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[SirQuiamus]

NASA                    AREA 51                 ANTICHRIST      HITLER      9/11           MUSLIM       JEWS       FREEMASON     
  OBAMA       QUEEN         LIZARD            NWO     BIG     PHARMA  ELVIS     CHEMTRAILS        HAARP MIND CONTROL
   FEMINIST            FEMA             NAZI      TEMPLAR        CONCENTRATION CAMP         BERMUDA              UFO             RAPTURE
 AIDS       HOLOCAUST       JEWS         ABDUCTION        JESUS      TUPAC         ALIEN ELVIS     TUNGUSKA         NIBIRU      ASTRONAUT
     LHC       ACORN        ELVIS         JADE HELM          BLACK HELICOPTERS                JEWS    SATAN           CULTURAL MARXIST           
  GAY   VACCINE       SJW     MUSLIM ZIONIST AGENDA               COMMUNIST            EURABIA   BILDERBERG         ILLUMINATI               JEWS  JEWS  JEWS              NAZI JEWS    JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS HITLER JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS

[scrdest]

IIRC one of the big core groups of most conspiracy theorists is just people for whom the part of their mind that is responsible for drawing patterns (which is a very important part of how humans learn) is slightly too overactive, and thus results in them seeing patterns ("conspiracies") where none really exist.

There's more to that. There are people who come up with conspiracy theories, then there are those who disseminate them and believe in them. There really isn't that many distinct conspiracy theories, most are variations on a theme or concatenations that make some adjustments to make all components fit the overall narrative.

A far more important factor is likely confirmation bias and motivated belief in general.

[Bohandas]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NASA                    AREA 51                 ANTICHRIST      HITLER      9/11           MUSLIM       JEWS       FREEMASON     
  OBAMA       QUEEN         LIZARD            NWO     BIG     PHARMA  ELVIS     CHEMTRAILS        HAARP MIND CONTROL
   FEMINIST            FEMA             NAZI      TEMPLAR        CONCENTRATION CAMP         BERMUDA              UFO             RAPTURE
 AIDS       HOLOCAUST       JEWS         ABDUCTION        JESUS      TUPAC         ALIEN ELVIS     TUNGUSKA         NIBIRU      ASTRONAUT
     LHC       ACORN        ELVIS         JADE HELM          BLACK HELICOPTERS                JEWS    SATAN           CULTURAL MARXIST           
  GAY   VACCINE       SJW     MUSLIM ZIONIST AGENDA               COMMUNIST            EURABIA   BILDERBERG         ILLUMINATI               JEWS  JEWS  JEWS              NAZI JEWS    JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS HITLER JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS

You left out "rape culture", "patriarchy", "Anistasia Romanov", "the singularity", the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against the Clintons, "majestic 12", the "Philadelphia experiment", "super soldiers",  and the "liberal media"

EDIT:
Also the Catholic Church

[Levi]

Brain makes random assumptions all the time, which is useful for things like recognizing faces and knowing the difference between a dog and a jaguar.  Normally that is fine, because everybody has the ability to think critically about those random assumptions.  Some people just assume every random thought that pops into their head is true, and I think they are pretty broken.

[scrdest]

Brain makes random assumptions all the time, which is useful for things like recognizing faces and knowing the difference between a dog and a jaguar.  Normally that is fine, because everybody has the ability to think critically about those random assumptions.  Some people just assume every random thought that pops into their head is true, and I think they are pretty broken.

That's kinda how schizophrenia works - broken filter, essentially.

And the recognizing faces bit reminds me of an interesting disorder - people with damage to that particular thinkmeat circuit can start believing that someone they know has been replaced by an identical stranger. And when people's self-recognition is broken instead, sometimes people start believing they are, essentially, sentient zombies.

[DJ]

Clearly all the ridiculous conspiracy theories are fabricated by the government as a part of a conspiracy to cover their real conspiracies.

[Flying Dice]

NASA                    AREA 51                 ANTICHRIST      HITLER      9/11           MUSLIM       JEWS       FREEMASON     
  OBAMA       QUEEN         LIZARD            NWO     BIG     PHARMA  ELVIS     CHEMTRAILS        HAARP MIND CONTROL
   FEMINIST            FEMA             NAZI      TEMPLAR        CONCENTRATION CAMP         BERMUDA              UFO             RAPTURE
 AIDS       HOLOCAUST       JEWS         ABDUCTION        JESUS      TUPAC         ALIEN ELVIS     TUNGUSKA         NIBIRU      ASTRONAUT
     LHC       ACORN        ELVIS         JADE HELM          BLACK HELICOPTERS                JEWS    SATAN           CULTURAL MARXIST           
  GAY   VACCINE       SJW     MUSLIM ZIONIST AGENDA               COMMUNIST            EURABIA   BILDERBERG         ILLUMINATI               JEWS  JEWS  JEWS              NAZI JEWS    JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS HITLER JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS JEWS

Now size-differentiate them to mimic a tag cloud and you've got your very own conspiracy theorist folksonomy.

[Bohandas]

I just remembered a couple of other gems:

-Paul McCartney died and was replaced by an imposter some time in the late 1960's

-William Shakespeare was a fictional persona created by either Francis Bacon or christopher Marlowe

-LSD laced temporary tattoos with a "blue star" design

[Tiruin]

Since this is ongoing...
Any conspiracy theories that aren't solely 'Western'? Or European/American?

[Reelya]

The Muslim world, for one gets plenty of conspiracy theories. e.g. the prime minister of Malyasia in 1998 blamed George Soros for deliberately causing the asian economic meltdown (he later apologized). Most muslim conspiracy theories involve jews or Americans to some extent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theories_in_the_Arab_world

Here's a good one: Coca Cola and Pepsi are made with pork, just becasue they want to fuck with muslims. And by some insane logic Israeli Jews are behind putting pork into the soft drinks. This makes perfect sense: You know those jews, right? Always trying to slip pork into everything.

[MagmaMcFry]

Wait a moment, the Flat Earth Society is an actual unironic thing now? Last I stumbled upon that site I swear it turned out to be a parody, made specifically to train people in playing devil's advocate, but now I can't find any mention of that anymore. Spoooky.

[Bohandas]

Since this is ongoing...
Any conspiracy theories that aren't solely 'Western'? Or European/American?

Well there's...

-"The Tienanmin Square Massacre never happened"

-"The Rape of Nanking never happened"

-"The Armenian Genocide never happened"

-"White people created the AIDS virus to depopulate Africa"

[Reelya]

The Flat Earth Society was completely unironic in the 19th-20th century. I don't know about now.

Actually, the modern Flat Earthers have schismed into at least three factions. One of whom's leader claims the other two factions are actually a Round-Earther conspiracy to subvert the Flat Earth theory from the inside.

EDIT: Actually poking around at these sites it's amazing how much they're at each other's throats rather than taking the debate to the "baller" Earthers. It's a lot like the famous scene in life of Brian with all the Jewish splinter factions killing each other rather than fighting the Romans.

[Bohandas]

Many conspiracy theories seem to have their roots in the Cold War.

Declassified documents have shown that the basic outline of most crackpot theories about AIDS was cooked up by the KGB and the thing that crashed at roswell was an experimental spy device

[Orange Wizard]

Does this demonstrate a failure in reason to triumph over ignorance and fallacies?

It demonstrates a failure in human thinking.