...“One problem with the focus on speculation is that it tends to promote the growth of the great intellectual cancer of our times: conspiracy theories.” ~ Gary Weiss. This quote means that, if there is a problem or something sounds suspicious, we will investigate it and come up with our own reasons for why it happened. Though sometimes the theory we come up with may sound stupid, we still believe it. The conspiracy theories are intellectual cancer because some theories actually sound more believable than others and it just spreads and becomes an epidemic. Some theories are just that interesting. Would you trust a memory that felt as real as all your other memories, and if other people confirmed that they remembered it too? Even if it was false?...
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...While conspiracy theories have existed since the beginning of media in one form or another, they have been especially prevalent in the last few decades. Ever since the invention of the internet, the spread of self published ideas has been easier than ever, resulting in the growing number of skeptics. Conspiracy theories have been widely accepted more than ever since the previous presidential election, as mainstream media outlets picked up several theories regarding the two main candidates. So to understand this broadening phenomena, one must know the kind of people who believe conspiracy theories, why they are inclined to believe them, and what effects they are having on the world. Identifying the people who tend to believe conspiracy theories...
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...Conspiracy theories fascinate and open people's mind to strange, but potentially true possibilities. Conspiracy theories have been around since the beginning of time, and have had an influence on the lives of skeptics. But why do people believe in them? What makes them so interesting? People that study human patterns have discovered that humans believe in conspiracy theories because of human gullibility. Human gullibility is seen mostly through conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories happen because skeptics believe there is more to know about a specific event that has happened. Also, humans lack trust in their governments which has affected the way people act and think. Scientists have researched the human brain and have discovered patterns in the human brain. One of the patterns is human gullibility/curiosity. Humans are a curious species. They...
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...DEFEAT CONSPIRACY THEORIES WITH PERSPICACITY As usual, I went to work on Tuesday morning of September 11th. When I got to work, a few of my coworkers were already there including my boss. My coworker stomped into the office and said in a frighten voice that the World Trade Center (WTC) and the Pentagon were probably attacked by terrorists and it was all over the news. I was in shock and could not even comprehend what she said. My boss quickly turned the radio on and broke down in tears worrying about his only son who was Major of the Marine Corp that worked in the Pentagon at the time. The day went on dreadfully for my boss and everyone at work as well. For years, the combination of fear of the 9/11 attacks and the media evidence provided by conspiracy theorists has caused me to be paranoid not only whenever I was in a close distance with men from the Middle East, but also thinking that the U.S. government was behind the master ploy. While 1/3 of the American population believes that 9/11 is the inside job of the Bush government due to the psychological impacts of the national crisis upon their mind;...
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...My first project for this class was my Annotated Bibliography. My topic was John F Kennedy’s Assassination Conspiracy Theories. Before I’ve started this project, I had no idea that there were conspiracy theories regarding his tragic death. This project wasn’t as hard as I thought since I have to find at least five sources from various type of media like scholarly source, youtube videos, news articles, images, and many others. Honestly, I really had fun finding sources because I get to know more about his assassination and the conspiracy theories that I’ve never heard of. The most ridiculous theory I’ve read was that people felt that probably his wife shot him because she was closest to Kennedy. But, overall this process was a learning experience...
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...ends, things seem to parallel each other. There those who believe in an unquestionable trust in political figures, doctors and other medical professionals. Other parents seem to look at homeopathy, nature and metaphysical tendencies to resolve their medical dilemma as regards to the vaccine.[Huntley and Peeters, 2010; Battles, 2008]. It is at this point that Lewandowski et al. [2013] and his believed that with an increase in knowledge the worldview polarization of science also doubled. Apparently, these issues are evident to point out to the fact that anti-vaccine attitudes are predicted by them. But there is very limited research in place, to depict the underlying factor beneath these forms of psychosocial behaviors against vaccines. The notion of worldview approach to anti-vaccine over vaccines is a current one and stems from paranormal, spiritual, and conspiracy beliefs over the vaccines. These non-evidence ways of life seem to reach out to the attitudes parents depict over vaccines for such a long time.[Jolley and Douglas, 2014; Goertzel, 1994] There those, who see that vaccines are unsafe, impure according to God’s purpose of creation [O’shea, 2001] and even with governments like the Australian taking the Slovakian approach [Kasarda ,2013; Behrmann2010 ],...
