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In the modern age, many extraordinary beliefs still prevail, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that disproves most if not all of these beliefs. Whether it be Flat Earth Theory, Area 51, or the Kennedy assassination, wild conspiracy theories and beliefs are held all around the world. However, perhaps the most well-known and prominent of these is the belief in Bigfoot. According to an article from livescience.com, Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch, is a large, ape-like creature that is believed to roam the forests of the Pacific Northwest. While belief in this creature has permeated other cultures for a very long time, such as the Yeti in the Himalayas, the creature we know as Bigfoot has only been prevalent for the last fifty years or so. An article from unmuseum.org states that Bigfoot has been mentioned in many Native American legends, (in fact, the term Sasquatch is a Native American word for “hairy giant”), but the first sighting from a white man didn’t occur until 1811 in Alberta Canada. A man named David Thompson was working as a trader in the area when he discovered unusual animal tracks in the snow, measuring fourteen inches long and eight inches wide. Flash forward to 1958, when interest in Bigfoot in the United States finally took hold. A bulldozer operator by the name of Jerry Crew found huge footprints near his worksite, which his crew made a cast of. This photo, along with a story, ran in a local newspaper that began to circulate throughout the country. This photo of a “big foot” is what made the name Bigfoot stick. Today, roughly twenty-nine percent of Americans believe in Bigfoot, according to an article from psmag.com. This belief has become so prominent that many networks air television shows about the hunt for the creature, the most well known being the show Finding Bigfoot, which first aired in 2011 and ran for nine seasons. It is obvious that the belief in Bigfoot has only grown as the years have gone on, but is there any evidence to back this belief up?

As with any extraordinary belief, those that are proponents of Bigfoot claim to have a wealth of evidence. However, this evidence is scant at best. Livescience.com says that the most common form of evidence for Bigfoot is eyewitness reports. Anyone involved in psychology or law enforcement will tell you that this is by far the weakest form of evidence, as eyewitness testimony is known to be incredibly unreliable. Most eyewitness reports of Bigfoot are easily disproven, and even those who research Bigfoot will admit that roughly ninety-five percent of Bigfoot sightings are either mistakes or purposeful hoaxes. Another common form of “evidence” for Bigfoot is photographic, the most famous of which is the Patterson footage taken in 1967. To this day, this film is considered the best evidence for Bigfoot, even though this hurts the beliefs credibility since it is hard to believe that no better footage has arisen since this time. Even the physical evidence for Bigfoot, such as footprints, hair, and blood, has all been managed to be disproven by scientific analysis. All of these forms of evidence have been further muddied by the fact that people purposefully fake them. Some even go so far as to do it for decades. Clearly, there is no good evidence to support a belief in Bigfoot. So why do people persist on believing?

In an article from smithsonianmag.com, many reasons are proposed for why people continue to believe in Bigfoot. Some believe that Bigfoot, and other similar creatures, are symbols of freedom. They live by instinct, and refused to be pinned down by the laws of nature. By hunting for it, people get a taste of that freedom, and as such get to be incredibly in touch with nature. Searching for Bigfoot also allows people the opportunity to participate in a mode of discovery reminiscent of the exploration of the American west by settlers and pioneers. This not only allows people to channel the “frontier spirit”, but also allows them to appropriate traditions set forth by Native Americans. Some also believe that the hunt for Bigfoot plays in to the American trait of a need for attention and notoriety. So-called “evidence” for Bigfoot, regardless of its validity, will still garner quite a bit of attention and publicity. This is unfortunate, since information-sharing technology was meant to help people be more informed, and instead it has made the truth harder to find than ever.

Bigfoot has become a cultural icon, becoming a household name that has permanently solidified its place in our society. Whether it be a need to taste the freedom of nature, a sense of discovery, or simply an addiction to notoriety, it is clear that the belief in Bigfoot is not one that will soon go away. This need to give explanations to unexplainable phenomena is responsible for many other extraordinary beliefs as well, and it is important to make sure that we remain informed and skeptical of information that is presented to us before taking it to heart. By keeping this in mind, perhaps someday we will be able to dispel these beliefs once and for all.

Works Cited

Bigfoot of North America. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unmuseum.org/bigfoot.htmCrair, B. (2018, September 01).

Why Do So Many People Still Want to Believe in Bigfoot? Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-so-many-people-still-believe-in-bigfoot-180970045/Heaney, K. (2013, December 04).

Who Believes in Bigfoot? Retrieved from https://psmag.com/social-justice/believes-bigfoot-animal-planet-70933Radford, B. (2012, November 06).

Bigfoot: Man-Monster or Myth? Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/24598-bigfoot.html

In 1995, a woman by the name of Nancy Lieder claimed to have had contact with extraterrestrial beings known as Zetas. She was visited by one of her “hybrid sons” and was being prepared for a role as a messenger for the Zetas (Zeta Talk). Nancy eventually quit her full time job in California and moved to Wisconsin to pursue her new appointed position as messenger for the Zetas (Zeta Talk). Official information from the Zetas can be found online at Zeta Talk. Since 1995, the Zetas have been revealing to Nancy plans they have for the human race as well as predictions of future events and catastrophes. In the early 2000s, Nancy made a wrong prediction of an event occurring and lost a large number of followers, yet a close knit following still remains. The belief is extraordinary because the only evidence is word of mouth.

