Inside Jobs: On Conspiracy Theories

Within hours of the April 15th Boston Marathon Bombing, social media, independent news outlets and personal blogs were rife with nascent theories about the government’s involvement in this perpetration of a “false flag attack.” Parents of victims in the December Newtown, Conn., school shooting were accused of being “crisis actors.” Fluoridation, Obama’s birth certificate, the 9/11 attacks, the assassination of JFK, the implementation of a New World Order by the Illuminati controlled by the Elders of Zion: it seems that every new public catastrophe is immediately followed by a chorus of voices “just asking questions” about the shadowy nature of the narrative behind the narrative. Why do so many seemingly rational people believe in conspiracies? Join Brian, Gene and Lee as they discuss the social and psychological mechanism of this substantial — and growing — subculture as Inside Jobs investigates The Origin of Conspiracy Theories.