Carl Stempel (CSU-East Bay), Thomas Hargrove (Scripps), and Guido H. Stempel III (Ohio): Media Use, Social Structure, and Belief in 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. Night of the census taker: Obama is sending his minions to your house — the deep history of a conspiracy theory. Can you say irony? Glenn Beck offers insight into conspiracy theories. From Miller-McCune, a review of Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy by Seth Kalichman. The Internet ate my nephew: He's a smart kid but he's fallen for a crazy conspiracy site. Of jock straps and conspiracy theories: Lacking control increases illusory pattern perception. One man's rumor is another man's reality: Dispelling conspiracy theories and untruths can be difficult when people only hear what they already believe. Conspiracy theorists have used the internet to co-ordinate increasingly slick attacks on the accepted versions of events, but now a group of scientists and sceptics has decided it's time to organise and fight back. From Cosmos, from crop circles and alien abductions to faith healers, many secretly believe in strange phenomena — and it has more to do with human psychology than with reality; and from wild speculation in financial markets to believing that aliens are visiting us, humans are prone to all sorts of personal and mass delusions — and have been for centuries. A review of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. A review of The Masonic Myth: Unlocking the Truth About the Symbols, the Secret Rites, and the History of Freemasonry by Jay Kinney. Here are 5 myths that people don't realize are admitted hoaxes.