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...Ass The Assignation of JFK and the Conspiracy Theory Jayme Jackson DeVry University Contemporary History HIST410 Professor Lisa Jones December 14, 2013 The Assignation of JFK and the Conspiracy Theory November 22, 1963 was an unforgettable day in American history. On this day the thirty-fifth President of the United States, John F. Kennedy (JFK), was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while he rode in an open limousine with Texas Governor John Conally (Wicker, 1963). He received fatal head wounds caused by one of the bullets from the shooting. Lee Harvey Oswald (Oswald), the only person ever formally accused of the assassination, ran away from the Texas Book Depository where he worked, and was stopped for questioning by a police official. At which time, Oswald killed the officer with a revolver he had hidden (Wicker, 1963). Oswald fled to the Texas Theater and within a short time period he was apprehended by the police and brought into a police station (Wicker, 1963). Although Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime, he was murdered by Jack Ruby and never prosecuted for the assassination. Since the tragic events that occurred in November of 1963, there have been many theories that the murder of President John F. Kennedy was done as part of a conspiracy. As this year of 2013 it has been fifty years since the events and people are still mystified with the assassination of JFK and the possible conspiracy theories. An important fact that Americans and people worldwide...
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...Kianna Petty Social Organized Crime Perspective Paper CJA/384 April 12, 2015 Professor Edward Rafailovitc According to Webster II New Riverside University Dictionary definition, social institutions have been identified as groups of people that work together for common purposes or interest, possessing and developing, responsibilities, rights, protections, and objectives distinct different from other members (Webster II New Riverside University Dictionary, 1996).This paper will explore the social institutions as well as their relationship to organized crime, and further explore the empirical or speculative theories that are applicable to organized crime and behavior. Any type of social institutions consists of a group of people who share a desired result. Generally, there are five different types of social institutions. They are political, educational, religious, economic, and family. The average social institution is an organization of people who abide by the laws and follow the general rules and guidelines in a collective manner. These social groups could be a normal club with one thing or goal in common. Some social institutions that most people are familiar with are the Boys and Girl Clubs, the Cub Scouts, and the Girl Scouts. Further, family, school, church, government agencies are not the only social groups, organized crime organizations have adopted the philosophy of social institutions. Organized crime also had people with a vested interest in the business of killing...
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...Introduction to Empirical research on non-evidence beliefs over anti-vaccination Student Name: Institution: Introduction Vaccines have had an increasing effect on people's health in the world for a long period. Down in Australia, the government introduced the “no jab, no pay” economic policy to detract anti-vaccine movements from ‘confusing’ the public (McCutcheon, 2015).Under this law, children who are not immunized, are denied childcare not unless their parents do declare philosophical, religious, medical or personal objections (Medew 2015). Evidently, in the New South Wales state, only about 50% of citizens receive vaccines for their children. Evidently this is the lowest level in Australia and is compared to South Sudan (McCutcheon, 2015).There are various researches that have come up to explain how conspiracy, paranormal, and spirituality are related to anti-vaccination, but it is clear that none of them was bold enough to explain why. For instance, in line with conspiracy theory, Kata (2010) states of how 75% of the websites she researched on made claims of cover up, where regulatory bodies had information about vaccines they were from the public. Orac (2014) states of how conspiracy in the Muslim world made people into believing polio vaccines were evil plans by the Western nations to sterilize Muslim youth and reduce them in number. In the same sense, 50% of websites stated of how the government purportedly protects vaccine manufacturers and doctors from possible harms...