Nancy Lieder is the only contact with the Zetas. She proclaims many elaborate facts of realities not yet known to mankind and is quite thorough in their descriptions. So far, Nancy has been unable to accurately make predictions of future events stating that the Zetas can be wrong sometimes (Zeta Talk). Nancy also does not have any physical evidence of the existence of Zetas, but in a video she posted on YouTube, she describes a scene she experienced with a Zeta in such great detail that it would be surprising if it were not real. But, again, the impressive detail and other anecdotal visions is the only evidence of Zeta existence.

In the eyes of those invested in the belief, Nancy Lieder has asserted herself in a position of high credibility and authority through the telling’s complex rules to live by, predictions of catastrophes, and enlightened happenings of the “aftertime” where alien-kind and humankind openly walk amongst each other. Nancy, as the contact, uses modern events like global warming as verification of the Zeta’s predictions, which her followers believe. Those who are devout in their belief are misinterpreting real evidence of earthly phenomena as doings of the Zetas.

There is a consistent community of Zeta believers on social media, and those that participate in the community are actively adopting this belief more and more into their self concepts. In other words, the belief is taking up residents in their personal identity, which means that being a part of the group who is becoming who they are. When multiple people commune with each other in this way, a bond is formed amongst the group and it becomes larger than they are as individuals.

One of the most prominent aspects of Nancy’s messages is the “aftertime” and what life after death will look like. According to Terror Management Theory, people will pursue meaningful experiences as well as beliefs that buffer against the fear of the inevitability of death. Since Zeta’s messages expand into description of life after death, many people find refuge in the belief that people will one day live amongst aliens.

Work Cited

NancyLieder. “The Zeta Report – Earth Change Predictions.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Mar. 2010,    www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUbPqAYx1cM&t=151s.

“Return to Main Page.” WHO ARE THE ZETAS, www.grantchronicles.com/zeta02.htm.

“The Official ZetaTalk Website.” ZetaTalk, www.zetatalk.com/index.htm.

People who belief in the Flat Earth Theory hold the conviction that the earth is flat and not round. This theory started to become more and more popular around 2009 and is growing ever since. It is considered one of the most controversial conspiracy theories existing. They claim the Earth to be flat because for them it feels like and looks like it is. The ones believing in this Theory call themself  “The Flat Earth Society” and the importance about this is that even though there is evidence to the contrary they claim those “to be fabrications of a ‘round Earth conspiracy’”(Wolchover).

The believers in the Flat Earth Theory think that the “Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and Antarctica, a 150-foot-tall wall of ice, around the rim.”(Wolchover). Believers claim that the NASA guards protect those ice walls from people that try to climb over and fall from the disc. In their eyes they also believe that Earth’s gravity is an illusion and objects do not accelerate downward, they are “driven up by a mysterious force called dark energy”.

On the opposite end, there are countless photographs, videos, and imagery from astronauts and from the International Space Station that is enough evidence to show that the Earth is actually round, but the interesting part here is that even though there is evidence that prove their claims wrong in their eyes it is not considered real evidence and faked by the government.

Those who believe in it most likely misinterpret the evidence and are only looking for beliefs that would confirm their owns. This is also called confirmation bias. In this case they ignore the real evidence that the earth is round and label them as ‘fake’, whereas when something in any way would support their beliefs has to be correct. Another cognitive contribution is groupthink, which is a concept that people within a group “value harmony and coherence above rational thinking”(PsychologyToday). This often results in dysfunctional outcomes and irrational beliefs. In this case, Flat Earth Society members do not want to doubt or judge the others beliefs and therefore strengthen their owns.

The flat Earth model started in the ancient where many cultures believed in a flat Earth “until the classical period,the Bronze Age” (Wikipedia). It became more controversial again, because the moon landing in 1959 came with a lot of skepticism. Flat earth theorists  believe that the moon landing was fake and the pictures and audios recorded from that time were fabrications. They believe that GPS devices and maps are fake and that the International Space Station is a fake space station, believing it would be cheaper to promote a fake station rather than build a real one. The primary social influence that maintains their belief is groupthink. Social reinforcement form like-minded people allows them to feel sane when they speak of the topic and feel that their opinions are respected and justified.

Even though this theory can be proven wrong by a lot of evidence, the human brain and different psychological concept show how one can persists with their beliefs due to groupthink or biases. Human also love searching for meaning and drawing connections between things that sometimes have no tangible connection between them. It is simply human nature.

Citations

https://www.livescience.com/24310-flat-earth-belief.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/groupthink

Comets are fantastic celestial bodies that have captured our attention for centuries, and the rarer the comet, the more excitement it generates. When the Hale-Bopp comet passed within our view for 18 months in 1996-7, it brought with it the end of Heaven’s Gate’s time on Earth. Heaven’s Gate, was a religious group and later cult founded by Marshall Applewhite and Bonnie Nettles in 1974, believed that a spaceship followed behind the Hale-Bopp comet and would be their key to “graduation from the Human Evolutionary Level,” that they would ascend to some higher being (“How and When it May be Entered”). On March 19-20, 1997, 39 members of the cult would commit mass suicide to be taken away on their supposed journey.

