ROB BROTHERTON

ROB BROTHERTON ~ SUSPICIOUS MINDS ~ 2015

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~ O-UOTW-IS-IA-I-TIA-IJ-MS-IOB ~ Our – Understanding Of The World – In Short – Is An – Illusion – This Is An – Inside Job – More Specifically – It’s Our Brain

~ TACTFE ~ There’s A Conspiracy Theory For Everything

~ TRHRD ~ The Rabbit Hole Runs Deep

~ TAM-CT-OT-TYME-CA-YKS-CA-YAO ~ There Are More – Conspiracy Theorists – Out There – Than You Might Expect – Chances Are – You Know Some – Chances Are – You Are One

~ CT ~ Conspiracy Thinking

~ WANATBJOWWBWWB ~ We Are Not Always The Best Judge Of Why We Believe What We Believe

~ WHS-OAC-ATB-A-ITE-DAC-WTH-WMTT-COB-O-SITI-ATOSOO ~ We Habitually Seek – Order And Consistency – And – To Be – Ambivalent – Is To Experience – Disorder And Conflict – When That Happens – We Might Try To – Change Our Beliefs – Or – Simply Ignore The Issue – Ambivalence Threatens Our Sense Of Order

~ TB-ASOAGO-BTS-OOCA-A-EBOC-WIOTB-PM-IFCOOMF ~ The Brain – All Sorts Of Activity Goes On – Behind The Scenes – Outside Our Conscious Awareness – And – Entirely Beyond Our Control – We Imagine Ourselves To Be – Puppet Masters – In Full Control Of Our Mental Faculties

~ CT-RWSOOB-B-I-BAS-A-TISOOD-D/FA-A-TW-A-TPII-WAA-N-B-CT ~ Conspiracy Theories – Resonate With Some Of Our Brain’s – Built-In – Biases And Shortcuts – And – Tap Into Some Of Our Deepest – Desires / Fears / Assumptions – About – The World – And – The People In It – We Are All – Natural-Born – Conspiracy Theorists

~ TP-WN-C-WTG-B-I ~ The Problem – Was Not – Conspiracy – Within The Government – But – Incompetence

~ RI-TTRMLAF-TP-A-TM-TD-CT Real Issues – Tend To Receive Much Less Attention From – The Public – And – The Media– Than Do – Conspiracy Theories

~ R-I-S-SOG ~ Reality – Is – Shades Of Grey

~ B-MS-O-IC-CTDAF-R-A-PRI-YCWWYFACTDE ~ By – Making Scapegoats – Of – Imagined Conspirators – Conspiracy Theories Distract Attention From – Real – And – Potentially Rectifiable Issues – You Can’t Win When You’re Fighting A Conspiracy That Doesn’t Exist

~ WTTOTB-TON-CT-DD-A-UQ ~ Whether They Turn Out To Be – True Or Not –Conspiracy Theories – Deep Down – Are – Unanswered Questions

~ TAVWSTHSOOTPOACB ~ These Are Villains Who Seem To Have Stepped Out Of The Pages Of A Comic Book

~ TWAT-CT-IOO-HS-A-MA-WAUA-EI ~ The World According To – Conspiracy Theories – Is One Of – High Stakes – And – Moral Absolutes – We Are Up Against – Evil Incarnate

~ YCF-AE-IYLFT ~ You Can Find – Anomalies Everywhere – If You Look For Them

~ WICT-CT-LOE-JM-TCIW ~ When It Comes To – Conspiracy Theories – Lack Of Evidence – Just Means – The Conspiracy Is Working

~ ATRACT-IL-NJTAW ~ Attempting To Refute A Conspiracy Theory – Is Like – Nailing Jelly To A Wall

~ SADD/PFDATSE/UMP-RDTP ~ Sometimes: Appearances Do Deceive / Powerful Forces Do Attempt To Suppress Evidence / Unimaginably Malicious Plots – Really Do Take Place

~ FO-AH-UI ~ Founded On – Anomaly Hunting – Ultimately Irrefutable

~ WAMO-SUE-T-IA-SRT ~ Weaving A Multitude Of – Seemingly Unrelated Events – Together – Into A – Single Rich Tapestry

~ TLSWL-P-AIG-A-TLCOTOCTFTH-TMLTATACT ~ The Less Satisfied With Life – People – Are In General – And – The Less Control Over Their Own Circumstances They Feel They Have – The More Likely They Are To Accept Conspiracy Theories

