Blog of Andreas Eschenbacher

Is there any help? Well, one thing is for sure: shedding some light on non-falsifiable claims will stir-up unwanted cognitive dissonances in the believers. This is the main reason why debunking on premises of scientific reasoning will not work. Besides: all (wrong) scientific explanations come from blue-pilled people.  In addition: scientific explanations are often times very complicated (and dull) and not easy to grasp. It is advisable not to repeat conspiracy statements during a conversation (as it could indicate validity of such belief). It may be better to ask people about how they feel, of what exactly they are afraid of and to explore the inner logic and basic assumptions of their world view. It will certainly be helpful to signal empathy and offer help to people in difficult living conditions. Will it help?  Any other ideas?

The Art of Faking Fake News, Junk News Fakes News must not be literally wrong, it is sufficed that they hint in a wrong direction. Headline example: Muslim mob burnt the oldest church in Germany. The words are (almost) true but there is a malicious intention. Really true would have been: some youngsters (many of them Muslims) ignited New Year’s rockets that got entangled in a construction mesh that was installed around the church (which of course was not the oldest church in Germany). So, the mesh caught fire, not the church. This is the Art of malicious intent. Many politicians seem to be Master of Deception and Bullshitting, i.e. they don’t care either way (lie/truth), their only intent is to gain or keep power and influence.   And they can do it. They are at the top of the food chain (alpha-animals) and their sheer power and capability of causing harm is enough to keep others silent, or worse: to admire the leader. They lie because they can afford to lie. Their lies are used t

Echos & Bubbles In-peer groups and echo chambers Followers of conspiracy myths tend to gain their most valued information from in-peer groups. As we all understand, this must necessarily lead to (biased) information bubbles and opinion-sustaining echo chambers. Furthermore, such bubble chambers make it easy to express even strange and violent opinions and directly or indirectly encourage people to engage in violent actions (without remorse). Of course, there is no necessity for fact checking outside their echo chambers since the group opinion is correct. People in such (socially binding) in-peer groups and echo chambers tend to polarize their opinion even further.   And this makes the increasingly prone for Fake News due their confirmation and conformity bias (a really vicious circle). But wait, why should I be concerned in the first place? Is my in-peer group not more important then whatever is called truth? Well, if you ask me, I will stick to my peers. I don’t care if I’m ac

Stereotype Model The following illustration   may be useful to understand how followers of conspiracy belief systems judge the world. This concept was originally developed by Susan T. Fiske; see her book: Envy up, Scorn down. Here, I have modified an illustration provided by Katharina Nocun and Pia Lamberty in their book: Fake Facts (see references below).   Group 1 : Is a group or nation is regarded as having a low competence, they can be offered warmth and affection, since they are not dangerous. Group 2 : Is the competence of a peer group (that thinks similarly) regarded as high, they are admired and treated with respect. They are good, trustworthy people. Group 3 : If people are of low status with little competence (especially refuges and socially not accepted groups) they are shown little warmth or even plain, stone-cold hostility. Group 4 : If people, nations or organizations are regarded as having a high (or even a very high) level of competence, they are treated with en

Belief and Personality There are some basic assumptions made by followers of conspiracy ideologies, namely: ·        Nothing occurs accidentally ·        Nothing is what it looks like ·        Everything is connected ·        Conspirators are hierarchically organized (but their organization is concealed from the public)   Personality of Conspiracy Believers Their confidence in governments, politicians, doctors, and ‘mainstream’ scientist is very low if not zero. On the other hand, the expressed opinions and facts of their in-peer group or other ‘trustworthy’ sources are considered to be honest and correct. They are believed at face value. If in the social media the expressed opinions are ‘liked’, it makes them if more trustworthy (so many likers cannot be wrong). I understand that people who think they under attack (by evil people, organizations and governments) feel threatened which turns them angry, ready for retaliation. Problem is that over time, their feelings an

Examples of right-wing groups QAnon No need to tell you much about those people calling themselves QAnon propagating far-right conspiracy theories (please just look up the lengthy article in Wikipedia). Are they dangerous: yes. Will they go away: no. Is it an American phenomenon: yes and no. Are they endorsed by political leaders: judge for yourself. German Reichsbürger In Germany, there are so-called Reichsbürger (‘Reich Citizens’ Movement). They deny the legal righteousness (validity) of the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (BRD) and instead cling to former political systems like the German Reich in its pre-World War II order (or other variants) . The current Germany (BRD) is considered to merely be a ‘Germany GmbH’, and the people employees of such company (GmbH is some sort of a limited company). Such believers decline official German Authority and act likewise. Often times, they tend to collect weapons and act violently. Important contents of their belief system are: Nation (Rei

Conspiracy Theories First, as you may have noticed, the expressed opinions are not theories in a scientific sense - as the word ‘theory’ usually would imply.  This is because scientific theories are in principle falsifiable, i.e. they can be proved or disproved using scientific methods. This is not the case for such belief systems (as you will see later). Therefore, they are here mostly called myths, conspiracy beliefs or conspiracy ideologies. Myth believers feel endangered and enlightened Many people who believe in such myths think (and feel) that they are endangered, disenfranchised, marginalized and subjected to impending massive destruction (personal, family, society). They see mysterious activities going on carried out by people or organizations that have immense power, long-range planning, wealth and a hidden, far-reaching network. It is believed that their only aim is to rule the world and use, marginalize or destroy the others. Such convictions are regarded as real, dangerous

 References I have used some of the listed books. Some more extensively, others just in part. Many are in German language. Of course, there are many more valuable books  ... and the Internet is a good source (after all). ·        Fake Facts (in German) by Katharina Nocun and Pia Lamberty ·        Die Wahrheit schafft sich ab – Wie Fake News Politik machen – Romy Jaster / David Lanius ·        Verschwörungsmythen – Michael Blume ·        The nature of conspiracy theories – Michael Butter ·        Nichts ist wie es scheint - Michael Butter ·        Das Netzwerk der Identitären – Andreas Speit (Hg.) ·        Reichsbürger – Die unterschätzte Gefahr – Andreas Speit (Hg.) ·        Angela Merkel ist Hitlers Tochter – im Land der Verschwörungstheorien - Christian Alt und Christian Schiffer ·        Handbuch der Verschwörungstheorie   -   Helmut Reinalter (Hg,) ·        Wahrheit und Verschwörung – Jan Skudlarek ·        Hasskrieger – Karolin Schwartz ·        Was hat Bill Gates mit Corona zu tu

Conspiracy Beliefs Intro Nowadays, we are forced to deal with disturbing psychological developments that have quite substantive negative effects or our society. I speak of the growing influence of Conspiracy Theories (a better name is Conspiracy Myths or Conspiracy Beliefs ). Well, this is a very depressing topic and while studying it, I felt overwhelmed by the huge variety of such belief systems and world views. And I felt threatened because many of such beliefs tend to use force (weapons) to ‘defend themselves’ against evil (government, prominent persons, nations etc.). Their opinions are widely spready through social networks. It almost feels as if the 4 apocalyptic riders are already galloping trough the world. All this troubles me tremendously. I know that this is a ‘much disputed matter’ with no easy answers or remedies. Nevertheless, there are better options than clinging to dangerous belief systems. It is not possible, to talk about conspiracy beliefs in a brief and con