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...Communication and Crisis Paper Tara Littleton HCS/320 1/18/16 Ann Maleta Communication and Crisis Paper Official reports indicate that the public water supplies in several different towns in the area are contaminated with a biological agent that is life threatening. Being the director of the Emergency Management Office, there has to be a contingency plan put into place within the office’s organization and with the public without creating a widespread panic. Knowing the situations in the past, the issues have to be dealt with immediately. Doing research and using the information from the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor malfunction in 1979, will help to know how to respond to this disaster. Even though there were no deaths or injuries from this particular incident, it drew a lot of media attention and created great concern within the local area and surrounding areas. The major forms of communication used in this situation were three major television networks and the local radio stations. Also, there was another situation in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina went through New Orleans and left it devastated. Many of the local citizens and their families were affected and most of them...
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...Controlling Organized Crime Paper When carefully considering how to define the term “organized crime” an individual concludes it is a group of individuals from the same or different ethnic backgrounds and transnational groups operate as a working network that may include politicians and legitimate businesses. Criminal organization characteristics are a topic throughout this document. These four theories, Social control, alien conspiracy, strain and anomie, and differential association are also topics in the document to provide a clear understanding of the development of criminal organizations. Complications as a result of criminal organizations, combatting organized crime with limited limitations, and federal laws supporting the efforts of anti-crime. A recommendation of gaining control over organized crime is also a topic in this document. Several theories can assist law enforcement, society, researchers, and professionals by providing an insight into the early development stages of criminal organization. Each theory has facts, research, and statistics to support the theories. The data collection provides an in-depth understanding why an organized crime group’s flourish and the reason these individual engage in criminal behavior. Additionally, theories assist law enforcement with determining a demographic area and individuals at risk of engaging in organized crime. Social Control Theory The social control theory suggests that links to a person’s family and neighborhood...
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...Personal Perception Of Organized Crime Paper Joseph T. Merritt CJA384 November 7, 2011 Theresa Cruz Personal Perception of Organized Crime Paper Before taking this class I had always thought of organized crime as a group of people who used violence and crime to get what they wanted or to not get in trouble when they commit crimes. I honestly thought that all organized crime groups were like the Sopranos or one of the movies I have seen on television. I also thought that the United States is where all the organized crime was and I was surprised to find that there are more crime groups all over the world. I learned from the reading that there were many different definitions for organized crime and I found that I was not so far off with my own definition. According to the reading (2005) the American law enforcement agencies have been slow to even respond to the insightful changes that have come about with organized crime that has been brought about by globalization. The European agencies have drastically changed their views of organized crime and the structure of it. The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) in the United Kingdom describe organized crime in four ways. These four ways include that the organized crime group will usually contain at least three people, the criminal activity within the group is usually ongoing and indistinct in length, the group will be motivated by the desire for revenue or even power, and the group will commit very serious...
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...assignments we’ve done this semester and the steps we used to complete each assignment. The class theme is unsolved mysteries and conspiracy theories. This course requires you to complete four major essays. In order to receive credit for each essay, you MUST turn in every essay or it results in automatic failure of the class no matter what your grade is. The required texts & materials for this course is the Core Handbook; the PDF version is on the D2L homepage. You must have access to email and upload article to D2L by smartphone, tablet or laptop. You must bring paper, pens/pencil, journal and loose-leaf paper to class. You will not be able...
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...The Global Warming Conspiracy The issue of climate change and the role humans have had in it is perhaps one of the most discussed topics of today. There are significant portions of the population that deny climate change, even though overwhelming evidence has proved climate change to be real. This causes serious problems in society. Daniel Kahneman’s article, “The Surety of Fools” discusses why people continue believing what they always have even when evidence proves them wrong. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) published several articles, including one called “Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet” detailing the research and facts that prove that climate change is, in fact, real. An article by David Runciman, “How...
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...Conspiracy Theory Research Paper: Was Edgar Allan Poe Murderer? Have you ever wondered how the gruesomely poetic Edgar Allan Poe died? Was he in fact murdered or driven mad by sickness? There are many conspiracies leading up to his demise. Due to the lack of medical research and supplies back in the 1800’s it was hard to get an accurate medical examination of his body after his passing. He was also buried two days after his death, furthermore making it more arduous to examine his newly deceased corpse. Edgar Allan Poe was a famous ominous poet from the early 1800’s. He was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, MA. Poe was gloriously known for his short stories on mystery and murder. He was an orphan by the age of two and his new family never...
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