Apparently people derive a sense of control and feeling of superiority from believing in so-called conspiracy theories. No matter how complex the theory is it allows the adherant to understand the incredibly complex world in relatively simple terms. People are reduced to charicatures and entire populations are split along two sides.
They 'know the truth' whereas most other people (or should I say 'sheople') are sleeping and 'need to wake up'. This allows for a feeling of superiority. Screeching on an online forum to the 5 people that may possibly actually read it somehow in their mind constitutes a believable forewarning worthy of being heeded and when things go wrong they are there to remind us how they 'told us so!'.
Armchair online activism is mistaken for actual activism. Lazily reading websites marred by the mixture of facts with conjecture (but presented as fact) with no regard whatsoever for cognitive bias is mistaken for actual research.
The obvious arrogance and contempt is poorly hidden through humour and 'playful' jabs. New problems are looked upon gleefully as they confirm what they supposedly already knew. Although they claim to want solutions above all this is a lie (one they themselves believe). Problems being solved is the opposite of what they want as it takes away their (imaginary) special status.
They come in all different forms and it's impossible to stereotype them accurately but one common factor is that they are in no way as smart as they think they are.
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