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Connecting epistemic injustice and justified belief in health-related conspiracies, 2020, Annesley

Discussion in 'Psychosomatic research - ME/CFS and Long Covid' started by Dolphin, Sep 4, 2020.

  1. Dolphin

    Dolphin Senior Member (Voting Rights)

    Messages:
    4,990
    I think it is possible it happens with some people with ME/CFS, both men and women

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352552520300839#!

    Ethics, Medicine and Public Health
    Volume 15, October–December 2020, 100545
    [​IMG]
    Thoughts
    Connecting epistemic injustice and justified belief in health-related conspiracies

     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2020
    mango, rainy, sebaaa and 5 others like this.
  2. alktipping

    alktipping Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    1,197
    why is an opinion piece hidden behind a paywall . just a small part of what is rotten in academic publishing .
     
    spinoza577 and Peter Trewhitt like this.
  3. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    4,393
    Thanks for posting. I think that a lot of groups that are mistreated by authority figures can be left more likely to fall for kooky conspiracy theories... which is then used to justify their mistreatment.

    I thought the phrasing was a little unclear in this abstract, and I think it's a bad idea to write as if a theory about a conspiracy is innately kooky. Conspiracy seems a prosaic part of life, even if they're largely just attempts to hide screw-ups. I expect that's cleared up in the full paper, which is on my list to read.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2020
    alktipping, Arnie Pye, sebaaa and 6 others like this.
  4. adambeyoncelowe

    adambeyoncelowe Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    2,731
    Agreed. If it seems people really aren't helping you, then you start to look for deeper meaning about why that is. Especially when the people who are supposed to be helping are typically portrayed as caring and compassionate. It's only natural.
     
    mango, Kirsten, alktipping and 10 others like this.
  5. Dolphin

    Dolphin Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    I'm not exactly sure what people are saying. Certainly the illness leads one to be more sceptical. But that doesn't mean there are not still theories that could justifiably be called conspiracy theories (that are incorrect) but some people could end up believing perhaps because they have become more sceptical e.g. whatever Mikovits' current theory about the pandemic, which at least a few people in the ME/CFS community believe or part believe it seems.
     
  6. Esther12

    Esther12 Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    4,393
    I guess that I'd want to distinguish more clearly between kooky conspiracy theories (Mikovits) and justified ones (the CIA worked to bring down Allende's democratically elected government, or more importantly, the Lancet can pull some real BS to avoid acknowledging problems with some of what they published with PACE, edit: And more banal stuff like companies fiddling their books, etc). I don't think it's healthy for 'conspiracy theory' to be used as shorthand for 'kooky conspiracy theory' in the way it sometimes is. Every time I try to make that point I fear that I make myself seem kooky!

    edit 2: This paper seems to talk about 'justified conspiracy theories' as if a kooky theory is justified by the individual's past mistreatment, and I found some of the language a bit confusing.
     
    Last edited: Sep 5, 2020
    Kirsten, alktipping, sebaaa and 5 others like this.
  7. Mithriel

    Mithriel Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Conspiracy theory and the implication that they are always deranged was first used as a way of deflecting serious academic study of the assassination of Kennedy. It is not a crazy idea as such, Lincoln was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy.

    As you say, some theories are kooky (and do not involve conspiracies!) It is the sort of misuse of terms we are accustomed to and like them, it leaves us with no language to deal with facts and work out what is happening in our lives.
     

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