The Times predictable attack on Farage

[Unix]

You mean it's predictable that being a politician his expenses aren't all above board? Hardly the times fault is it....

How fortunate it comes out ahead of the European elections.

[Unix]

This thread proves a theory I've long held to be true:

The lower the IQ, the greater the propensity to believe in conspiracy theories.

How naive, smear campaigns happen all the time in politics.

[speling bee]

How fortunate it comes out ahead of the European elections.

How naive, smear campaigns happen all the time in politics.

So which is it?

[Unix]

So which is it?

Not sure what you are getting at, it is a smear campaign launched just before a European election.

[speling bee]

Not sure what you are getting at, it is a smear campaign launched just before a European election.

But you said such smears happen all the time, so how can there be any significance to any particular time?

[doodab]

How fortunate it comes out ahead of the European elections.

Elections are a periodic event. It was always going to come out before one.

[Mich the Tester]

This thread proves a theory I've long held to be true:

The lower the IQ, the greater the propensity to believe in conspiracy theories.

I don't think it's to do with IQ, but more a mindset. UKIP seem to have got into the mindset that the EU is some enemy that only does bad things and needs to be fought; people who have got into that mindset can then see every piece of bad news as being demonstrative of the enemy's nastiness. Anyone who writes a negative report on UKIP must be doing it as part of a conspiracy to discredit them; it might actually just be a journalist doing his/her job and exposing something that the public should know.

Mind you, I doubt whether a high IQ really precludes stupidity. This is another case where Cipolla´s 1st and 2nd laws of human stupidity can help us;

`Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation...
people that we believe are rational and intelligent suddenly appear to be stupid beyond doubt;...´
'The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person...We may assume that is related to the low cultural level or the fact that people are not stupid people more opportunities to have good jobs. But if we look at students and university professors (or software designers) the rate is exactly the same.'

So perhaps we can deduce from Cipolla's first and second laws that an intelligent person can be stupid, either permanently or on occasion, or related to specific subjects. I feel I'm reasonably intelligent, but on questions of knitting and tapestry I would be exposed as stupid. Something similar seems to happen in the case of conspiracy theories; people see a pattern that seems to explain phenomena they don't understand, and then shoehorn any information into that pattern as 'evidence' for their hypothesis.

[Unix]

Elections are a periodic event. It was always going to come out before one.

Ukip and Nigel Farage on course for remarkable victory in European elections - UK Politics - UK - The Independent

[Unix]

I am not a UKIP supported btw, was just pointing out the anticipated tedious article.

[doodab]

Ukip and Nigel Farage on course for remarkable victory in European elections - UK Politics - UK - The Independent

Yes I'm aware there is an election coming, thanks. The point is there has been a continuous stream of stories such as this since the year dot. They have all come out "before an election". This one just happens to be months before, but they have been coming out for months and years.