To briefly describe the beliefs of Heaven’s Gate members, its members thought that Earth was to be essentially restarted, and the only way to save their consciousness would be to ascend to a “Next Level” that Applewhite and Nettles themselves belonged to. Originally believing that a spaceship would come and deliver them to this Next Level, Nettles’ death in the 80s caused a slight shift that they would have to part with their bodies and humanity in order to ascend. This culminated in the belief in the ship following Hale-Bopp, and that by willingly leaving their bodies when the comet passed close to Earth, they would reach this ascension. Psychiatrist Marc Galanter and other scholars even stated that standard society generally accepted many of the concepts Applewhite based the cult’s ideas from. The group started in the 70’s, right during the UFO craze, so belief in extraterrestrials was not uncommon. Also, the idea of a higher existence, or Heaven, was and still is the backbone for the major religions that Applewhite pulled from. The typical member “accepted many of these ideas in isolation [but] were particularly intrigued by the way that Applewhite and Nettles had combined them” (“Death and Dying”). The facts against the belief are plentiful, without even delving into some of the more ridiculous claims. No spaceship was ever observed trailing Hale-Bopp. No evidence would support the existence of a higher human plane, let alone that Applewhite and Nettles came from it, and no evidence has been found that alien life even exists or visited us.

The member’s backgrounds largely play into how the cult even gained its footing. Since the group started in the 70s, many of its members consisted of hippies who at rejected the traditional religious dogmas and sought to “find themselves”. This gathering of people seeking to find themselves would largely contribute to the maintenance of the belief, and would give a sense of communal belonging that is similarly seen in Flat Earthers today. Often, even after leaving the group, former members typically still believed in the groups ideas, but just couldn’t maintain the disciplined lifestyle. One social influence and kind of syndrome that greatly contributed to the belief of Applewhite and Nettles was from “folie à deux” (“Death and Dying”). Sufferers of this syndrome have a shared sense of delusion, and reinforce each other’s delusion further. Additionally, the confirmation bias seemed to have a heavy hand in the formation of their early beliefs. The pair, already believing to have known each other in a past life, scoured the Bible and came to rely heavily on passages that would support their idea of the Next Level. They would even come to believe that they were the two witnesses referenced in the book of Revelations, that Applewhite was even the Second Coming, and Nettles the Heavenly Father.

The cognitive effect I found most interesting was the effect that cognitive dissonance had on the group after Nettles dies in 1985. This death and some post-hoc reasoning would ultimately result in the groups mass suicide more than a decade later. Before Nettles’ death, the group believed their bodies would leave with them to outer space, yet hers didn’t, even though she was already supposed to have been a part of the Next Level. In order for this to have not refuted the cult’s beliefs, a couple factors had to be present. First, the members had to have held these ideas really strongly, and have behavioral consequences. By this point, longtime members had changed the behavior and undergone activities to “limit human thoughts,” (“Death and Dying”) to prepare for their ascension. Second, they had to have taken drastic actions that are difficult to undo. Many had moved, cut off their families, and some men even castrated themselves – including Applewhite – to adhere to the strict lifestyle that their ability to ascend relied on. Third and fourth, the death absolutely refuted the belief, and the group members recognized that Nettles’ body didn’t ascend. Lastly, the members needed to have social support, which they found in the other members of the cult and most importantly, Applewhite. Thus, they came to the conclusion that the Nettle’s consciousness left her body when she died, and her ascended self was actually piloting a spaceship to eventually deliver the other members to their ascension. This would further their idea that they had to cast off all aspects of humanity in order to ascend, including their own bodies.

When Hale-Bopp came 12 years later, Applewhite realized that with it would come Nettles’ return and the group’s time to leave Earth. Finally, on March 19 and 20th, 39 people cast off their human body to reach the stars. The beliefs of Heaven’s Gate would come about with a shared delusion, the cherry picking of the bible and a group of religious strays, strengthen with the cognitive dissonance caused by a founder’s death, and then end with the coming of a magnificent comet.

Works Cited:

“Death and Dying.” Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, www.deathreference.com/Gi-Ho/Heaven-s-Gate.html.

“Heaven’s Gate – How and When It May Be Entered.” Heaven’s Gate – How and When It May Be Entered, www.heavensgate.com/.

Melton, J. Gordon. “Heaven’s Gate.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 7 Oct. 2013, www.britannica.com/topic/Heavens-Gate-religious-group.

Ramsland, Katherine. “The Heaven’s Gate Cult.” The Real End – The Heaven’s Gate Cult – Crime Library, web.archive.org/web/20150210050304/http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/mass/heavens_gate/4.html.

Zeller, Benjamin E., and Robert W. Balch. Heaven’s Gate: America’s UFO Religion. NYU Press, 2014. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qg80c.

Malala Yousafzai has been an iconic and inspirational figure in the fight for women and girls’ education around the globe ever since the Pakistani girl survived her attempted assassination at the hands of the Taliban in 2012. She had been targeted and shot in the head because of her work advocating for education for girls. Two years later, she would become the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Currently attending Oxford University for her undergraduate studies, Yousafzai is almost globally recognized as a hero (Constable). Except, of course, in her home country of Pakistan.

