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Why do people love Conspiracy Theory?

This is what I said in the comments at Ann Althouse's blog about conspiracy nuts:

I think it's a disorder. I really do. I think that conspiracy theories work like a drug in the brain. I think they take our natural functions of pattern recognition and puzzle solving, the very things that make us *sentient* and pervert them to a significant pleasure response at being the one who sees the truth, who figured out the puzzle, who saw the patterns.


This is what I said last week in a comment on Blackfive.

I think conspiracy is like a drug. Or even *is* a drug. I think it does drug-like things to our brains. It tickles the puzzle solving spots and the pattern recognition spots with the added benny of giving people a distinct feeling of superiority to have special knowledge that other people don't.


Both were in response to discussions about Rosie though I've also previously posted about 9-11 conspiracy theorists here.

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