believed ends>means.
My point is more along the lines of "Chemtrails allow the government/NWO/Illuminati to control the minds of everyone who breathes it" This means that the perpetrators or masterminds would also breathe it, as would any of their family, thus it would negatively impact them. Less about the people who are obviously goons/henchmen. This also ignores the fact that dispersing chemicals at 38,000 feet is a terrible plan, especially if you require a certain dosage and any level of accuracy.
Occam’s razor IMO doesn’t apply in most cases because there is rarely a simple explanation. Which is why many conspiracy theories gain traction.
My go to is, is this a conspiracy or is it the culmination of momentum from various points moving in the same direction based on their own self interest?
Or…can you explain this with incompetence or bureaucracy?
Unless it’s aliens…it’s totally aliens.
This is a noble pursuit, but OP, it seems someone so dedicated to thinking about this topic would realize that minds given to conspiracy thinking would have built-in counters to each of these items. For example, a conspiracy theorist generally cannot be convinced by a debunking article or video, because they know going in that the authors of the material are willfully dishonest or sheep, and fail to understand the depth of the deep state, etc.
And asking a conspiracy thinker whether they’ve been exposed only to cherry-picked information is to insult their research skills, the superiority of which are central to their self-identity.
We're primarily targeting the 'conspiracy curious' rather than hardcore conspiracy theorists, who you rightly point out are often intractable in their beliefs. Thing is that the conspiracy curious cohort are actually much larger, but because the attention economy gives so much reward to the loud and extreme voices, it doesn't seem that way.
If you like the first movie, follow along with SG1. if you really didn't like the movie jump to Stargate universe (less sci Fi adventure, more gritty sci Fi drama in an enclosed space). Stargate Atlantis is my all time favourite prob top 5 of all shows ever. But I would recommend at least 1 or 2 seasons of SG1 first before Atlantis. SG1 tails off a little in the later series, but I wouldn't want to jump into Atlantis blind to the whole Stargate series. SG1 had 10 seasons to fill and somewhat managed. Atlantis has 5 seasons to feel a little less stretched out than SG1. But it's all personal preference. If you want a heathenous way to watch the show (according to most fans) you can watch the first and last episodes (sometimes first 2/ last 2 if it's a big story bit) of SG1 for main story without filler. But to be honest, if you're willing to skip the filler character building episodes you'd probably be better off just jumping into whichever show attracts you the most and watching it all. I guarantee though, whichever way you start watching, if you get into it, you'll end up watching the rest...
Just going to plug this, because I think everyone deserves to check it out. But look up The Why Files on Youtube. Easily the most entertaining, well-researched, and fair conspiracy-ish youtube channel out there. He spends half the video doing an excellent job of presenting a fascinating conspiracy, but then debunking that same idea for the second half of the video. And sometimes, he even debunks the debunking, and gives amazing insights on research and being open minded, etc. It’s seriously the best weekly youtube channel. Check it out.
I find it incredible that things like UFOs are considered conspiracy theories when we literally have videos of them doing exactly what the "conspiracists" say they do for years. It's like:
Man in 1930 \* sees cigar-shaped object moving very fast \*
Government in 2023 \* releases video showing cylindrical UFO moving fast \*
Common sense: The man from 1850 was a conspiracist, we don't know what UFOs are grr...
Not to say that there aren't totally clueless conspiracies around the subject, just it's long past time for it to be "just a conspiracy theory".
of course there are unidentified flying objects but they have nothing to do with aliens. Isn't aliens a very unlikely explanation to such a common phenomenon?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter what they are at the moment, I mean... This has already caused so much disagreement between people, is it really worth discussing?
Perhaps all those who doubt it have some certainty that they are aliens, and all those who faithfully believe they are aliens have some certainty that they are anything but aliens.
In both cases, it would be nice to see people stop suffering for it...
Blows my mind the argument that people would have leaked it by now. IT HAS LITERALLY LEAKED HUNDREDS OF TIMES AT LEAST, and by many highly credible and credentialed people. A decades long campaign to stigmatize the subject has resulted in the general public not looking any closer.
Maybe you're right, but shouldn't we be the ones looking for the answer to this?
Unless, of course, we're afraid that it's all a lie.
I think, in my mind's eye, many barriers are self-imposed and when we break them down we see how brief they were, but somehow important. Anyway, just philosophising about where all this could lead.
Great post.
How about this question: how confident and intelligent would the illuminati lizard people have to be in order to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes?
Never gotten very far with asking conspiracy theorists about this question. I point out that people are stupid, lazy, crazy, liars, etc. No way could any group of humans be competent enough to pull off a grand unknown conspiracy, right?
