{"id":26769,"date":"2015-12-09T09:08:14","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T13:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=26769"},"modified":"2015-12-09T09:10:22","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T13:10:22","slug":"the-washington-post-opens-up-discussion-on-the-san-bernardino-false-flag-mass-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=26769","title":{"rendered":"The Washington Post Opens Up Discussion On The San Bernardino False Flag Mass Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

False flags, true believers and trolls: Understanding conspiracy theories after tragedies<\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

By Niraj Chokshi
\nThe Washington Post<\/p>\n

\"imrs.php\"<\/a>(Infowars.com)<\/span><\/div>\n

A lawyer for the family of one of the San Bernardino attackers invoked skepticism over another mass shooting in questioning police accounts of the mass shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of questions drawn with regard to Sandy Hook and whether or not that was a real incident or not,\u201d attorney David Chesley said in a video uploaded<\/a> by British tabloid The Daily Mail.<\/p>\n

His comments were an apparent reference to conspiracy theories that the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Conn., in\u00a0which\u00a027 victims were killed<\/a>, was staged to promote a gun control agenda.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0suggestion\u00a0should come as little surprise.\u00a0It is almost\u00a0guaranteed that after any tragedy: mixed in among\u00a0the outrage and sadness is the\u00a0doubt.\u00a0Conspiracy theories abound after tragedy.<\/p>\n

But what drives the conspiracy theories? Has the echo chamber of the Internet allowed them to\u00a0proliferate?<\/p>\n

http:\/\/twitter.com\/HenryMakow\/status\/672522310792822784\/photo\/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p>\n

To better understand the low murmur of disbelief\u00a0we see\u00a0online after\u00a0most major news events, we reached out to\u00a0Joe Uscinski, co-author of the book \u201cAmerican Conspiracy Theories\u201d and an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami, where he chaired the Conference on Conspiracy Theories in March.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an abbreviated version of our conversation.<\/p>\n

[\u2018Where\u2019s Syed?\u2019: How the San Bernardino shooting unfolded<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

How have conspiracy theories changed in the digital age? Has the Internet changed their nature or their frequency or their impact?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s tons of stuff out there if you want to find it. The question is are people actively looking for it, and if they do by accident stumble across it, do they believe it?<\/p>\n

The answer is people aren\u2019t any more into conspiracy theories now than they were before the Internet. I can give you some examples, but one is that belief in JFK conspiracy theories was at its height right before the Internet really blossomed. Since then, belief has dipped about 30 percent.<\/p>\n

Most people go to the Internet for dating, for sex, for airline tickets, for all sorts of things. But way at the bottom of that list is to find conspiracy theories. If you were to look up what are the most trafficked websites in the U.S., conspiracy theories aren\u2019t anywhere near the top.<\/p>\n

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So it\u2019s not having that big of an effect. And if we look at polls of belief in specific conspiracy theories or if we try to track beliefs over time, what we find is that people are probably less conspiratorial now than they were 50\u00a0years ago, 100\u00a0years ago.<\/p>\n

There are a whole lot of reflex mechanisms built into the Internet, too.<\/p>\n

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Was #SanBernardino<\/a> Shooting a #FalseFlag<\/a>? – https:\/\/t.co\/YwWWHAl3md<\/a><\/p>\n

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) December 3, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n