That is because, since the attempt on her life, conspiracy theories have risen out of Pakistani media, politics, and culture that allege Malala Yousafzai is a spy for the CIA or orchestrated her own shooting for fame (John). Adherents to these beliefs range from the poor to rich and disenfranchised to the powerful in Pakistan, with students, journalists, and even some parliamentarians disapproving of her and declaring she staged her attack (Kugelman). Information on this belief comes from Pakistani social media groups (most of the Facebook pages have since been shut down) and figures in the media like Tariq Khattack, who said the following regarding her Nobel Peace Prize: “It’s a political decision and a conspiracy. She is a normal, useless type of a girl. Nothing in her is special at all” (Khan). This belief erupted within a month of her shooting (Leiby), although it became particularly popular after Yousafzai began receiving so much attention and recognition from Western media, with the biggest spikes coming with her Nobel and admittance into Oxford University (Kugelman). This belief persists to this day and it is extraordinary and noteworthy because there is absolutely no credible evidence supporting it and, additionally, the maligning of Yousafzai in her native country stands in stark contrast to both her glowing international reputation and the immense charitable work her foundation oversees in Pakistan (Kugelman).

The evidence against the belief is the universally-accepted chain of events: that she was targeted by the Taliban because she was promoting both girls’ education and anti-Taliban ideas through her interactions with Western media like her BBC blog. Then, in retaliation, the Taliban ordered her murder and she was shot once in the head on her school bus ride home from school on October 9, 2012 (Tohid). She was then flown to the United Kingdom for further treatment later that week, where she has taken up residence.

The evidence that Malala Yousafzai is, in fact, a plant by the CIA is all circumstantial or projected. There are variations here, with some claiming she is a spy for the CIA and others claiming it was the CIA who shot her, making her an unwitting but still-dangerous part of an American plot: “America created Malala in order to promote their own culture of nudity and to defame Pakistan around the worlds” (John). Evidence offered up is the photograph of her meeting with U.S. envoy Richard C. Holbrooke – because surely that could be the only reason she would meet with him. Others posit that the attack was meant to stir up anti-Taliban sentiment and make American drone strikes more palatable to the Pakistani people (Leiby).

The most important cognitive contribution is confirmation bias. This is noticeable in the usage of a photograph of Yousafzai with a U.S. envoy as evidence that she colluded with the U.S. and her association with the West being seen as incriminating. That stems from Pakistanis deep distrust of Western governments and institutions – the more Yousafzai was embraced by the West (such as her admittance to Oxford, Nobel Peace Prize, and book sales), the more she was interpreted as an agent of the West. There is also confirmation bias present in the activities of her family and father, in particular. In 2013, her family had retained the American public relations firm Edelman to help manage her image – this served as proof to those with confirmation bias that the shooting had been orchestrated to give her fame (Kugelman). Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is associated with the Awami National Party, a leftist secular organization that receives little support in Pakistan. After independence, the Red Shirt movement (which is linked to the Awami National Party) was dubbed as traitorous, another unfavorable association for Yousafzai. (Khan). The most egregious example came from a satirical article published by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn that claimed Malala is a Caucasian girl from Hungary and had been shot by an actor who looked suspiciously like Robert De Niro, at the behest of the CIA (and, of course, the informant only acquiesced to being interviewed while wearing a Spiderman mask). Oh, and this was to justify the invasion of North Waziristan by American capitalists after the diamond-infused dinosaur bones in the region. Yet, even with all of that, confirmation bias led so many Pakistanis to believe the article and attack Yousafzai based on it that the website had to publish a retroactive disclaimer that the piece was satire (Paracha).

Perhaps most important to understanding this belief system are the most complicated aspects of the populace – Pakistani political systems, cultural norms, and social mobility. Most of the believers seem to come from the increasing middle class in Pakistan, which is largely conservative and anti-Western. Although this demographic is increasing because of some urbanization in Pakistan, it is still incredibly difficult to raise one’s social status. As a result, some may resent how quickly Yousafzai “ascended” the ladder of social mobility. If this seems outrageous to believe, it is important to note that 40% of Pakistan’s children in the lowest economic quintile will likely stay in that class for the rest of their lives (Kugelman). In that sense, there is also likely somewhat of a social comparison bias at play.

Although  there is not specific evidence for the belief that Malala Yousafzai’s attack was orchestrated by her or the CIA, those who want to believe are able to justify themselves by pointing to all of the strands and coincidences they believe prove her inauthenticity.  Their conservatism and opposition to Western cultural imposition, her status as a woman in a still extremely patriarchal society, and jealousy at how quickly she climbed the social ladder all contribute to an anger, resentment, and distrust of Malala that manifests in the belief that her attack was orchestrated for personal gain.

Works Cited

Constable, Pamela. “She’s a Nobel Winner Heading to Oxford. But ‘Malala Hate’ Is Still Real in Pakistan.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 6 Sept. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/09/05/shes-a-nobel-winner-heading-to-oxford-but-malala-hate-is-still-real-in-pakistan/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9913be1de556.

John, Arit. “Breaking Down the Malala Conspiracy Theories.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 29 Oct. 2013, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/breaking-down-malala-conspiracy-theories/309985/.

Khan, M Ilyas. “The Antagonism Towards Malala in Pakistan.” BBC , BBC News, 10 Oct. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29568637.

Kugelman, Michael. “Why Pakistan Hates Malala.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 15 Aug. 2017, foreignpolicy.com/2017/08/15/why-pakistan-hates-malala/.

