4.10.2013 | by Stephen Propatier Via Skeptoid
I always find conspiracy theories to be the most interesting aspect of the information age. The thought process fascinates me. I also love to see how conspiracy thinking breeds conspiracy thinking. There was a national telephone survey questioning 1247 registered US voters on 20 of the “Most Famous” conspiracy theories The response was, lets say, entertaining.
In no particular order.
- 13% President Barack Obama is the “Anti-Christ”
- 14% 1980′s Crack Cocaine epidemic was created by the CIA.
- 30% believe aliens visit us.
- 21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up.
- 28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order.
- Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
- 9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health)
- 4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power.
- 51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone
- 14% of voters believe in Bigfoot.
15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals- 5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons
- 15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money.
- Just 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966.
- 6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive.
- 28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks.
- 7% of voters think the moon landing was faked
- 20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism.
- 37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax.
- 11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen.
To be generous this is a small number of people and may not be representative of the US as a whole. MY TAKE ON THE FINDINGS:
- President Obama been pretty ineffective as the Anti-Christ, I mean a whole first term and no nuclear holocaust. I guess you also have to believe in Christ to be concerned about the anti-Christ.
- Crack epidemic Sure why not? I mean all government agencies love it when their funding is stolen by competing departments…DEA?
- Aliens? Possible but I think it is nothing more than human arrogance that makes us believe that we would be interesting to advanced cultures.
Related articles
- Conspiracy Theory Poll Results (publicpolicypolling.com)
- 28 Percent Of Americans Believe In Global New World Order Conspiracy (secretsofthefed.com)
- I dote on Conspiracy Theories (professorbainbridge.com)
- Poll Taps Into America’s Paranoia (miami.cbslocal.com)
- Conspiracy Theory Poll Results (wired.com)
- The craziest conspiracy theories (lunaticoutpost.com)
- Obama the antichrist? Global warming a myth? Lizard people controlling the world? Conspiracy theory research reveals bizarre beliefs prevalent in US (thetruthseeker.co.uk)
What kind of person would have so little trust in his fellow man to believe that the U.S. president and the CIA conspired to fake the 
Our ancestors had to worry about plots by members of their own group as well as plots by members of other groups (who had even less to lose and more to gain from doing them harm). Evolutionary psychologists such as Pascal Boyer and Ara Norenzayan have noted that the human brain has powerful mechanisms for searching out complex and hidden causes. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and Harry Potter owed much to their authors’ talents for exercising those causal mechanisms in readers.
The idea of special — apparently paranormal — mental abilities such as 
The program, called Stargate, tested “remote viewers” to see if their feelings and visions were accurate. The research continued for about two decades, ending in the mid-1990s with little apparent success. Finally the CIA took over the program and asked scientists to review the results. They concluded that the psychics did no better than chance, and that the psychic information was neither validated nor useful. 
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I got up very early, five o’clock. I was working on a novel, and, as I was usually too tired to write when I got home, I started doing it in the early mornings before going to work. At this time I lived alone in apartment in the central city. I got up, showered, and spent about a half hour writing. At 6:45 AM—Pacific time—as I was making breakfast my phone rang. Instantly I knew it was bad news. No one ever calls at 6:45 AM with good news. I picked up. It was a friend of mine. (Not the same one who almost caught 