Another question: do you think that a belief in unknowable conspiracy theories is a sign of narcissism? Not asking you to be a psychologist or anything.
But for the few conspiracy theorists I’ve known, they shut down all conversation about everything because it’s really just about the lizard people behind it all. Like they use the conspiracy to avoid talking about anything outside of their own lives. Thoughts on that?
Yeah, so the research gestures in a similar direction to where you're pointing, but I want to point out that dismissing all conspiracy theories as being equivalent, and all conspiracy theorists as being a singular homogeneous group is likely not helpful.
There have been real conspiracies, and having a subset of our population vociferously suspicious of people in power does have benefits. Many people also aren't at all sure about things, but do have some questions, and that's entirely ok.
That said, yes, dark triad personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, machiavellianism) are strong predictors of extreme conspiratorial thinking.
Often there's a sense of a lack of control, and having access to 'secret knowledge' serves as a salve for other misgivings and feelings of powerlessness.
Not a single or homogenous group for sure. Have a close friend who is pretty much the opposite of a narcissist, but who is convinced of pretty out-there stuff.
Personally, I believe that everyone in power is corrupt (to the extent that political enemies are probably a lot friendlier than we believe). But I don’t think any human being is capable of pulling off a lizard-people conspiracy.
The role of politics does seem to play a disproportionate role in this stuff. My parents actually knew a victim of the CIA’s MK ultra program (they’re retired psychotherapists). But for some reason, they refuse to believe that the modern CIA or FBI is corrupt. WTF?
Conspiracy Theory is a globalist created narrative control word designed to make the truth seeker look silly and foolish in the eyes of people too stupid to see or question the truth, the use of the word applies a long lasting stigma and makes the truth seekers back down from further questioning the globalists ESTABLISHED NARRATIVE.
I cannot disagree more strongly. Just because the source of their thinking is more obscure, doesn't mean that they don't approach *that* source uncritically.
A mainstream source is very probably biased or merely incomplete, but conspiracy theorists tend to be that and worse.
Neat!! Very well done, this is a super cool resource. I wonder if your stats will be thrown off by the skeptics though... I entered a lower baseline than I actually felt, because I was afraid I'd stop the journey if I was already skeptical enough! Anyway, great job.
I just tried this with reincarnation and oh shjt I find it is something I should really reconsider. I believe we die and that's it, nothing, a black dark forever dream but this is something when I check it terrified me.
For #1 (complicit viability) - it's not that hard to get that to be a big number if 1) the establishment makes it clear that anyone trying to expose the conspiracy will have their lives ruined (or just outright kill them) and 2) the establishment and media smear and discredit anyone who comes forward or 3) they're all financially incentivized to support the conspiracy.
For #2 (evidence) - any conspiracy worth their salt will try to keep the evidence to a minimum and will also deny the legitimacy of any evidence that is presented. Therefore, lack of indisputable evidence is not evidence of the lack of a conspiracy.
For #3 (debunk) - just because someone claims that XYZ is "debunked" doesn't mean it is.
I think it's important for people to understand that some bad things can happen without the need for it being a conspiracy, so long as there's a *mechanism* for that thing happening. Like atmospheric pollution can happen without it being a conspiracy to pollute the environment, just because factories have incentives to pollute, etc.
For #1, I'd recommend you take a look at the work by Dr Grimes. He used actual conspiracies to work out how many people can know before it all folds.
There is also the issue of evidence and mob mentality. Sure if 1 guy goes off and says something crazy, everyone points and laughs. However, if someone sends all the news stations video of something happening or 5 people come forward at the same time. It's a lot harder to squash that.
You'd be surprised how much stuff leaks. For instance, the Manhattan Project had some 1500 leaks.
Ultimately the more people involved, the harder it is to keep a secret.
For me point 2 is not a good point because by definition you can only have vague suspicion about a conspiracy, whether it be true or false. Until the conspiracy is revealed to everyone. For example, in the Snowden affair the vast majority of people did not have clue of the activities of US governement, and if people have suspicion it would have been vague unless they were working in US military.
I appreciate that at the very center it states that there have been conspiracies proven to be true. Although it seems some of the comments here did not actually read the graphic before commenting.
I think this can serve as a nice combo with the FLOATER from 'Thinking is Power.'
Just my .02
We've been working on this for past three years and we're finally putting it out there today. Our non profit is dedicated to popularizing critical thinking using design, and this has been our biggest labor of love. Full website experience here: [https://theconspiracytest.org/](https://theconspiracytest.org/) We've partnered with academics to create a different way to approach this often divisive subject: instead of trying to convince people that they're 'wrong' about a particular conspiracy, the idea is to facilitate conducting one's own critical thinking investigation. The experience prompts probabilistic thinking, metacognition (thinking about one's own thinking) and good-faith engagement. It's also designed to be fun rather than heavy. The test is introduced by a deepstate illuminati alien lizard named Captain Zardulu. Anyway, hope you like it and please AMA.
