Why Conspiracy Theories Are Dangerous Essay

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Why Conspiracy Theories Are Dangerous Conspiracy theories are a “belief that an unpleasant event or situation is the result of a secret plan made by powerful people.” (Definition of Conspiracy Theories, English Dictionary). People tend to believe in conspiracy theories because they want to feel like they’re in control of their environment or feel a need to have a sense of superiority over others. A very popular reason for conspiracy theories is that people tend to try and find explanations for events that they feel were not right or should not have happened. They want to find the reason why certain events happened but the one they receive is not satisfactory causing them to go deeper into a wormhole to find clarification or to find the perceived …show more content…

JFK was focused on the assassination of the President and the conspiracy theories lying behind it. One of the focuses of that movie was “The Umbrella Man” in the movie he gave secret signals to the assassins, in reality, the singular assassin, telling them when to shoot an event that did not actually happen. The theories of JFK’s assassination are insanely popular and they are all largely false. Many believe that the actual shooter was on the grassy knoll beside JFK, or that the mob did it, or possibly even that the government did it because it is so enveloped in secrecy that people believe that they are controlled by a higher power making the decisions for them akin to the order to murder JFK. This can be dangerous since some will be so persuaded by these conspiracy theories that they will go to the furthest extent to find what truly lies beneath. For example, John Patrick Bedell, who in 2010 opened fire on Pentagon officers because he was convinced the government was truly at fault for 9/11. He believed this theory so fully that he was driven to kill. Another example is Jared Lee Loughner who attacked 19 people in Tucson, Arizona killing six of them including a nine-year-old

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