Watch the video at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2021/mar/10/why-we-are-all-attracted-to-conspiracy-theories-video
and write why we are susceptible to conspiracy theories? Comment on the opinions of your group mates (120 words).
English Conversation Course for Part-Time Students
Watch the video at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2021/mar/10/why-we-are-all-attracted-to-conspiracy-theories-video
and write why we are susceptible to conspiracy theories? Comment on the opinions of your group mates (120 words).
It was properly mentioned in the video that there are a lot of reasons for that. In my opinion, firstly it’s because people are becoming more distrustful and it’s justified especially in my country. Our government is laying all the time. We’re treated in a very bad manner and COVID has only emphasized it. That’s why people want to believe in conspiracy theories where everyone is against us especially when we see that even our government seems to be not on the same boat. The other factor may be the fact that people sometimes want to believe in anything as it can give hope to their lives.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately many factors contribute to the collective source of the problem. In my opinion one of two major factors that I can determine, is the fact, that on most of the subjects we either have to collect data by ourselves or take in information provided by one other source. Because most of us don’t want to spend time on doing research by ourselves, we agree on the easier choice. That, unfortunately, deprives us of constructive criticism which we would have having done our own work. The second one is accessibility of information both true and fake, which came with the invention of internet. As it was said in the video, not always are we able to access which information is true, hence we tend to sometimes believe fake “facts”.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole problem is that people don't understand how this or that thing works. If a person doesn't know how something works and cannot describe it, then it naturally seems to him that there is some kind of higher power behind it, an inexplicable phenomenon or a complex worldwide conspiracy that cannot be understood. Regarding the conspiracy with the landing on the moon, this is a rather difficult question. If 50 years ago in the United States there were technologies for manned space flights - landing on the moon - landing a crew - taking off from the moon and returning the crew to earth, then where did all this disappear? Only in the last decade Elon Musk learned how to return rockets to the ground, and even then without people. There are many ideas on how the moon can be used for space purposes, but why hasn't this been done yet if the states have already had the technology for a long time that allows it? because the Americans have discovered some super secret nightmare on the dark side of the moon? I do not believe in this...
ReplyDeleteAs shown in this short video, in my opinion the main reason people are so easily influenced by conspiracy theories is ignorance and the need to fill gaps with information. It does not matter what quality the information is, it is important that it fixes and explains the gap. For a long time, people, in the absence of knowledge of how the world works, for example, have been telling themselves about how it looks and functions. We had a poor harvest in a given month? We probably haven't made enough sacrifice to our gods. Day turns into night? Probably the Norse gods drive their carriages around the Earth. Plugging such information gaps in gives people a sense of security, they no longer have to worry about the unknown and can continue their lives in peace. Currently, a very big factor is also who we get the information from. In the world of celebrities, people are much more susceptible to suggestions if their source of information is a popular celebrity they trust.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, conspiracy theories will always come first in our life’s. People love scandals and need to explain to themselves somehow some things that are less obvious. This shows us that scientific resources have huge impact on individual entity, their knowledge of general topics, and the reliability of the information that reaches them. It is hard to say whether people who have a broad understanding of the world are more susceptible, or those who are more limited and deluded by various television stations. Some of us are more susceptible and blindly follow the crowd, while another group of people have their own opinions. Much of the internet as well as television is dominated by "fake news" probably known for all of us. I have similar opinion as Yurii's opinion.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I don't believe in conspiracy theories, so it's hard for me to understand this phenomenon and the overall simplicity with which people follow this type of information/trends. I guess it's about crowd logic and identifying with people who think quite alike and have similar views on a matter. Lack of understanding or self-verification of information found on the web or on TV is also a huge problem, because then it's very easy to get attached to total nonsense. I think people do this through the simplest possible reason there is - lack of understanding, logical thinking or even common sense. It seems to me that I've never seen an intelligent man who would believe in any conspiracy theory. There are many idiots in the world, then they gather into masses and continue their imaginary adventure.
ReplyDeleteAs it was said in the video we shouldn’t ask “Why do we believe in conspiracy theories?”. The question should be: “why do we believe in anything?”. Believing in something gives a sense to us. A lot of people need it during their lives.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, people believe in conspiracy theories for two simple reasons. The first is the complexity of today's world which was mentioned in the video. People want to understand a lot of things so they try to simplify them. This is one of the reasons of rising rumors, conspiracy theories, etc. The other reason is that many things are unexplained, shrouded in mystery. Thanks to conspiracy theories, we feel that at least to some extent they are explained.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis short video shows us why people tends to believe in conspiracy theories - of course there are many factors for this phenomenon, but generally speaking the source of this problem is disinformation or lack of understanding. As many of us mentioned before, the absence of knowledge was and still is a huge factor for believing in conspiracy theories by masses. Society dosen't want to think hard, most of us just want quick answers, as much simplified as it is possible. Also I strongly believe that some of the conspiracy theories enthusiasts just crave drama and gossiping. Sometimes life is boring and talking about unreal theories brings extreme emotions for many people. Maybe they even think that by spreading conspiracy theories others see them as more wisdom or intresitng?
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view conspiracy theories are results of disinformation. Nowadays we are surrounded by many information. There is none global filter to acknowledge the truth. We have to put a lot of work into checking information. It's time-consuming and more complicated than before. Summing up it's easier for people to belief to conspiracy theories than checking the facts. I think there will be bigger problem in the future if we don't do anything with this now. People who belief in conspiracy theories have some occasional examples which proved the theory such as MK-Ultra program. These examples show us how information is valuable resource or disinformation can be a powerful weapon. I think Covid crisis will be a good point to work on confirming information process.
ReplyDeleteAs it is said in the video, we have been made to come up with all sorts of stories. From myths, through legends, to fairy tales and stories. Hence our tendency to make things up. Conspiracy theories are usually controversial, sometimes prompting us to spend a long time considering their authenticity, which in turn, over time makes it easier for us to start believing that they can actually be genuine. I think there is nothing wrong with that, only if we approach the topic with understanding and do not hurt other people with our beliefs. As long as conspiracy theories are constructive, I believe there is no point in fighting or opposing
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion there are several causes of susceptibility to conspiracy theories. Firstly, lots of people have boring lives, have not much to do, they are simply absorbed by daily routine. A conspiracy theory is something much more interesting and absorbing. No matter how stupid or absurd, there will always be someone to believe and to put it forward. As it is said, a lie repeated a hundred times becomes a truth.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is a human tendency to spread controversial information. I know a lot of people, carried by their own stupidity (they have nothing interesting to say, they have no hobbies or any interests) share plenty of fake news or conspiracy theories. The thing is that the power of disinformation is terrific, especially these days, when it is really hard to prove the reliability of information either via internet or any other kind of mass media.
First of all, sorry for me being late with posting my comment, it have been very tough week. In my opinion main factor of conspiracy theories being so popular is that people always needs to justify everything. When we dont know why something is being done, or how it was created we need to find an good reason/story behind that. There will be always a person who creates most "catchy" story and nowadays with social media being so popular such messages spreads super fast. With "catchy" stories medias can post an interesting article that many people will open and we face here snowball effect. With someone telling funny, catchy story we end up with conspiracy theory that many people believes which may end up leading a very serious problem. Im not a big fun of such phenomenon and usually i stop following medias whom are posting conspiracy theories, i dont think i have time to focus on thing on which i dont have any impact anyway.
ReplyDelete