~ BT-SSIIC-EITDHYBIAH-IPTTTTCOULIDBNMTC-U-FR-IE-CPB-T/M/U ~ Believing That – Someone Somewhere Is In Control – Even If They Don’t Have Your Best Interest At Heart – Is Preferable To Thinking That The Course Of Our Life Is Dictated By Nothing More Than Chance – Unlike – Faceless Randomness – Identifiable Enemies – Can Potentially Be – Thwarted / Managed / Understood

~ TTOSOC-SOBIA-WB-H-W-EOTSOS ~ Threats To Our – Sense Of Control – Spur Our Brain Into Action – We Become – Hypervigilant – We – Err On The Side Of Suspicion

~ WAGA-LP-FTTT-EWWH-LCOOC-OC-SPEIMTO-A-SWGR ~ We All Get A – Little Paranoid – From Time To Time – Especially When We Have – Little Control Over Our Circumstances – Of Course – Some People Experience It More Than Others – And – Sometimes With Good Reason

~ TIFTBH-CC/STS/U-LK-ASP~ There Is Fun To Be Had – Cracking Codes / Sifting Through Signs / Lost Knowledge / Secret Plots

~ WMTW-USID-B-WICTTPOMWOMI-IOTO-OULALTBD ~ We Might Think We – Understand Something In Depth – But – When It Comes Time To Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is – It Often Turns Out – Our Understanding Leaves A Lot To Be Desired

~ WHA-BS-WICTO-IBS ~ We Have A – Blind Spot – When It Comes To Our – Intellectual Blind Spots

~ A-L-I-EWII-BI-CMU-IO ~ A – Little – Information – Even When It Is – Barely Informative – Can Make Us – Inordinately Opinionated

~ A-CT-POA-O-GOE ~ All – Conspiracy Thinking – Plays On Archetypes – Of – Good Overcoming Evil

~ ELAW ~ Everybody Loves A Winner

~ BIRG ~ Basking In Reflected Glory

~ T-BCT-HATTOA-CUS-TEIF-LEV-H-TCHOFWLIOTSCB-ETL-TEBP ~ The – Best Conspiracy Theories – Have All The Trappings Of A – Classic Underdog Story – The Enemy Is Formidable – Like Every Villain – However – The Conspiracy Has One Fatal Weakness: If Only Their Schemes Can Be – Exposed To The Light – The Enemy Becomes Powerless

~ As A – Social Species – Our Very Survival – Depends On Cooperating With Others Without Being Taken Advantage Of – And – So – Natural Selection – Made Sure We Are Keenly Attuned To Other People’s Scruples

~ RIC-E-ARMB-PS-A-V-ANA-EI-V-IOTRO-MP-A-EH ~ Reality Is Complicated – Evildoers – Are Rarely Motivated By – Pure Sadism – And – Victims – Are Not Always – Entirely Innocent – Violence – Is Often The Result Of – Mutual Provocation – And – Escalating Hostility

~ A-B-A-W-W-PAPCFCT ~ A – Black-And-White – Worldview – Provides A – Perfect Canvas – For – Conspiracy Thinking

~ C-IATDF-EPD-IIM-I-A-SON ~ Conspiracism – Isn’t All That Different From – Everyday Political Discourse – It Is Merely – Intensified – And – Stripped Of Nuance

~ The – Best Conspiracy Theories – Are – Stories About – Manically Evil Villains – With – The Vaguest Of Motives – Wantonly Perpetrating Outrageous Evils – On – An – Innocent Unsuspecting Public

~ CT-A-AEI-CD ~ Conspiracy Theories – Are – An Exercise In – Connecting Dots

~ OALTU-I-AB-PT-SC-A-IC-FTMP-O-H-T-PAC-SUW-WACLHTWAUW ~ Our Ancestors’ Legacy To Us – Is – A Brain – Programmed To – See Coincidence – And – Infer Cause – For The Most Part – Our – Hypersensitivity – To – Patterns And Causes – Serves Us Well – We Are Constantly Learning How The World Around Us Works

~ B-WL0T-LOF-GITWOA-GS-? ~ B-WL-T-LOF-GITWOA-GS-?~ But – Why Let – The – Lack Of Facts – Get In The Way Of A – Good Story – ?