Leiby, Michele  Langevine. “Attack on Schoolgirl Fuels Pakistani Conspiracy Theories.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 24 Oct. 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/attack-on-schoolgirl-fuels-pakistani-conspiracy-theories/2012/10/23/20600b3c-1adf-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story.html?utm_term=.edf8d9eb1568.

Paracha, Nadeem F. “Malala: The Real Story (with Evidence).” Dawn, Dawn Newspaper, 11 Oct. 2013, www.dawn.com/news/1048776.

Since Barack Obama became a household name, there have been a number of people who have claimed that his birthplace is somewhere outside of the U.S.—thereby making him an illegitimate candidate to be president. This racist belief continued to be fairly popular throughout both his campaign and presidency, and it is widely known to have been held by current United States President Donald Trump. The support of this claim by notable individuals throughout the years led to numerous litigation attempts to illegitimatize Obama’s presidency.

Although there had been rumors surrounding Obama’s birth starting around 2008, in 2009, dentist/attorney Dr. Orly Taitz obtained pictures of a document that was purported to be Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate. The document, which was debunked within a short time, is just one of many false evidence ploys that was used to back up the claim. In 2017, Malik Obama, Trump supporter and half-brother to the former president, tweeted a picture of yet another fake birth certificate in an attempt to support the infamous conspiracy. Although Malik Obama may have appeared to have some sort of authority on the matter due to his family name, at that point the White House had already released copies of the president’s Hawaiian birth certificate years ago in 2011.

It seems as though the popularity of this belief may have been due to the large number of celebrities, campaigners and Republican figureheads that inevitably helped spread the rumors. The idea spread like a wildfire within the minds of people who were believed to be rational—in a manner that suggested that people simply fell victim various appeals to authority figures. Believers seemed to completely discount the thought of how hard it would be for a government official to make it that far up with an illegitimate citizenship.

Skeptics often found themselves within circles that supported their beliefs without evidence. Moreover, they succumbed to faulty thinking such as confirmation bias and post hoc rationalizations. Even in the face of images of the actual birth certificate, the rumors continued to flow. Instead of starting from the evidence and moving forward to come to a conclusion, a fair amount of people merely began with a conclusion and proceeded to try and rationalize it.

The use of fake documents helped make this topic one of the most popular presidential conspiracies in recent history, however it wouldn’t have been able to reach levels that it did without the biased thoughts of its supporters. In addition to the faulty thinking used by birthers, many believe that the rumors can be attributed to the racial prejudice that is held by all Americans. Given that we live in a majority white society, the first president to belong to the relative outgroup of Americans was almost destined to face some sort of prejudiced thinking. It’s entirely possible that the conspiracy was just a manifestation of the sort of thinking that is popular within our society. Nevertheless, the rumor proved to be one of many false conspiracy theories surrounding our government and the individuals within.

References:

“FACT CHECK: Is This Barack Obama’s Kenyan Certified Registration of Birth?” Snopes.com, www.snopes.com/fact-check/kenyan-mistake/.

New York Daily News. “Obama’s Critics Launch the Birth of a Nutty Nation.” Nydailynews.com, New York Daily News, 11 Jan. 2019, www.nydailynews.com/opinion/obama-critics-launch-birth-nutty-nation-article-1.430638.

“Obama’s Half-Brother Tweets Image of Debunked Kenya Birth Certificate.” Snopes.com, www.snopes.com/news/2017/03/10/malik-obama-kenya-birth-certificate/.

Vergano, Dan. “Study: Racial Prejudice Plays Role in Obama Citizenship Views.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 27 Apr. 2011, content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/04/social-scientists-look-at-racisms-role-in-birther-viewpoint/1#.XKP04afMw1I.

When talking about extraordinary beliefs, it is difficult to combine it with science. However, Feng Shui is the most popular topic that people had a hard time drawing the line between an extraordinary belief and science. Fengshui was created based on the principles of Taoism at least 3000 years ago in China. It is believed to be a complicated system of theories that proved by a large amount of observation and practice. In some books, it was studied due to a mysterious phenomenon that many people born in Hongcun ancient village of China finally became the general or emperor. Scholars who study the location of that village made the hypothesis that the mountain and river are highly correlated with this phenomenon. Later on, many scientific fields like astrology, geography, and chemistry were heavily studied and incorporated into this complicated theory.

While there are more elements of science, people are more likely to convince this theory (belief). For example, the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) in this theory was the most fundamental in the world, and they create or eliminate each other. In the past time, people who are thirsty at night put a sword in the top of the bowl, and there will have some water in the morning. They firmly believe metal would create water. However, people today know that it is just because water vapor concentrates in the metal especially at cold night. In this case, Feng Shui is nothing but a pseudoscience or superstition, and it was defined as so today.

In fact, the observation of a great amount of Chinese geography helped later scholars to build Feng Shui, and it allowed them to make many hypotheses and pick the evidence from the observation to support their idea. In the field of Feng Shui, there are lots of Feng Shui schools which conflict with each other, and in today’s world people could claim them as “master” in a school people never know and making money for their service that could change people’s destiny. This trade makes many masters make millions by just giving advice for in-room designing.

