From: Sent: To: Subject: Ed 12/19/2015 2:36:13 AM Epstein, Jeff [[email protected]] My review today in sj of conspiracy theories Importance: High They're Not Really Out to Get You By EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN Dec. 18, 2015, Wall Street Journal Conspiracy, a word derived from the Latin "to breathe together," has been a salient part of the darker of recorded history ever since conspirators i+ wore Plotted together to assassinate Julius "C" word does not alwavs with journalists, who commonly employ it in conjunction with "theory" to describe paranoid distortions of reality. Even so, a criminal conspiracy is not a rare phenomenon. Not only was a foreign conspiracy responsible monstrous 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center (as well according to the Center on Law and Security at federal indictments for terrorist attacks since 9/11 contain at least one conspiracy charge. The government's pursuit of conspiracies is by no means limited to terrorism. Conspiracy charges are the rule rather than the exception in cases brought against businessmen accused of fixing prices, evading environmental that exist only in a delusionary or misinformed mind. And some of them achieve a huge following. In Pakistan, according to public opinion polls, population believes that the 9/11 attack was staged by President George W. Bush to launch a war on Islam. The claim that the 1969 moon landing was faked is still around. Just two days ago a crew from a Russian TV channel rushed to my apartment to interview me about a viral post on Youtube in which the deceased director Stanley Kubrick supposedly made a deathbed confession to having filmed the landing in a Hollywood studio-even though everything about the post, including a fake Kubrick, was untrue. why people believe in pseudo-conspiracies is the focus of Rob Brotherton's fascinating book "suspicious conspiracies proceeds Mr. Brothertolfrom the an academic psychologist, advances the thesis that the belief in pseudo- and foibles" in the way that the human brain, or at least some huma sate bias that selects evidence to confirm rather than undermine a pre-adopted thesis. process evidence. He lucidly reviews studies showing common defects in the brain's wiring, what we expect to find," as Mr. Brotherton puts it. Relatedly, "biased assimilation" causes us to "interpret ambiguous events in light of what we already believe. Discussing Richard Hofstadter's 1964 essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," Mr. Brotherton accepts Hofstadter's characterization of proponents of politically motivated conspiracy theories as and suffering from "a psychic phenomenon" that prevents them from seeing the absurdity of their position. But he disagrees with Hofstadter that this condition affects only a small number of people on the fringes of society. For Mr. Brotherton, "conspiracy theories thrive in the mainstream. Until the controversy over the validity of Warren Commission's 1966 report on the Kennedy assassination, "conspiracy theory" had a more neutral meaning, suggesting a plausible yet unproven claim about multiple actors in a single event. Only in the aftermath of the Warren Commission derogatory term used to suggest theories that subvert conventional wisdom. To those who doubted the commission's finding that a single gunman killed Kennedy, Earl Warren became, Mr. Brotherton's says, the "Figurehead in a vast cover-up. It is not easy to find an objective criterion that distinguishes the inquiry into a real conspiracy from that chases a pseudo-conspiracy. Both types rely are the eyewitnesses, documents evidence. The best that Mr. Brotherton "I know it when In the context of on this score is to cite stewart potter's famous comment suspicious minds, one person might a plausible case for a conspiracy and another only outlandish connections. The distinction is in the mind of the beholder. Mr. Brotherton offers a sample list of conspiracy theories, including ones alleging that Abraham Lincoln was assis is eden toe orderer rests vite preside ter goverment auspices as fed ident bama is a communist Muslim from Kenya. Such theories are meant to show that suspicious minds leap to absurd conclusions. These are chosen because there is no evidence to support them. The picture changes, however, On April 14, 1865, at about he same time that Booth shot Lincoln, of his associates stabbed Secretary of State William Seward another stalked Vice President Andrew Johnson with a loaded gun. The military commission appointed by after examining Confederate bank transfers and that the three confederal an conte her he do he 2a tack attacks were part of a conspiracy sponsored by eight of Booth's associates, of whom were hanged. Here we have a conspiracy theory proceeding not from crackpots but from a government commission backed by the president and most members of Lincoln's cabinet. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031460

Clearly the defects in the brain's wiring that lead to crazy theories may lead to the confirmation of the confirmation bias can work in contradictorv flow of oxygen -Mr. Epstein most recent book is "The Annals of Unsolved Crimes." He is currently writing a book about Edward Snowden. http://www.wsj.com/articles/theyre-not-really-out-to-get-you-1450471512 Happy New Year Ed www.edwardjayepstein.com HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_031461