Blog Post 3...Conspiracy?

Blog Question, " What is the role of modern technology in generating, spreading, or sustaining conspiracy theories?"


Wow! The power of the world wide net! This technology is a mixed blessing, you can almost find anything you want to hear or want to know using the internet. From research on papers to the latest gossip you will find it all on the internet. Sometimes this easy access will lead to a large conspiracy which may have started out as a joke between a few friends to something that everyone tends to hold as truth and base many of their actions on it. Another possible evil is the television, how many times do you flip through the channels and the news has something interesting on that you just have to watch. How many times have you watched the political debate and wondered why it tends to only be one sided? If its on an authoritive news station than it must be true right?? How many times have you heard or read something on the news and took it as truth but later found out that it was false? These new technological advances appeal the many people who thrive on gossip, drama, or even just the latest ideas in America and around the world. There tends to be a large connection between how largely a story or idea is publicized and how accepted it is.
Lets take the news for example and a political campaign. Many people rely on the credibility of
things they read on the internet and things they hear on the news for their answers. If the news and internet is biased to a certain candidate, you can bet that more people will vote for that person because it seems as though “everyone else is voting for that person”. Another idea would be the idea of a conspiracy
concerning 911, by simply typing in 911 conspiracy, I had pages and pages of search hits.http://www.911truth.org/
How about landing on the moon? A classmate of mine posted on the discussion board “ I know we landed on the moon, I saw it on television.” How many people if you ask, “Did we land on the moon?” Would have the same answer? Now we may very well have landed on the moon but with the advances in modern technology and special effects that can be made up, it is possible that we didn’t land on the moon and that all the pictures and video we have seen on it was all a hoax.www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicapollo.html Was landing on the moon a conspiracy?
The point is that although the internet, television , and news are all great tools that should be utilized for good, they can also be used for generating and sustaining conspiracies. Technology should be user, listener, and reader beware. Do not be easily convinced, do your research and draw your own conclusions. Just because many people say and believe something doesn’t make it true. As my mother would say, “if everyone else jumped off a bridge would that mean that it’s a good idea to do that?”