People who study and practices the Feng Shui never think it is superstition. Instead, it is more of a theory of symbol. All the theories were based on《I Ching》, and in the book, everything was created by Yin and Yang, and it generates four orientations such as East and West; then these orientations creates eight Gua. Every Gua represents a natural phenomenon such as Wind or Water, and two Gua together are used in the methods of divination, which is forecasting future. Sometimes it was hard to believe this prediction, but they actually did well in most cases. They also do not think Feng Shui is a science, but a simple interaction between human and the environment, and the final goal is to achieve harmony. It has its own language of defining elements and its status in its world, so we cannot use scientific words to judge or measure its logistics.

In sum, Feng Shui is definitely not a science but a form of art in eastern culture. If people measure and test its falsifiability by using the science definition today, it is surely a pseudoscience and superstition. People who study it was a form of traditional art that has been appreciated and passed thousands of years. The creation borrowed many theories in a different kind of area that makes it mysterious and fascinating.

Works Cited:

http://travel.cnn.com/shanghai/play/unearthing-shanghais-nine-dragon-pillar-509418/

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-feng-shui-1275060

Is Feng Shui a Science?

Since the Clinton’s rise to political fame in the 1990s, various rumors surrounding their connections to mysterious deaths have been circulated. These claims assert that both Bill and Hillary Clinton have orchestrated the deaths of several acquaintances who supposedly had “dirt” on the family (Emery). The belief is mostly held by those of the opposing conservative party in efforts to further tarnish the family’s reputation. The conspiracy theory was brought up during Hillary Clinton’s 2008 and 2016 presidential campaigns. The original body count list is attributed Linda Thompson, a lawyer and conspiracy theorist of the American Justice Federation, an organization which has made its name by fabricating antigovernment stories (Weiss). Since its initial debut, the theory has been promoted through chain emails, novels, and documentaries.

The Clinton body count list draws ties to several suspicious deaths of the family’s allies and government officials. One of the most notable was the death of Vince Foster, former White House Counsel and colleague of Hillary at a Little Rock law firm. Foster’s death by a gunshot wound to the head was determined a suicide. Another death of longtime friend and business partner of the Clinton’s, James McDougal, raised eyebrows. McDougal suffered from a heart attack while in solitary confinement. When Ron Brown, Commerce Secretary, died in a random plane crash, theorists alleged that x-rays of Brown’s skull reveal bullet fragments. More tales follow similar formats, of those close to the Clintons dying in strange accidents. The timing of these accidents along with the vast and often veiled resources afforded to those in the executive branch makes it possible the Clintons were behind these events.

On the other hand, many argue that these systematic deaths are not systematic at all. For instance, the strange accidental manners of the death are not strange at all, since most deaths are accidental. In the case of Foster, his depression had been noted previously and therefore the suicide is not quite thatmysterious. There is also an argument made that a family as prominent as the Clintons have wide social circles, and therefore it increases the odds they will have some ties to the deceased person. Maybe the best argument against these claims is the question raised that if the Clinton’s could orchestrate a mass cover-up of these murders, why couldn’t they do the same of the Monica Lewinsky scandal that nearly ended Bill’s presidency?

A cognitive factor that may contribute to this belief is confirmation bias. This bias allows ambiguous evidence to be seen as supporting one’s prior beliefs. Those holding conservative values tend to distrust members on the opposing liberal side. These individuals will be more likely to perceive information that the Clintons are involved in a violent crime ring as true. Additionally, those who believe it are not only misinterpreting these events due to previous biases against the Clinton administration and Democratic party, but they are also misinformed by a distortion of the event facts. Several details of the suspicious deaths that have been circulated have failed to be corroborated.

The Clinton body count rumor mill began turning in the 1990s with the aid of those who opposed the administration and overall government. The power of opposition was also a determining factor in the theory’s revival during Hillary’s presidential campaign. With our country’s rising levels of party polarization, the public no longer attacks the policy practices of politicians, but also their character. The morality of Hillary Clinton was an important topic during her campaign. Focus on the use of her private email server and her decisions in Benghazi dominated her media coverage (Murphy). Under these social influences, accompanying rumors of a crime conspiracy could flourish.

It is no secret that our government keeps certain information hidden from its citizens. However, the notion that the Clinton administration engaged in the systematic murders of their political enemies is unlikely. The increasing party polarization of politics and internalized ill-will aimed at both Bill and Hillary Clinton is likely the culprit responsible for the conception and procreation of this conspiracy theory. Confirmation bias is a psychological tool that has also been used to place the vague pieces of information into an inaccurate puzzle. Thus, believers arrive at the conclusion that the Clintons must be behind the deaths of their acquaintances. But like the birther rumor that followed President Obama and suggestions that President Bush arranged 9/11, the Clinton body count list may just be another display of mistrust in powerful public figures.