~ PP-EC-F-EC-A-MA-F-LC ~ People Prefer – Extreme Causes – For – Extreme Crimes – And – Mundane Attributions – For – Lesser Crimes

~ TAFGC-YSTTSAWDTAC-A-TUAWTWOALG ~ There’s A – Far Greater Chance – You’ll Suspect That The Successful Assassination Was Down To A Conspiracy – And – The Unsuccessful Attempt Was The Work Of A Lone Gunman

~ TP-CLAPTS-SOF-A-CT-RDC ~ Two People – Can Look At Precisely The Same – Set Of Facts – And – Come To – Radically Different Conclusions

~ OWHA-HAS-WH-ADRTTPOR ~ Once We Have A – Hunch About Something – We Have – A Deeply Rooted Tendency To Prove Ourselves Right

~ WSWWETF ~ WSWWETF ~ We Seek What We Expect To Find

~ WB-AFOPI-AOB-A-WRSO-OE-POTW ~ We Build – A Fortress Of Positive Information – Around Our Beliefs – And – We Rarely Step Outside – Or Even – Peek Out The Window

~ EW-TFAI-SP-W-FAWTCT-A-IYLT-RAAIF-NBA-CT ~ Even When – The Facts Are Incontrovertible – Some People – Will – Find A Way To Controvert Them – And – If You’re Looking To – Rationalize Away An Inconvenient Fact – Nothing Beats A – Conspiracy Theory

~ CT-IAPO-PQ-TA-BIEB-IOPI ~ Conspiracy Thinking – Is A Product Of – Psychological Quirks – That Are – Built Into Everyone’s Brain – Independent Of Political Ideology

~ OBCF-WMURFTAWGA ~ Our Beliefs Come First – We Make Up Reasons For Them As We Go Along

~ BS-O-HATMI-DNMULST-FB-S-IJMUBAT-EA-UF ~ Being Smarter – Or – Having Access To –

More Information – Doesn’t’ Necessarily Make Us Less Susceptible To – Faulty Beliefs – Sometimes – It Just Makes Us Better Able To – Explain Away – Unpalatable Facts

~ SPIP ~ Sometimes Paranoia Is Prudent

ROB BROTHERTON ~ WHY WE FALL FOR FAKE NEWS ~ 2020

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~ PHBCT-NI-FS-FN-FBALATHBA-NI ~ People Have Been Criticizing The – News Industry – For Spreading – Fake News – For Basically As Long As There Has Been A – News Industry

~ WTTTO-OP-A-LR-A-MC-T-O ~ We Tend To Think Of – Other People – As – Less Rational – And – More Conformist – Than – Ourselves

~ TMDPAFU-TMWTTTOTA-VTI ~ The More Different People Are From Us – The More We Tend To Think Of Them As – Vulnerable To Influence

~ INTWW-TWTBE-B-IWBE-WI?-A-IYWTNR-YCBFF-TTWIE-ICSL-OESO-D-FB-T-FB-A ~ It’s Not That We Want – The World To Be Ending – But – It Would Be Exciting – Wouldn’t It? – And – If You Watch The News Regularly – You Could Be Forgiven For – Thinking The World Is Ending – It Can Seem Like – One Endless Stream Of – Disaster – Followed By – Tragedy – Followed By – Atrocity

~ DT-TAE-O-TN-PIPF-DAG-IBNA-W-WG ~ Decrying The – Tropes And Excesses – Of – The News – Particularly Its Proclivity For – Doom And Gloom – Is By Now A – Well-Worn Genre

~ IIB-IL ~ If It Bleeds – It Leads

~ OPF-O-ID-CTOEIOAP ~ One Personality Flaw – Or – Ignoble Deed – Can Taint Our Entire Impression Of A Person

~ A – Bad Reputation – Is – Easy To Acquire – And – Hard To Shake – Whereas – A – Good Reputation – Is – Hard-Won – And – Easily Lost

~ TTTO-DNMYH-B-TOL-MUAL ~ Telling The Truth Once – Does Not Make You Honest – But – Telling One Lie – Makes You A Liar

~ T-BE-TBU-B-SS-A-MS-TTSOIOM-MT-GE ~ The – Bad Events – That Befall Us – Both – Small Slights – And – Major Setbacks – Tend To Stand Out In Our Minds – More Than – Good Events

~ IAFS-BT-GOAMT-GT-WR-BE-MT-G-A-WLB-W-P-F-WR-T-W-R-F-CR ~ In A Fundamental Sense – Bad Things – Grab Our Attention More Than – Good Things – We Remember – Bad Experiences – More Than – Good – And – We Learn Better – When – Punished – For – Wrong Responses – Than – When – Rewarded – For – Correct Responses

