http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/elites-link-anti-government-thought-to-mental-illness-lay-groundwork-for-incarceration/



Elites Link Anti-Government Thought to Mental Illness, Lay Groundwork for
Incarceration

*By Daily Bell Staff - March 11, 2016*



Believe in conspiracy theories? You’re probably a narcissist: People who
doubt the moon landings are more likely to be selfish and attention-seeking
… Psychologists from the University of Kent carried out three online
studies … -UK Daily Mail

We are seeing an increasing number of academic studies analyzing the
psychology behind “conspiracy theorists” and those who question government
propaganda. The idea being that people who don’t trust government may be
mentally ill.

These analyses are published in prominent publications in the UK and are
building a “scientific” literature revolving psychological dysfunction and
“conspiracy theory.”

More:

Do you think the moon-landings were faked, vaccines are a plot for mind
control, or that shadowy government agencies are keeping alien technology
locked up in hidden bunkers?

If so, chances are you’re a narcissist with low self-esteem, according to
psychologists. In the internet age conspiracy theories can incubate in
quiet corners of the web, but it may be psychological predispositions of
believers which keep them alive, rather than cold hard facts.

The article goes on to explain that researchers at the University of Kent
have used online studies  from hundreds of people to generate the study’s
conclusions.

The findings appeared in the journal Social Psychological and Personality
Science with the suggestion that those who adopt conspiracy theories have
“outwardly inflated self-confidence” but may be “overcompensating for a
lack of belief in themselves.”

The article mentions a previous study conducted by Oxford’s Dr. David
Robert Grimes
<http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/mathematical-aberration-of-conspiracists/>
.

>From what we’ve written on this study:

Grimes had the idea that mathematics could prove or disprove certain
conspiracy theories. A physicist, he “developed a mathematical equation to
derive the truth of conspiracy theories,” according to the Christian
Science Monitor …

Grimes calculated that the moon landing and climate change conspiracies
“would require about 400,000 secret-keepers each, the unsafe vaccination
conspiracy would involve 22,000 people, and the cancer cure conspiracy
would involve over 710,000 people.”  Even with the utmost secrecy, Grimes
reports, his equations show within four years the conspiracies would be
exposed nonetheless.

At the time, we commented on Grimes’s apparent “earnestness” in struggling
to “understand how people can even engage in conspiratorial thinking to
begin with.”
<http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/conspiracies-what-do-you-believe/>
We made this comment in relationship to yet a third article on the
psychology of conspiracy.

This commentary appeared in the Guardian and, as we pointed out, “argued
against conspiratorial thinking based on a new book, Suspicious Minds …
written by Rob Brotherton.”

Basically, the idea is that people are naturally prone to conspiracy
theories because of the way their brains have evolved. “Identifying
patterns and being sensitive to possible threats,” the article explains,
“is what has helped us survive in a world where nature often is out to get
you.”

Brotherton explains in the article that he decided that the best way to
present his thesis was to avoid confronting conspiracy theories head on.
Instead, he wanted to explain how people adopted such theories for
psychological reasons.

“I wanted to take a different approach, to sidestep the whole issue of
whether the theories are true or false and come at it from the perspective
of psychology. The intentionality bias, the proportionality bias,
confirmation bias. We have these quirks built into our minds that can lead
us to believe weird things without realising that’s why we believe them.”

So here we have three explanations of conspiracy theories presented by
major publications in less than three month’s time. And, who knows, perhaps
there were more.

In the conclusion to our Grimes’ analysis, we noted that: “It looks as if a
more powerful and disciplined program may be underway. Something to ponder
along with a further moderation of certain public declarations.”

By “public declarations” we meant those of individuals prone to mentioning
conspiracy theories in non-appropriate contexts. As it turns out, we
anticipated the current news cycle only by a couple of months.

Just this week, in fact, Attorney General Loretta Lynch attended a Senate
Judiciary Hearing and acknowledged discussions at the Department of Justice
of taking civil action against “climate change deniers.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) questioned her on the issue and drew
comparisons between such deniers and the tobacco industry that claimed for
decades that the tobacco was not proven to cause ill health.

The Clinton administration eventually brought a successful civil suit
against Big Tobacco. And Whitehouse suggested that civil or criminal
charges might be brought against “anti-warmists.”

The forces of intolerance are gathering in the US, just as overseas.

We have urged in the past that people pay close attention to these growing
trends. By turning statements of opinion into a psychological condition
they are trying to discredit anyone who speaks out against the government.

In the Soviet Union, people who spoke out against government policies were
often placed in mental asylums. At the time, concerned citizens in the West
protested such incarcerations as barbaric abuses. Yet now, if our
supposition is correct, these practices are about to expand in the West as
well.

*Conclusion: *This attack on dissent is serious. Educate your family and
friends about what’s going on. Do not be fooled by their propaganda, but
beware of the risks of speaking out too freely.




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Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]>
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