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spjennifer I just want to pretext this with the fact that i sense you are an honest person and wish to honestly find common ground, unlike many on here, so my hopes are we can remain respectful :)
I wouldn't say any of them are black and white, certainly not flat earth. For thousands of years, humanity thought that the earth was flat. You'd be the bonkers one if you thought it was anything else. Scientists would come up with elaborate models for flat earth, and they were very beautiful and if I were alive during those times I'm sure i'd have thought the earth was flat. Thank goodness scientists in those times did not have the ridiculous stance we have now of "everything is set in stone and everything else is a conspiracy" and our progress could evolve.
As for the JFK one, crazy sure but eh. Growing up i was one of the "beautiful minds" kids, top sets, always deep in a book, and pretty much the one trait that unified all the high achievers was the idea of being open minded, like really open minded, we would explore the most crazy of ideas. The mark of an intelligent mind is the ability to entertain an idea without necessarily believing in it. I'd argue it takes LESS intelligence to just dismiss anything you dont understand with a buzzword. I know morons who, and I kid you not, a few years ago would tell me the idea of having robots is a bonkers conspiracy theory. I do understand, as sagan says, we dont wish to be so open minded that our brains fall out, but in 2022 people use these terms to shut down any critical thinking and to feel as if it is somehow virtuous to do so. What one also finds is that reality is often much more seemingly crazy than fiction. I remember my stance in science was always to just drop any idea i have of "common sense" etc and accept I'm going to learn things that seem insane. And yeah, just a basic look at the behaviours and processes of even the most common animal will seem crazy and unthinkable if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Fortunately I didn't refuse to look because such an idea would seem "crazy".
I'd argue ignorance comes more from those who refuse to look outside their narrow box and call everything that goes against their star wars movies, mcdonalds and no thinking outside of what my 9-5 job requires people. I know people who refer to entire sections of established history as a "conspiracy theory" as it doesn't line up with their political views.
But let us look at that JFK will rise from the dead claim. I've heard it, it's not very common though so let's not pretend it's majorly reprensitative of conspiracy theory believers. Not that conspiracy theorists are all a borg that all think the same thing. And that's another thing, most people have this good guys vs bad guys view of reality. And that each side is a borg in which the bad guys are evil, stupid conspiracy theorists, and the good guys are the ones that trust "the science(tm)" (whatever that means). Because it's easier to view the world through that lens. Through a narrative, a story. It's why religions are based on stories, foundational myths, which teach their tribe values, their origins etc. We just have a modern day version of that with terms like "conspiracy theorist", "x-ist past" etc. I'm sure you are aware that even decades ago, Russian scientists were able to take, not even just a full dog, but simply just the head of the dog, and use technology to make that head conscious? The dog heads were able to respond to stimuli after being hooked up to technology, they'd flinch and lick their lips. Yet this was just a head, a dead head. Neuralink has enabled a chimpanzee to type messages on a computer with its mind. Perhaps specifically JFK wont come back in 2024, but you see what I'm getting it. There are many implications in technology that could allow SOMETHING like that, and the immediate dismissal of anything like that with buzzwords to me seems stupid really because those same people would deny the possibility of things we are now medically able to do.
Would you say those of the monotheistic religions are just simply crazy? Are all christians simply crazy because they believe Jesus and Lazerus rose from the dead? Are muslims crazy for believing that at in the apocalypse, everyone will rise from their grave with their physical body and be judged by Allah? Are the people with stories of going into a coma and dying and having some sort of religious experience and then being brought back to life through medicine just crazy? As I say, im not specifically arguing for the JFK thing, im just arguing against this outright dismissal of anything that seems even slightly out of the ordinary. For people who talk about wanting humanity to progress, not be primitive, to be open and enlightened, these complicity theorists sure have the close mindedness of the most ignorant of humanity.