~ DOFPTTTMOI-IOT-BN-TWWT-RAS ~ Despite Our Frequent Protestations That There’s Too Much Of It – It’s Often The – Bad News – That We Want To – Read And Share

~ ‘BN’-I-T-CP-O-ET ~ “Breaking News” – Is – The – Current Pinnacle – Of – Expected Timeliness

~ PCR-A-SPOI-AAT ~ People Can Remember – Around – Seven Pieces Of Information – At A Time

~ WPH-TMC-TRS-TM-OWC ~ When People Have – Too Many Choices – The Research Suggested – They Make – Objectively Worse Choices

~ TI-IWBNTA-TATWSPTITVNWC-WBAUG-B-ICBEMTWIOAA-CM ~ The Internet – It Would Be Naive To Assume – That A Technology With Such Potential To Influence The Very News We Consume – Would Be An Unmitigated Good – But – It Could Be Equally Misguided To Write It Off As A – Catastrophic Mistake

~ INECWP-DOAAE-NUTATCTI-MWFEITPTIAT-A-TTETYCEIIMBT-IETTTNS-A-ATIIT ~ Its Not Entirely Clear Why Photos – Devoid Of Any Actual Evidence – Nudge Us Toward Accepting The Clams They Illustrate – Maybe We Find Evidence In The Photos That Isn’t Actually There – And – To The Extent That You Can Easily Imagine It Might Be True – It’s Easier To Take The Next Step – And – Assume That It Is True

~ P-C-IT-TOC-P-ROWTTUAAA-CJM-TFT ~ Photos – Can – Inflate The – Truthiness Of Claims – Photos – Regardless Of Whether They Tell Us Anything At All – Can Just Make – Things Feel True

~ ITETSW-D-WUIT-P-TA-ISU-MP-HBBTLB-FAF-STDOP ~ It’s Too Early To Say Whether – Deepfakes – Will Usher In The – Post-Truth Apocalypse – It Seems Unlikely – Manipulated Photos – Have Been Blurring The Line Between – Fact And Fiction – Since The Dawn Of Photojournalism

~IYWTMP-YDNTGTTTO-F-AP-O-AV-UI-CDTJJF-RP-CHMPB-FN ~ If You Want To Mislead People – You Don’t Need To Go To The Trouble Of – Faking – A Photo – Or – A Video – Unmanipulate Images – Can Do The Job Just Fine – Real Photos – Can Help Make People Believe – Fake News

~ WSTW-TTLO-OEB ~ We See The World – Through The Lens Of – Our Existing Beliefs

~ A-WP-LTC-T-RT-‘E’-A-MP-WT-DLTC-T-RT-E-A-W ~ Again – When People – Liked The Conclusions – They – Rated The – “Evidence” – As – More Persuasive – When They – Didn’t Like The Conclusions – They – Rated The – Evidence – As – Weaker

~ IHTAA-WN-S-I-F ~ It’s Harder To Agree About – Which News – Specifically – Is – Fake

~ FDSFT;WCTWETTOTCTBU ~ Facts Don’t Speak For Themselves; We’re Constantly Tasked With Evaluating The Truth Of The Claims That Bombard Us

~ TIOA-‘PT’-S-STWOA-GA-W-ECAA-WWT-A-WW-B-TWNTC ~ The Idea Of A – “Post-Truth” – Society – Suggests There Was Once A – Golden Age – When – Everyone Could Agree About – What Was True – And – What Wasn’t – But – That Was Never The Case

~ TI-I-A-UI ~ True Impartiality – Is – An – Unattainable Ideal

~ “Fake News” – Meaning – Outright Lies Masquerading As News – Is Just – The Highly Visible Tip Of A Much Larger Iceberg – Sensationalism / Negativity / Bias / Inaccurate Facts / Misleading Interpretations – Are – Just As Concerning – And – Far More Pervasive

~ We’re Quick To Call Bias On News That We Don’t Agree With – But – More Reluctant To Acknowledge Bias In The News That We Approve Of – We’re Slower Still To Realize How Our Own Beliefs Shape Our Perception Of The World To Begin With

~ WMNBAT-AATF-IWCEA-WF-A-WO ~ We May Never Be Able To – Agree About The Facts – If We Can’t Even Agree – What’s Fact – And – What’s Opinion