Sources

Emery, D. (2018, July 19). Is There Any Truth to the ‘Clinton Body Count’ Rumors? Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.thoughtco.com/the-clinton-body-count-4056792

FACT CHECK: Clinton Body Bags. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-body-bags/

Murphy, T., Drum, K., Suebsaeng, A., Lanard, N., & Berman, A. (2017, June 24). The definitive guide to every Hillary Clinton conspiracy theory…so far. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/hillary-clinton-conspiracy-theories/

Weiss, P. (1997, February 23). Clinton Crazy. Retrieved April 01, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/23/magazine/clinton-crazy.html

By: Lauren Nowakowski

We have all heard the phrase, “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” but what if that one small step didn’t actually happen? Some believe that the astronauts did not actually land on the moon, but simply set up and filmed a fake moon landing at a studio on earth. This belief that the moon landings were fake has been around since the first moon landings happened in the late 60’s and early 70’s, but it has become even more prominent since the internet. When typing in to google “Was the moon landing fake?” you get 20,900,00 results. This huge quantity of information demonstrates just how much there is out there covering the topic of a faked moon landing. But what really seemed to have sparked the fire of this conspiracy theory was a television special on Fox in 2001 called, “Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon” (Fuller)? The people who tend to believe that the moon landing was faked think it was because the United States wanted to prove that it had better space technology than the Soviet Union and wanted to do this without spending incredible amounts of money to actually send people to space (Fuller). This belief is important and extraordinary because supporters of this theory are going against all logic and evidence that is out there.

The first moon landing happened in July of 1969. Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon at exactly 4:18 p.m. EDT. After taking the first steps they spent a few hours taking photographs of what they could see and collecting samples from the surface. While on the surface they planted an American flag. A key point to this story is how bad President John F. Kennedy wanted to land on the moon, even announcing a goal to land on the moon by the end of the 1960’s (1969 Moon Landing). This was during an era known as the Cold War. The United States was not as advanced as the Soviet Union in terms of space, which led to an intense race to be the first to put a man on the moon (1969 Moon Landing). This is a point that believers in the “faked” moon landing are fascinated with.

Believers of this theory claim to have huge amounts of “evidence” to support their claim. First, believers state that there are shadows on the moon in photos taken during the moon landing. According to them, there are not supposed to be any shadows in Space. Next, they point at the image of the American flag appearing to “flutter” in the wind. They argue that there is no wind on the moon, therefore the American flag should not be fluttering at all. Lastly, they argue that the images of the astronauts driving the Rover as proof that the moon landing was faked. Even with all of this “evidence”, people who believe that the moon landing did in fact happen have points to refute each claim the faked moon landing believers have. First, they counter that there can be shadows on the moon because the sun is not the only source of light there, and that the moon itself can reflect its own light. When it reflects its own light, it can create shadows on the surface. Second, they state that objects on the moon, “don’t stop moving as fast as they do on earth” (The Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy). The flag is moving like that because it has been disturbed, not because of wind. Evidence also exists that the astronauts driving the rover does not prove the moon landing as a hoax, because the moon does not produce dust. Dust on the moon returns right back to the surface, which is something we would not be able to control and create in a movie on earth during that time period (1969). Some of the most solid evidence that the moon landing did actually happen comes from pieces of the moon that we have to study. By scientifically dating these rocks you can see that they are 4.5 billion years old, which is older than anything dated on earth (Patel). Even though believers in the moon landing have logical arguments for all of the moon landing hoax believers, their beliefs persist.

There are many cognitive contributions that can be seen to explain the belief system of these people and the moon landing hoax. A definite misinterpretation of evidence is at play in this theory, because none of their proof holds any semblance of truth. As stated by Jan-Willem van Prooijen, “conspiracy theories help us to understand the unknown whenever things happen that are fearful or unexpected” (Svoboda). People who believe that the moon landing was a hoax fall prey to confirmation bias. They only look for evidence that confirms their theory. In the moon landing case, they look at the “waving” flag, shadows, and other images as evidence, even though each of these can actually be seen as disconfirming the moon landing hoax. These believers also partake in availability error when they focus on the fact that JFK wanted to beat the Soviet Union to the moon and use that strong desire of JFK’s to build up their belief, and to even make their confirmation bias worse. Conspiracy theories are made by people who wish to reject what is already known, and to go against the stream of common belief (Svoboda). Being a believer in a conspiracy theory can make you feel like you are in an exclusive club, and that can be difficult to give up. Even though there is knowledge out there to help get people out of conspiracy theories, it is tough, and the mind can have a hard time turning around.

The social state when this theory came to light was tense. The United States and Russia were in the Cold War, and both wanted to be the first to put a man on the moon. The United States, even though seemingly far behind the Soviet Union, were the ones to accomplish this feat. This tense political setting is what began guiding people to believe the theory that the moon landing could have been a giant hoax. People just want to understand what is going on around them, and sometimes this can lead to beliefs in outlandish conspiracies. Conspiracy theories also have a high tolerance for contradiction, and also offer ego boosts (Svoboda). This ego boost and choice to ignore opposing evidence allows them to sustain their beliefs, and even allow them to grow. For this reason, there are many believers of the hoax moon landing theory everywhere. Even when proof exists that contradicts and even disproves a theory, conspiracy theorists can still find ways to go around the proof and continue a belief in a faulty idea.

In conclusion, the moon landing brings a lot of strong opinions from both the people who believe in the moon landing, and those who think it is a hoax. Buzz Aldrin even once punched a man who accused him of not actually landing on the moon (Svoboda). This physical violence shows how fed up people can become on both sides. Those who believe the moon landing did happen can become very upset when people who believe in the moon hoax ignore all logical evidence. On the other hand, those who believe in a hoax moon landing can become aggravated and strengthen their own beliefs when they do not hear/see what they want to hear. All in all, we can agree that the moon landing did in fact happen, and that by arguing that it didn’t we aren’t achieving anything. There is too much evidence in support of the moon landing. If you still don’t believe, then maybe go see a test the samples we have from the moon. If they aren’t from the earth, and you do not believe they are from the moon then where are they from?