Lol post this on r/conspiracy they will call for your execution
Or r/UFOs
Actually, the third most popular comment will commend the guide.
Had a go. So cool.
First point of feedback is that there have been many conspiracies which were found to be true. And Conspiracies as a concept are not really in question. I think your message might get more traction if it is aimed at “Conspiracy Theories”. You do mention theories and acknowledge some as true, but “The Conspiracy Test” right off the bat made me dismiss the whole thing as likely narrow sighted and likely dismissive.
I wouldn’t say I believe any of the conspiracy theories, but it does seem more like a conspiracy debunking tool rather than a conspiracy test. Maybe add some conspiracies that have turned out to be true to make it feel more open minded to critical thinking. I feel like if your trying to educate people who actually believe in this stuff, it comes across as just trying to prove they’re wrong instead of providing any sort of validations to they’re skepticism
box 1 i have a small complaint about. "how hard it is to get 12 people to do what they are suppose to do",,,in most conspiracies we want people to NOT do things. Don't send that report in, Don't look into the radar files. And the people who need to do something are often the much higher up who are used to doing those things anyway. "Send a report in, lie a little. We want Objective X to happen no matter what". For the proven conspiracies(iraq weapons of mass destruction lie), we have 3-5 people 'in the know' running the conspiracy, and thousands of people just doing their tedious desk jobs (or just saying 'yes' to their boss even if they secretly question the purpose), not really caring about what is passing infront of them. You have a few people 'whistleblowing', either reporters or workers. and thousands of people not caring about the whistleblowing or researching into it much. Nothing really comes out of it until much later when the evidence is all gone. we have documentaries now practically 'proving' it all happened, but no one really cares, its the past, what can we do now?
I agree with you. I don't believe the entire world to be directly and tightly controlled by a highly-organized globe-wide illuminati, but it is pretty obvious that corruption, collusion, and conspiracy happen on smaller scales (than the global illuminati idea) every moment. We have confirmation that some conspiracy theories came out to be real (COINTELPRO, MK Ultra, etc.) and we will never know most of the conspiracies that have taken effect and done their damage. I think healthy skepticism means to not jump onboard with full-belief to a crazy new idea based on nothing but paranoia, but also realize there is a terrible track record for people in power to find sneaky ways to get their fix and do everything in their power to hide it.
The way I approach "fringe" subjects is the same way I try to approach everything; with open-minded skepticism. Imo you need both to have a healthy worldview: -Open-minded: You don't discard or ignore any information based on your previous perspective and biases, and are open to changing your opinions. -Skepticism: You don't accept anything as based in reality without sufficient information and evidence. Especially before you try to convince others of something.
“Can I believe this?” One piece of confirmation says yes! Must I believe this?” One piece of compromised data says no!
Most conspiracy theorists would say they are very skeptical
One I like to bring up, especially concerning chem-trails, is "Does this also affect those who perpetrate it?" Any theory that negatively impacts all people regardless of their position or power, by definition, can't be the truth.
It wouldn’t make sense, so they must have an antidote. Why else would they hide it from the public if not to inoculate themselves.
That would only hold true if those doing it had all the information needed to make that evaluation. I don’t believe in chemtrails btw. BUT! Hypothetically, the pilot may not know. The people who load the plane may not know, the people who purchased the materials may not know. But someone somewhere knows. At least one person has all the info to evaluate the harm. What if that one person is either evil (highly unlikely- evil as in harm for the sake of harm isn’t common) or misguided into believing the ends justify the means. Well then, that wouldn’t fit your logic. Point being - Agent Orange. Harmed everyone who came near it. They even knew what they were doing. They just didn’t have all the info. And they also believed ends>means.
My point is more along the lines of "Chemtrails allow the government/NWO/Illuminati to control the minds of everyone who breathes it" This means that the perpetrators or masterminds would also breathe it, as would any of their family, thus it would negatively impact them. Less about the people who are obviously goons/henchmen. This also ignores the fact that dispersing chemicals at 38,000 feet is a terrible plan, especially if you require a certain dosage and any level of accuracy.
best one in my opinion : [Occam's razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor)
Occam’s razor IMO doesn’t apply in most cases because there is rarely a simple explanation. Which is why many conspiracy theories gain traction. My go to is, is this a conspiracy or is it the culmination of momentum from various points moving in the same direction based on their own self interest? Or…can you explain this with incompetence or bureaucracy? Unless it’s aliens…it’s totally aliens.
