Conspiracy Theories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A DMN blogger posted a link to an event titled "WHAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT 9\/11" and followed it with the question:"Does this strike you as a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conspiracy Theories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A DMN blogger posted a link to an event titled "WHAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT 9\/11" and followed it with the question:"Does this strike you as a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-07-10T13:34:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html\",\"name\":\"Conspiracy Theories\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-07-10T13:34:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-07-10T13:34:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"A DMN blogger posted a link to an event titled \\\"WHAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT 9\/11\\\" and followed it with the question:\\\"Does this strike you as a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Conspiracy Theories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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{"id":523,"date":"2009-07-10T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-10T13:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories\/"},"modified":"2009-07-10T13:34:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-10T13:34:00","slug":"conspiracy-theories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2009\/07\/conspiracy-theories.html","title":{"rendered":"Conspiracy Theories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A DMN blogger posted a link<\/a> to an event titled \u201cWHAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT 9\/11\u201d and followed it with the question:<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes this strike you as a legitimate event or a way to exploit a tragedy to make money?\u201d<\/strong>

<\/strong><\/strong>My answer is \u201cneither.\u201d It\u2019s an event by and for people who mistrust and\/or hate government so much they prefer to believe an elaborate, implausible conspiracy rather than some pretty straightforward evidence.<\/p>\n

Others simply can\u2019t deal with the insecurity and randomness of life. They prefer to believe a secret cabal is orchestrating world events rather than accept that control is mostly illusion.<\/p>\n

I know some good, intelligent people who are firm conspiracy theorists. No appeals to evidence, logic, or probability will sway them \u2013 their world view is set, and they won\u2019t consider anything that conflicts with it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a reminder that \u201cconsensus reality\u201d is more consensus than reality \u2013 something we would all do well to remember when dealing with a matter as inherently unprovable as religion.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"