Citations:

Fuller, John. “Why Do Some People Believe the Moon Landings Were a Hoax?” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 8 Mar. 2018, science.howstuffworks.com/moon-landing-hoax1.htm.

Svoboda, Elizabeth. “Why Do People Believe the Moon Landing Hoax or Other Conspiracy Theories?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 20 July 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/07/20/why-do-people-believe-the-moon-landing-hoax-or-other-conspiracy-theories/?utm_term=.b97f649ca481.

Dunbar, Brian. “July 20, 1969: One Giant Leap for Mankind.” NASA, NASA, 19 Feb. 2015, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html.

Editors, History.com. “1969 Moon Landing.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 23 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/moon-landing-1969.

“The Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy.” Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy, www.moonconnection.com/moon_landing_hoax.phtml.

Patel, Neel V. “7 Easy Ways You Can Tell for Yourself That the Moon Landing Really Happened.” Popular Science, 10 Dec. 2018, www.popsci.com/proof-moon-landing-not-fake#page-8).

Reiki is believed to be an alternative medical practice. It is concerned with healing through “external energies”. According to the oxford dictionary “Reiki is a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient’s body and restore physical and emotional well-being.” (Oxford english dictionary, 2017) The word Reiki is a combination of two Japanese words Rei and Ki. Rei means ‘a higher power’s wisdom’ and Ki which is considered to be ‘the
energy of life force’. The practice of Reiki was originally founded in Japan by Mikao Usui in the late 20th century. The practice of Reiki was further developed by Chujiro Hayashi. In the late 1930’s the practice of Reiki was introduced to America by an American named Hawayo Takata, who learned Reiki from Hayashi in Japan. Usually the people who have faith in spirits and ghosts are strong believers of Reiki. Some practitioners claim that the spirits help them in
producing the proper flow of energy. Reiki was mostly popular in the olden ages but has been gaining quite a lot of buzz in the recent years. It is an important topic to talk about, as it suffices all the necessary qualities to be deemed as an extraordinary belief. The practice has no credibility in the scientific world.
There are many reasons that point towards the fact that the practice of Reiki is nothing more than an extraordinary belief. Firstly, the scientific and medical societies have not accepted it as an effective therapy. It is not falsifiable, whenever a practitioner fails in any of his sessions, he avoids accusations by making claims about lack of connectivity with the spirits due to lack of faith. In addition, the practitioners claim that all things have a ‘universal life energy’ that helps
them channel their healings. Unfortunately, the ‘universal life energy’ phenomena, is unknown to natural science. The government has invested a lot of time and money to study the practice of Reiki, but the research has only led to one plausible conclusion, that it is a hoax. Reiki claims have been objected by the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
more than five times. On the other hand, the only reason that it is still a part of the alternative medical industry, is because the practitioners have successfully been able to manipulate people into believing this hoax. People all over the world have made claims about how Reiki treatment has changed their lives in a positive way. According to a survey in United States in 2007, Reiki has been tried by more than 1.2 million adults at least once in the year 2006. Even hospitals have
started getting on board with Reiki, by offering these services to their patients.
The five main cognitive processes that we know about are attention, perception, memory, learning and reasoning. As we discussed earlier in the blog people who believe in these kinds of hoax practices need to make a leap in faith. Blind faith as we all know does not take into consideration the five main cognitive processes. The people who believe in these practices have already invested so much time and money, that looking on the other side becomes really hard for them. They find the smallest of changes in their bodies or minds to be a result of the practice. As we had discussed in lecture this is due to fact that the belief might have held behavioral consequences, the person must have done something that is difficult to take back (in this case money), the world refutes the belief, the person recognizes that the event has truly taken place and lastly the person has social support. Due to the fact that Reiki is a practice of superior power from the spirits, researchers often fail to reject the null hypothesis. One of the main reasons why
people follow Reiki is because of the practitioners who are like minded people, like the believers, due to this they relate to what the practitioner puts forth. Confirmation bias is something that plays a large role in these kinds of beliefs. People tend to look for evidence that sustain their beliefs.

When we talk about the contributions due to which this belief prevails. We can only talk about faith. Faith is something that requires the banishment of doubt. Even if research proves otherwise, people choose not to give into it. Because at the end of the day the only thing that matters is faith. Faith is to humanity what food it to the homeless. It is faith which makes life worth living. It is faith that motivates humans to lead a positive life. Faith in the unknown is something people all over the world cherish.
In conclusion the only thing that makes sense in the scientific world is that, the practice of Reiki is a hoax, it isn’t supported by scientific evidence. It fails most of the scientific tests, it is an unfalsifiable claim, it’s a retreat to the supernatural. People believe in it as their conviction increases when faced by opposing evidence. Last but not the least, it is easy for people to give into faith as it is the driving force for most of the human beings.
Reference
Newman, T. (2017, September 06). Reiki: What is it and what are the benefits? Retrieved from
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/308772.php

Barrett, S. (n.d.). Reiki Is Nonsense. Retrieved February 09, 2019, from
https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/reiki.html