258: Conspiracy Theories

2013-04-30T12:22:30Z

79.146.7.174:

{{comic
| number = 258
| date = May 7, 2007
| title = Conspiracy Theories
| image = conspiracy theories.png
| titletext = There are a lot of graduate-educated young-earth creationists.
}}

==Explanation==
A {{w|conspiracy theory}} purports to explain a social, political, or economic event as being caused or covered up by a covert group or organization. A typical example is the {{w|moon landing conspiracy}}, which asserts that no human has ever {{w|Moon landing|reached}} the Moon.

Once a conspiracy theory starts, it always grows stronger. Facts agreeing with the theory are, of course, evidence for the theory. Facts disagreeing with the theory are considered part of the cover-up, and thus prove there is in fact a cover-up, so they're also evidence for the theory. In the Moon landing case, videos of men walking on the Moon are assumed to be faked by Hollywood studios, so the existence of fake videos proves the cover-up. Also, the absence of filming crew or anything else needed for faking a video is considered further proof of how carefully the cover-up was planned. No matter what happens next, it will be evidence for the conspiracy theory. Because of this, people who present facts against a conspiracy theory tend to get quickly frustrated.

It could seem like smart or educated people should reject conspiracy theories for lack of proof, however this is not the case. In the comic, [[Hairy]] (who is considered "smart" by [[Cueball]]) starts pointing out errors in the {{w|September 11 attacks|"official" 9/11 story}}, obviously starting to describe the {{w|9/11 conspiracy theory}}. Cueball cuts his speech sharply, and his heart is broken because he's seeing his smart friend wasting his great intelligence in a foolish conspiracy theory, instead of doing something useful.

In the second panel, Cueball rants about conspiracy theories in general. He mentions {{w|Young Earth creationism}}, {{w|Moon landing conspiracy|the Moon landing}} and {{w|Perpetual motion}} machines. In the third panel, Hairy mentions that of course we never landed on the Moon. This frustrates Cueball so much that he just walks away with no further comment.

In the last panel, Cueball asks God to fix the bug he committed when creating smart beings capable of believing such foolish things as conspiracy theories.
This is a not-so-subtle joke as, to atheists, God himself is quite similar to a conspiracy theory. Indeed, any evidence against God's existence put forward by an atheist is met with a "whatever happens, it's God's will" by believers' side. This is much like any other conspiracy theory, so in this last panel Cueball is pictured as contradicting himself by complaining that other people believe in foolish conspiracy theories when he himself is very plainly believing his own foolish conspiracy theory.

The title text just repeats how lots of educated people believe in {{w|Young Earth creationism}}.

==Transcript==
:Hairy: The official story of 9-11 is full of holes. Take the--
:Cueball: Please, stop, because seeing this happen to you breaks my heart.

:Cueball: Conspiracy theories represent a known glitch in human reasoning. The theories are of course occasionally true, but their truth is completely uncorrelated with the believer's certainty For some reason, sometimes when people think they've uncovered a lie, they raise confirmation bias to an art form. They cut context away from facts and arguments and assemble them into reassuring litanies. And over and over I've argued helplessly with smart people consumed by theories they were sure were irrefutable, theories that in the end proved complete fictions.
:Cueball: Young-Earth Creationists, the Moon Landing people, the Perpetual Motion subculture -- can't you see you're falling into the same pattern?

:Hairy: You don't seriously believe we landed on the moon. Do you?

:[Cueball flees.]

:[Cueball praying:]
:Cueball: Dear God.
:[Booming from the sky:]
:God: YES MY CHILD?
:Cueball: I would like to file a bug report.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Religion]]

258: Conspiracy Theories

2013-04-29T21:44:20Z

79.146.7.174: Initial explanation (and first page created by me in any wiki)

{{comic
| number = 258
| date = May 7, 2007
| title = Conspiracy Theories
| image = conspiracy_theories.png
| titletext = There are a lot of graduate-educated young-earth creationists.
}}

==Explanation==
A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory conspiracy theory]
purports to explain a social, political, or economic event
as being caused or covered up by a covert group or organization.
A typical example is the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy Moon landing conspiracy],
which asserts that no human has ever
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing reached] the Moon.

Once a conspiracy theory starts, it always grows stronger.
Facts agreeing with the theory are, of course, evidence for the theory.
Facts disagreeing with the theory are considered part of the cover-up,
and thus prove there is in fact a cover-up, so they're also evidence for the theory.
In the Moon landing case, videos of men walking on the Moon
are assumed to be faked by Hollywood studios,
so the existence of fake videos proves the cover-up.
Also, the absence of filming crew or anything else needed for faking a video
is considered further proof of how carefully the cover-up was planned.
No matter what happens next, it will be evidence for the conspiracy theory.
Because of this, people who present facts against a conspiracy theory
tend to get quickly frustrated.

It could seem like smart or educated people should reject conspiracy theories
for lack of proof, however this is not the case.
In the comic, Hairy (who is considered "smart" by Cueball)
starts pointing out errors in the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks "official" 9/11 story],
obviously starting to describe the
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories 9/11 conspiracy theory].
Cueball cuts his speech sharply, and his heart is broken because
he's seeing his smart friend wasting his great intelligence in
a foolish conspiracy theory, instead of doing something useful.

In the second panel, Cueball rants about conspiracy theories in general.
He metions
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism Young Earth creationism],
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy the Moon landing] and
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion Perpetual motion machines].
In the third panel, the haired character mentions that
of course we never landed on the Moon.
This frustrates Cueball so much that he just walks away with no further comment.

In the last panel, Cueball asks God to fix the bug he commited
when creating smart beings capable of believing
such foolish things as conspiracy theories.
This is a not-so-subtle joke as, to atheists,
God himself is quite similar to a conspiracy theory.
Indeed, any evidence against God's existence put forward by an atheist
is met with a "whatever happens, it's God's will" by believers' side.
This is much like any other conspiracy theory, so in this last panel
Cueball is pictured as contradicting himself by complaining that
other people believe in foolish conspiracy theories when
he himself is very plainly believeing his own foolish conspiracy theory.

The title text just repeats how lots of educated people believe in
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism Young Earth creationism].

==Transcript==
:The official story of 9-11 is full of holes. Take the --
:[Figure B:]
:Please, stop, because seeing this happen to you breaks my heart.
:[Figure B:]
:Conspiracy theories represent a known glitch in human reasoning. The theories are of course occasionally true, but their truth is completely uncorrelated with the :believer's certainty. For some reason, sometimes when people think they've uncovered a lie, they raise confirmation bias to an art form. They cut context away :from facts and arguments and assemble them into reassuring litanies. And over and over I've argued helplessly with smart people consumed by theories they were sure :were irrefutable, theories that in the end proved complete fictions.
:Young-Earth Creationists, the Moon Landing people, the Perpetual Motion subculture -- can't you see you're falling into the same pattern?
:[Figure A:]
:You don't seriously believe we landed on the moon. Do you?
:[Figure B flees]
:[Figure B, praying:]
:Dear God.
:[Booming from the sky:]
:YES MY CHILD?
:[Figure B:]
:I would like to file a bug report.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics from 2007‏‎]]
[[Category:Comics from May]]

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258: Conspiracy Theories

258: Conspiracy Theories