On September 11, 2001, a series of coordinated attacks were carried out in the United States leaving almost 3,000 people dead.[/caption]Recent psychological and sociological studies in the US and UK indicate that the so-called �conspiracy theories� about contested events such as 9/11 are turning into the conventional wisdom, an analyst says.
According to a psychological study of online discussions of news articles comparing pro and anti-conspiracy comments, those who disbelieve government accounts of such events as the 9/11 and the JFK assassination outnumber believers by more than two to one, Kevin Barrett said in an article published by Press TV on Friday.
"That means it is the pro-conspiracy commenters who are expressing what is now the conventional wisdom, while the anti-conspiracy commenters are becoming a small, beleaguered minority,� he said.
The analyst went on to say that studies showed that those who accept the official versions of contested events often displayed �anger and hostility� possibly due to the fact that their conventional views no longer represent the majority.
Barrett noted that those who favored stereotypical versions of news events turned out to be �fanatically attached� to their own conspiracy theories as �indisputably true�.
�For people who think 9/11 was a government conspiracy, the focus is not on promoting a specific rival theory, but in trying to debunk the official account,� he pointed out.
The analyst added that it was the CIA that invented and popularized the term �conspiracy theorists� as part of a propaganda campaign to smear and defame people questioning the JFK assassination.
�In other words, people who use the terms �conspiracy theory� and �conspiracy theorist� as an insult are doing so as the result of a well-documented, undisputed, historically-real conspiracy by the CIA to cover up the JFK assassination. That campaign, by the way, was completely illegal.�
He said that anti-conspiracy people seek out information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs, while using irrational mechanisms to avoid conflicting information.
He concluded that the CIA�s old campaign to stifle debate using the �conspiracy theory� smear is nearly �worn-out� adding, pro-conspiracy voices are now �more numerous� and �more rational� than anti-conspiracy ones.
By Press TV
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