We really dont need a credibility rating system to be able to judge for ourselves which opinions on this thread may be nearer to the truth than others. And anyway most people will believe what they want to believe, official seals of approval will be a discredit as far as some people are concerned. And if there is to be a rich and representative tapestry of bodies who review sites, then the conspiracy theorists themselves will have their own seal of approval.
Id favour more public awareness and frankness about how to judge credibility of sources, but it should be no big secret for those that are interested, I seem to remember being taught a little about it in school. However it is rather incompatible with the era of advertising and state propaganda in which we live. Throw in the fact that the BBC doesnt mind pointing out that when they do polls on credibility, people rank the honesty of journalists as being below politicians, and I dont quite see how we'll make much progress.
Science has always fought a battle with pseudoscience. Sophisticated PR works for a certain audience but over time has increased cynicism overall.
If I wanted to expose conspiracy theorists and shed some light on their version of reality, it would be by probing them as to what they believe should be done exactly - what is their political position? They are good at conjuring up the bogeyman and attributing all power in the world to a few sources, but not usually very forthcoming on what should be done instead. Some possible truths are getting mixed in with bigotry, nationalism, paranoia, and I dont like the looks of human history when forces of cynicism, scapegoating and oversimplification go massive.
Non-mainstream opinions, conspiracy theories and suchlike, would be a much more positive and tremendously useful phenomenon if only people would not rush to believe them with such certainty. It is a sad judgement on the nature of humanity that people are so readily able to accept the bleak views contained within them, that humans have proven themselves capable of such horrific acts that we can so easily believe any old tale about corruption, abuse & domination.
You are not special if you find yourself ridiculed by the majority. It doesnt mean you must be on the path to truth. It may well mean you are being laughed at because you are guilty of seeing the world in such a black&white oversimplified way that you have ended up with a mindset more like the supposed evil-ones you blame, than those who are actually stumbling on a more accurate and nuanced sense of reality.
