The rising internet presence of Sandy Hook truthers

[Redfairen]

There are two kinds of conspiracy theories: The ones about the Illuminati and about mysterious "chemtrails," which lurk forever in the online twilight zone, favored by a hard core of fringe believers; and the ones that, like the equally ludicrous speculation about Barack Obama's nativity, break into the nation's political conversation. The repugnant and absurd theories about the massacre of children in Newtown, Connecticut, last month seem like an obvious candidate for the first category, simply too insane to gain any sort of wide acceptance. But some of the factors that can bring theories in from the fringe appear to be driving its unexpected surge this month: a connection to America's intensely polarized political culture in general, and a message that appeals to a long-standing fear among gun owners, in particular.

The leading version of the "Sandy Hook Hoax" theory, such as it is, holds that the incident was staged by the White House as a prelude to disarming America. Many of its claims are rooted in contradictory and confusing media statements that came out of the chaos of the first hours of the shooting, and which are virtually always present in such chaotic moments. (Similar confused media reporting served as the basis of the 9/11 Truth movement.)

The theory is ludicrous, but there is hard evidence that it has begun to go viral. The leading, anonymous, 30-minute video created by YouTube user ThinkOutsideTheTV had been viewed 10.6 million times by Friday morning. The search engine Topsy, which measures Twitter conversation, shows discussion of the video rising fast this week starting on Sunday and then, as those conversations peak and drop, discussion of a "Sandy Hook hoax" largely continuing to rise, with only a slight dip. And Twitter is just a tiny slice of a broader social space that includes Facebook, YouTube, and, in particular, email forwards, which typically are the key communication channels for conspiracy theories.

"It's by far the hottest topic of the moment," said David Mikkelson, the cofounder of the popular fact-checking website Snopes.com, which offers a detailed and extensive debunking of the theory's various planks.


(more craziness on the link)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/sandy-hook-conspiracy-theories-edge-toward-the-mai

[Turbineguy]

1. It's simply

that there is no shortage of idiots in this country. And they have tools that they did not have in the past to propagate this idiocy. Ironically they are trying the get the GOP to kill them off, but we fiight to keep them (and ourselves) viable.

[monmouth3]

2. They are not "truthers" just "liars."...n/t

[HappyMe]

3. This, exactly.

I wish people would stop with this 'truther' crap. The garbage they are trying to peddle is anything but the truth.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

5. What ticks me off is how many people are get messed with.

Their are people in Sandy Hook that are getting terrorized by this people.

[HappyMe]

6. They don't care about that.

Their only concern is that people buy into their bullshit and spread it around.

[jberryhill]

4. What will emerge are...

People who do not propose a particular theory about Newtown, but are "just asking questions". They will find conflicts between various news reports and quotes - and there are always plenty in the wake of a sudden story with more journalists than sources - and say, "This report says X, and this other report says Y. How do you reconcile those two conflicting reports?"

There are patterns of thought that can't handle ambiguity or contradiction, and IMHO their brains are just not able to handle ambiguity or contradiction.

You can have a bank robbery where one witness says they saw a guy in a white shirt get into a black car, and a witness who says they saw a guy in a black shirt get into a white car.

There are some people whose minds simply do not take that information and figure that it is likely that both witnesses saw a guy get into a car. Because of the contradictions about whether it was white shirt / black car or black shirt /white car, and the possibility that press reports were based on second-hand re-tellings, the people of this mindset will decide, based on those contradictions, that nobody robbed the bank.

It's just the way some people think. It is not because they are stupid, evil, or what-have-you. It is simply the way they are wired.