this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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People interested in a common topic may meet IRL, but that's a specific community. Topics don't overlap. There is no all encompassing conspiracy theorist community. The closest example I can find is Conspiracy Con which has not run for more than a decade.
Anyone who automatically dismisses a topic because some calls it a conspiracy theory is anti-conspiracy theorist.
My point is that r/tmor is just as equal a community as r/conspiracy
And Im not claiming parts of reddits are communities but ratger IRL comspiracy groups come with a community like any group that organizes around beliefs do. Your claim is that anti-conspiracy people are a community and they aren't
My claim is that the anti-conspiracy people are very similar to the conspiracy theory people. The amount of community spirit, in real life meetings, self congratulation and dogmatic beliefs are broadly the same.
And Im saying that's wrong because I can find IRL meet ups all over the world for people in a conspiratorial subset. Becoming a flatearther or antivaxxer is like becoming a Roman Catholic in the sense that there is a real world community of people who gather together to celebrate and share these ideas. The anti-conspiracy people do not have this. If you don't buy into conspiracy theories there isn't a convention for you, there aren't gatherings of people to debunk the conspiracies that no one attending believes in.
When I say there's a community of conspiracy theorists Im talking about an actual community not a fucking subreddit as subreddit are not real communities.
You are conflating the subset of people who believe a particular conspiracy theory with a largely imaginary group of people who believe any conspiracy theory.
Yes there are
You are constantly referring to specific communities (e.g. anti-vaxxers). There is no generic conspiracy theory community. Anti vaxxers don't necessarily believe 9/11 was an inside job.
Ok? You're still demonstrating conspiracy theorists have a community while those who oppose them aren't members of a specific community.
Again websites, internet forums, and subreddits are not real communities. No one is self identifying as a person that opposes conspiracy theories whereas flat earthers are prominent enough that I don't have to explain what the flat earther community is.
Conspiracy theorist communities offer a sense of larger belonging that opposition to conspiracy theories does not provide. They are incredibly different in that regard
No. A particular conspiracy may have a group of people that form a community. E.g. Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth but these people don't believe in flat earth.
If websites, internet forums, and subreddits are not real communities then there is no conspiracy theorist community.
If you allow websites, internet forums, and subreddits then the anti-conspiracy theorist community is just as valid as the conspiracy theorist community and they display many of the same dogmatic traits. Hence my mirroring of their words.