This makes Daniel Rawlinson a paranoid denier.Try arguing the science here Daniel http://ae911truth.org/ Study the science of freefall and thousands of other anomolies of 911.All 3 buildings and that includes WTC 7 were controlled demolition and that has been proven beyond any doubt.

I bet you refuse the argue the facts.BTW Woody Harrelson and Martin Sheen are starring in a new movie soon to be realeased called 'September Morn'.They along with thousands here, http://www.patriotsquestion911.com/ do not believe the offical conspiracy theory.

I suppose, Daniel Rawlinson, the most apt comment now is: case proven.

Yup. Thanks for the QED, Arjay.

It is not a new phenomenon, of course, just a new medium. The National Enquirer filled the same role in pre-internet days, along with a raft of other supermarket tabloids. Weekly World News was also good for a chuckle - one of my favourite headlines of theirs was "MICROSCOPIC SPACE ALIENS INFESTING CARPETS" - their capital letters - from the September 2006 issue.

I would suspect that the members of the population who bought those magazines are the same as those who now take these online theories seriously. It is easy for the rest of us to remain faintly amused by it all, but a part of me stubbornly remains concerned about their impact.

Not on the general public, who tend to be able to dismiss them easily. But the damage to those individuals who take them seriously, is as yet an unknown quantity.

I am becoming increasingly inclined to the view that the symptoms shown by these "truthers", "birthers" etc. are uncannily similar to addictions such as alcoholism, compulsive gambling, and eating disorders. I know personally a number of members of both AA and GA, and the recurring theme, they all tell me, is that while they were under the influence of their sickness, logic and rational thought played no part whatsoever in their decision processes. They simply could not help themselves.

The same pattern emerges with eating disorders. Anorexics and bulimics tend to be trapped in a spiral, in which dispassionate observation of their own behaviour is impossible - however bright, intelligent and capable these people may have been before the illness struck.

Promulgating silly conspiracy theories is relatively harmless to the general public, as reality eventually holds sway.

I do anticipate though, that the medical fraternity will at some point conclude that - as with alcoholism etc. - there is a brain chemistry imbalance that leads people, nolens volens, into this twilight zone of semi-reality.

Oh, and Arjay. The significance of September Morn, to me, is that Oliver Stone declined to touch it with the proverbial bargepole. Says it all, really.

Good post Pericles.

I agree; it is a new medium but not a new phenomenon. Exaggerations of the truth, blatant falsehoods, conspiracy theories and other nutty ideas have always been with us.

It really is a crying shame that good down-to-earth common-sense stuff has to battle with all this crap.

So um, I wonder what sort of addiction, compulsion or disorder leads some people to think that continuous rapid growth, and therein the completely lack of effort to balance supply and demand, is the right thing for our country?

In the face of indisputable logic to the contrary and given the blatant vested interests from those who promote never-ending rapid expansionism, this sort of stuff is deemed to be good and fair comment on sites all over the internet.

This sort antisustainability diatribe, which defies the laws of thermodynamics and any semblance of common-sense, is IMO the worst of all the dangerous rubbish out there online.

I would argue that those who believe it have a similar sort of delusion to that which you attribute to Arjay.

Perhaps the belief in conspiracy theories stems from monotheistic belief. Some monotheists believe that God has a plan for everything. If anything happens God meant for it to happen. Therefore nothing can be accidental. Happenings such as 9/11 cannot have happened because the US government messed up and ignored intelligence reports. There must be a 'real' reason which differs from the official reason. I also have a belief. My belief is that incompetence is a more probable explanation for human caused disasters than plans.

"They simply could not help themselves" got me to thinking about "this twilight zone of semi-reality."

An opportunity presents itself to medicalise the promulgation of silly conspiracy theories with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition release in May next year.

http://www.dsm5.org/PROPOSEDREVISIONS/Pages/PersonalityandPersonalityDisorders.aspx

As the symptoms of such web-based promulgation are broad and encompass the personality disorders being reformulated for DSM-V: Borderline, Avoidant, Dependent, Antisocial, Schizoid, Schizotypal, Paranoid, Histrionic, Obsessive-compulsive, Narcissistic and their Impairment Evaluation…

the initialism this yields, BADASS PHONIE, could be used as a descriptor for those afflicted.