I'm working on a theory around how many conspiracy theories a reasonable person is allowed to buy in to in their lifetime while still being completely normal. My current thought is you're allowed at least 3 during your teenage years, and then one every 5 - 10 years after.
When I say conspiracy theories, I will mention that I'm
only including ones that do not actually change your daily life in a significant way.
Conspiracy theories in general are a fantastic study of selective data interpretation. All of them do it in different ways, but there are some general themes. One of them was illustrated quite entertainingly by xkcd.com this morning:
To note: I never disbelieved the moon landing, but my (normally rational) little brother did for about 3 weeks one summer after watching a documentary on TV. He's now a high school science teacher, for what it's worth.
A college girlfriend was the first to suggest to me that we hadn't actually gone to the moon. this would have been the end of 1972 and she was seventeen, so she was definitely an early adopter, or original thinker. Math and computer major - brilliant, quiet, strange.
ReplyDeleteOf course, brilliant and strange were rather consistent descriptions of my highschool and college girlfriends. "Quiet" was variable. She was the only conspiracy theory one, I think.