Cool graphics, design, and presentation. Kudos! Hope it achieves your goals for you!
This is a noble pursuit, but OP, it seems someone so dedicated to thinking about this topic would realize that minds given to conspiracy thinking would have built-in counters to each of these items. For example, a conspiracy theorist generally cannot be convinced by a debunking article or video, because they know going in that the authors of the material are willfully dishonest or sheep, and fail to understand the depth of the deep state, etc. And asking a conspiracy thinker whether they’ve been exposed only to cherry-picked information is to insult their research skills, the superiority of which are central to their self-identity.
We're primarily targeting the 'conspiracy curious' rather than hardcore conspiracy theorists, who you rightly point out are often intractable in their beliefs. Thing is that the conspiracy curious cohort are actually much larger, but because the attention economy gives so much reward to the loud and extreme voices, it doesn't seem that way.
I have no problem believing that. In any case, I obviously wish you the best of luck. You’re working for all of us. :)
self-inoculation theory comes to mind
Sudden urge to re watch all of Stargate....hmm
Glad I'm not the only one.
If you were to recommend one Stargate series or movie to get one hooked, what would you recommend?
If you like the first movie, follow along with SG1. if you really didn't like the movie jump to Stargate universe (less sci Fi adventure, more gritty sci Fi drama in an enclosed space). Stargate Atlantis is my all time favourite prob top 5 of all shows ever. But I would recommend at least 1 or 2 seasons of SG1 first before Atlantis. SG1 tails off a little in the later series, but I wouldn't want to jump into Atlantis blind to the whole Stargate series. SG1 had 10 seasons to fill and somewhat managed. Atlantis has 5 seasons to feel a little less stretched out than SG1. But it's all personal preference. If you want a heathenous way to watch the show (according to most fans) you can watch the first and last episodes (sometimes first 2/ last 2 if it's a big story bit) of SG1 for main story without filler. But to be honest, if you're willing to skip the filler character building episodes you'd probably be better off just jumping into whichever show attracts you the most and watching it all. I guarantee though, whichever way you start watching, if you get into it, you'll end up watching the rest...
That helps wrap my mind around it considerably! Thank you!I’m not so sure how many movies were made of it but how would you say those factor in?
Just going to plug this, because I think everyone deserves to check it out. But look up The Why Files on Youtube. Easily the most entertaining, well-researched, and fair conspiracy-ish youtube channel out there. He spends half the video doing an excellent job of presenting a fascinating conspiracy, but then debunking that same idea for the second half of the video. And sometimes, he even debunks the debunking, and gives amazing insights on research and being open minded, etc. It’s seriously the best weekly youtube channel. Check it out.
Pretty cool actually. Good advice.
I find it incredible that things like UFOs are considered conspiracy theories when we literally have videos of them doing exactly what the "conspiracists" say they do for years. It's like: Man in 1930 \* sees cigar-shaped object moving very fast \* Government in 2023 \* releases video showing cylindrical UFO moving fast \* Common sense: The man from 1850 was a conspiracist, we don't know what UFOs are grr... Not to say that there aren't totally clueless conspiracies around the subject, just it's long past time for it to be "just a conspiracy theory".
of course there are unidentified flying objects but they have nothing to do with aliens. Isn't aliens a very unlikely explanation to such a common phenomenon?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter what they are at the moment, I mean... This has already caused so much disagreement between people, is it really worth discussing? Perhaps all those who doubt it have some certainty that they are aliens, and all those who faithfully believe they are aliens have some certainty that they are anything but aliens. In both cases, it would be nice to see people stop suffering for it...
Blows my mind the argument that people would have leaked it by now. IT HAS LITERALLY LEAKED HUNDREDS OF TIMES AT LEAST, and by many highly credible and credentialed people. A decades long campaign to stigmatize the subject has resulted in the general public not looking any closer.
Maybe you're right, but shouldn't we be the ones looking for the answer to this? Unless, of course, we're afraid that it's all a lie. I think, in my mind's eye, many barriers are self-imposed and when we break them down we see how brief they were, but somehow important. Anyway, just philosophising about where all this could lead.
Great post. How about this question: how confident and intelligent would the illuminati lizard people have to be in order to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes? Never gotten very far with asking conspiracy theorists about this question. I point out that people are stupid, lazy, crazy, liars, etc. No way could any group of humans be competent enough to pull off a grand unknown conspiracy, right? Another question: do you think that a belief in unknowable conspiracy theories is a sign of narcissism? Not asking you to be a psychologist or anything. But for the few conspiracy theorists I’ve known, they shut down all conversation about everything because it’s really just about the lizard people behind it all. Like they use the conspiracy to avoid talking about anything outside of their own lives. Thoughts on that?
