or types that is/are prone to that kind of thinking. We none of us choose the way we think, but we now know it is hard wired into us genetically and then acted on somewhat by environment. It's why we all can have trouble understanding "what's wrong with them."

My personality type is strong liberal. If there is a plot or conspiracy, I'm typically very late to start suspecting. Or at least when I was when I was young. I lost a lot of assumptions about the commonality of goodness in people as I got older, and some conspiracies are real. But no amount of disappointment or fear will turn me into a conservative or radical left, much less their first cousins, the reactionary right. I'll die liberal too.

Btw, in society liberals strongly outnumber left-wing radicals. DU is unusual in that a lot of the latter gather here, along with the usual contingent of conservative Democrats and likely some reactionary conservatives drawn by Bernie's anti-establishment message.

Nibiru, CIA transistors in teeth, and more.

As I transited from spiritual to agnostic and aged from 16 to 45, I quit believing in things for which there was no proof.

I no longer believe in Illuminati and or The Powers that Be or huge conspiracies that require hundreds or thousands of people who never breath a word.

Didn't you know that they just found it?

?itok=UnkeG4Zx×tamp=1453231167
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/feature-astronomers-say-neptune-sized-planet-lurks-unseen-solar-system

I just couldn't resist.

Otherwise knows as Eich P'L, (former Atlantean high priest reincarnated as an early 20th century writer of horror (which is actually hidden history).

Oh, I could go on.

I gotta pick up that book!

Is that it's part of their candidates grand plan and 13 dimensional chess...

They don't get that many other people actually think differently than they do. They've put themselves into a bubble, and think that if things don't go their way, it's NOT because there are people who don't view things they way they do, but it must be a conspiracy. How could anyone NOT want a socialist, who has Communist connections? How could anyone not view Hillary as a corporatist crook? etc. etc.

That isn't to say, there are NO conspiracies or dirty tricks. There are. But NOT EVERYTHING is a Karl Rove trick.

I'm waiting to hear some nut say that the terror attacks were done to distract from the election results tonight.

Oh well.

who have convinced themselves that the government is evil. It's unfortunate and harmful.

Sometimes government *is* evil... How many lives have been ruined by this conspiracy within government?

Bear in mind that the Democrats were and are enthusiastic supporters of the drug war, a war based on lies.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nixon-drug-war-racist_us_56f16a0ae4b03a640a6bbda1?

The X Files in Bernieworld

Imagine that. We agree on something...

Sorry, I had to say that. I wonder about that myself. Some of them are pretty amusing because they're so far fetched.

Do you trust politicians and lobbyists?
Trade deals negotiated in secret?
Wealthy cabals that make deals?
Oligarchs with vast wealth?
Government agencies that specialize in espionage?
News media that appears to act as propaganda?

Granted not everything is a conspiracy you should see it coming.

I once worked at a place responsible for turning in voter applications to the County Registrar. Three months after the Kerry/Bush election I found a folder of about 50 fully finished applications in the file cabinet where we stored empty folders. Keeping up with voter applications wasn't something I was responsible for, but I felt horrible just finding them.

And all those people would have been told they were not registered to vote on election day. Why? Because their application ended up in the wrong pile of paper, on the wrong desk, on the wrong day.

Otherwise I would be king of the universe.

I have been thwarted by conspiracy.

The person screaming conspiracy doesn't have to prove it's existence. They only need to point to the outcome they don't like. And no matter how ridiculous the claim is, it's impossible to disprove a conspiracy because any proof that the conspiracy doesn't exist is used a further proof of the existence of the conspiracy ... "Of course it LOOKS like the conspiracy doesn't exist. That's what they WANT you to think!" ... "Yes, I know all of the evidence points to a different explanation, but that's how they planned it!" ...

It's funny how people think, on the one hand, that the government is SO incompetent, it can't be trusted with anything, yet, on the other hand, it is so clever, nefarious, and cunning that it not only regularly commits extraordinarily elaborate, byzantine conspiracies, it manages to keep them secret for decades.

But when people actually work in government, they learn that the truth is in the middle. The government is neither completely incompetent nor is it utterly craven and devious. The government is not a monolith. It's made up of people, most of whom are just trying to do their best. And they're certainly not spending all of their time cooking up sinister plots - and if they were, it wouldn't take long for most of the world to find out.

For example, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how the Clintons supposedly managed to steal millions, manipulate elections, illegally seize power and kill anyone who got in their way, but Bill Clinton couldn't manage to keep a sexual dalliance secret and the two women who threatened to topple his presidency - Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp - talked and talked and talked without any interference and are still running around quite alive and well . . . Some conspirator he ...

other people also.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/personality-disorders/basics/symptoms/con-20030111

An argument doesn't have to have some fanciful back-story to back it up. Just present a theory w/evidence and ask if others see any substance to said argument. Presenting a full-blown conspiracy with no evidence to back it up just turns people off.

Slide show at link:

http://news.discovery.com/history/us-history/11-conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true-150918.htm


A few of true conspiracies discussed at the link:

1. Prohibition - In an effort to prove alcohol was dangerous the Govt. took confiscated illegal spirits and remixed them with poison and redistributed them to the public.

2. The Business Plot - Maine general Smedley Butler warns of a plot by a group of business men to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt. Newspapers didn't believe it at first.

3. Operation Mockingbird- In the 1950's the CIA hired reporters from the NYT, CBS and other news outlets to push propaganda.

4. Operation Northwood - Defense officials made up plans to do attacks on ordinary Americans and blame it on Cuba including hijacking airplanes, blowing up a military ship, and bombing American cities.

5. Project MK-Ultra - In the 50's and 60's the CIA drugged people and used electroshock therapy on people.

6 other found to be true conspiracies at the link....

No doubt our Government has done some horrific shite.

Always question authority - stay vigilant.

Cheers.

However, when your mind defaults on the side of corruption and dirty tricks, without waiting for any evidence, you might want to not only question the facts, but also question yourself.

The Bay of Pigs was not a conspiracy against JFK,
Watergate was no conspiracy by the Nixon administration,
Reagan did not interfere in the release of the A. prisoners
in Iran behind Carter's back.
The 2000 election was totally normal, just as the one
in 2004. No problems there.
The campaign in 2008 by the dems was just a very
sweet and kind competition.

Okay, I got it. Nothing that happens by the government
or between parties, or even inside a party should ever
be looked at with careful skepticism.

Keep dreaming!