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Comment by puranjay | Hacker News Reader

> I posit our propensity towards them is not a random fluke of human psyche

I remember when Game of Thrones was in its early seasons. I had read the books so knew what was going go happen. I would sit and watch my friends discuss the show (who hadn't read the books) and I would be positively gleeful knowing that I knew more than them. It was like I possessed secret insider knowledge they all craved.

I suspect people who believe in conspiracy theories feel the same way. They know something others don't. Everyone else is waiting for the script writers; they've already seen the source.

It appeals to our ego and inherent narcissism. And frankly, when you have a people who have been told for decades that they are special and unique, narcissism can be an overrepresented quality

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> I would sit and watch my friends discuss the show (who hadn't read the books) and I would be positively gleeful knowing that I knew more than them. It was like I possessed secret insider knowledge they all craved.

That doesn't explain why they would share that conspiracy with the masses. Doesn't it mean their insider knowledge won't be special anymore?

If I had insider trade knowledge, I wouldn't share it on reddit or well anywhere.

That doesn't explain why they would share that conspiracy with the masses. Doesn't it mean their insider knowledge won't be special anymore?

Perhaps it helps to believe something so outrageous the masses won't believe it.

The GoT analogy continues if we think that as the TV show continued, certain book plot points were missed out, overlooked, or perhaps even negated by decisions made for the show.

Book readers then had ready ammunition to share with the world "the TV series was WRONG, dishonest and false... the dialogue proves X but they changed it in the tv series!"

So they remain gleeful but they need to share their conspiracy(Book plotline) with the masses because otherwise the masses won't understand the same reality that they do.

> It was like I possessed secret insider knowledge they all craved. I suspect people who believe in conspiracy theories feel the same way.

Then why are they always trying to spread their theories far and wide? Why wouldn't they do what you did and be "positively gleeful knowing that I knew more than them?"

How common are conspiracies throughout written human history? Why would modern history be any different?

Because for a true believer of a conspiracy theory, spreading the "truth" is an altruistic act.

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