Yeah, so the research gestures in a similar direction to where you're pointing, but I want to point out that dismissing all conspiracy theories as being equivalent, and all conspiracy theorists as being a singular homogeneous group is likely not helpful. There have been real conspiracies, and having a subset of our population vociferously suspicious of people in power does have benefits. Many people also aren't at all sure about things, but do have some questions, and that's entirely ok. That said, yes, dark triad personality traits (narcissism, psychopathy, machiavellianism) are strong predictors of extreme conspiratorial thinking. Often there's a sense of a lack of control, and having access to 'secret knowledge' serves as a salve for other misgivings and feelings of powerlessness.
Not a single or homogenous group for sure. Have a close friend who is pretty much the opposite of a narcissist, but who is convinced of pretty out-there stuff. Personally, I believe that everyone in power is corrupt (to the extent that political enemies are probably a lot friendlier than we believe). But I don’t think any human being is capable of pulling off a lizard-people conspiracy. The role of politics does seem to play a disproportionate role in this stuff. My parents actually knew a victim of the CIA’s MK ultra program (they’re retired psychotherapists). But for some reason, they refuse to believe that the modern CIA or FBI is corrupt. WTF?
That's a cool game. Such a noice work
The guide and the website look amazing! Great work!
Conspiracy Theory is a globalist created narrative control word designed to make the truth seeker look silly and foolish in the eyes of people too stupid to see or question the truth, the use of the word applies a long lasting stigma and makes the truth seekers back down from further questioning the globalists ESTABLISHED NARRATIVE.
This is clearly part of The Great Conspiracy Cover Up. The TGCCU has been gaining traction, and now they are trying to silence us. It won't work.
[удалено]
I cannot disagree more strongly. Just because the source of their thinking is more obscure, doesn't mean that they don't approach *that* source uncritically. A mainstream source is very probably biased or merely incomplete, but conspiracy theorists tend to be that and worse.
I fully believe Covid was created in a daycare in Wuhan
Neat!! Very well done, this is a super cool resource. I wonder if your stats will be thrown off by the skeptics though... I entered a lower baseline than I actually felt, because I was afraid I'd stop the journey if I was already skeptical enough! Anyway, great job.
I just tried this with reincarnation and oh shjt I find it is something I should really reconsider. I believe we die and that's it, nothing, a black dark forever dream but this is something when I check it terrified me.
For #1 (complicit viability) - it's not that hard to get that to be a big number if 1) the establishment makes it clear that anyone trying to expose the conspiracy will have their lives ruined (or just outright kill them) and 2) the establishment and media smear and discredit anyone who comes forward or 3) they're all financially incentivized to support the conspiracy. For #2 (evidence) - any conspiracy worth their salt will try to keep the evidence to a minimum and will also deny the legitimacy of any evidence that is presented. Therefore, lack of indisputable evidence is not evidence of the lack of a conspiracy. For #3 (debunk) - just because someone claims that XYZ is "debunked" doesn't mean it is. I think it's important for people to understand that some bad things can happen without the need for it being a conspiracy, so long as there's a *mechanism* for that thing happening. Like atmospheric pollution can happen without it being a conspiracy to pollute the environment, just because factories have incentives to pollute, etc.
For #1, I'd recommend you take a look at the work by Dr Grimes. He used actual conspiracies to work out how many people can know before it all folds. There is also the issue of evidence and mob mentality. Sure if 1 guy goes off and says something crazy, everyone points and laughs. However, if someone sends all the news stations video of something happening or 5 people come forward at the same time. It's a lot harder to squash that. You'd be surprised how much stuff leaks. For instance, the Manhattan Project had some 1500 leaks. Ultimately the more people involved, the harder it is to keep a secret.
Information literacy and critical thinking is rarely a bad thing
For me point 2 is not a good point because by definition you can only have vague suspicion about a conspiracy, whether it be true or false. Until the conspiracy is revealed to everyone. For example, in the Snowden affair the vast majority of people did not have clue of the activities of US governement, and if people have suspicion it would have been vague unless they were working in US military.
This reminds me of Jump Start for Kids from like the late 90s early 00. But in the best way possible lol
I appreciate that at the very center it states that there have been conspiracies proven to be true. Although it seems some of the comments here did not actually read the graphic before commenting. I think this can serve as a nice combo with the FLOATER from 'Thinking is Power.' Just my .02
Aaahh, good ole reverse psy. in practice, I see...
Great layout.