
Conspiracy
Why the Rational Believe the Irrational
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Narrated by:
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Michael Shermer
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By:
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Michael Shermer
About this listen
Best-selling author Michael Shermer presents an overarching theory of conspiracy theories—who believes them and why, which ones are real, and what we should do about them.
Nothing happens by accident, everything is connected, and there are no coincidences: that is the essence of conspiratorial thinking. Long a fringe part of the American political landscape, conspiracy theories are now mainstream: 147 members of Congress voted in favor of objections to the 2020 presidential election based on an unproven theory about a rigged electoral process promoted by the mysterious group QAnon. But this is only the latest example in a long history of ideas that include the satanic panics of the 1980s, the New World Order and Vatican conspiracy theories, fears about fluoridated water, speculations about President John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the notions that the Sandy Hook massacre was a false flag operation and 9/11 was an inside job.
In Conspiracy, Michael Shermer presents an overarching review of conspiracy theories—who believes them and why, which ones are real, and what we should do about them. Trust in conspiracy theories, he writes, cuts across gender, age, race, income, education level, occupational status—and even political affiliation. One reason that people believe these conspiracies, Shermer argues, is that enough of them are real that we should be constructively conspiratorial: elections have been rigged (LBJ's 1948 Senate race); medical professionals have intentionally harmed patients in their care (Tuskegee); your government does lie to you (Watergate, Iran-Contra, and Afghanistan); and, tragically, some adults do conspire to sexually abuse children. But Shermer reveals that other factors are also in play: anxiety and a sense of loss of control play a role in conspiratorial cognition patterns, as do certain personality traits.
This engaging book will be an important listen for anyone concerned about the future direction of American politics, as well as anyone who's watched friends or family fall into patterns of conspiratorial thinking.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Michael Shermer (P)2022 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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I guess, since the book was like a glimpse at a lot of conspiracies, diving deeper into only a few, it left me wanting. There are differences in conspiracies. I.e. tone, conclusions, depth, reasoning. Some conspiracies are flat out bs, others have truths. If there are truths to some narratives, they can not be made fun of so flippantly.
Good info, performance is patronizing
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He's also bizarrely selective in repeating the old famous conspiracies. What about the newest ones like Jeffrey Epstein or Russiagate? He seems to ignore these ones to focus on Qanon and election conspiracies. I also hate to say this but the liberal bias is getting prominent when it used to be very absent in his books. I know some people will see me say that and dismiss the review, but he really does only focus on conspiracies that make Trump look bad at the exclusion of ones that make democrats look bad. I could care less about blaming political sides for things, his selectiveness is just so transparent.
I also wish he spent time actually interviewing and studying conspiracy theorists (Like he used to with people saying they were abducted by aliens.) I would like to get some more insights beyond "they just believe what they hear on the internet and we should ban Alex Jones." For instance, WHY did the pizzagate guy come to believe there was some sex dungeon at a pizza place? Was he just insane, or was their some weird pieces of "evidence" he used? Felt lazy.
Shermer's Books Are Getting Less Good
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Missing Coda
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Interesting book
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Conspiracy?
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Overall, this was an interesting listen, but it did get a bit tedious with all the lists. I think that having a hard copy as opposed to listening, would have made more sense.
No pdf included on Audible App
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Oh and nothing ruins your 'crazy conspiracy people are just so dumb' book as citing conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. Best to pick examples of things that have been around long enough to be confident that all relevant evidence is out there. Also the author trashes their reputation by claiming 'fact checkers" are some independent impartial truth seekers.
If you want to read this author, get one of his other books. Besides, there was nothing substantial and new in this book that's not in the author's other books.
Good material ruined by the author's own bias
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great author.
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A mandatory read
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Required for teenagers raised on YouTube
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