Conspiracy junkies

Whenever I get a call from an unknown number, I google it to try to figure out who called. But I just got a call from 000-000-0000, and I have to admit it creeped me out for a second. Is it a call from the Nothing? From my empty, terrifying afterlife? Most likely no--just another trick to get me to answer the phone and get the donation shpiel--it is a week before election day, after all.

But the weirdest thing happened when I googled the call: results #1 and #2 were 800notes.com and whocallsme.com--no big shocker there. #3? Redstate.com, one of the biggest conservative blogging communities of the web. #4--callferret.com. Again, no big shock. An appropriate place to blog about a weird phone number. #5? Freerepublic.com, one of the nastiest conservative blogging communities of the web. Page 2 of results was all what you'd expect--answers.yahoo.com and a score of other sites dedicated to tracking telemarketers. Oh, and also two tech bloggers, both of whom talked about caller ID spoofing.

The result at the top of page 3? Stormfront.org, a discussion board for white supremacists.

So before I give my suspicion, some big caveats: at freerepublic.org, the commenters joked about checking outside for black helicopters; they suggested wrapping the house in tinfoil, "shiny side out." In other words, very few took the conspiracy bait. At redstate.org, only one commenter seemed to think that the calls might have been a conspiracy to siphon funds from conservative candidates (as the call when answered ended up being a fundraiser for Marco Rubio, Republican candidate for Senate from Florida). And even at stormfront.org, even though the main poster was worried that "someone [was] trying to remotely program some listening-in device" on the phone, most responders said it was most likely a telemarketer.

So the voices on the posts are mostly voices of reason.

But here's the thing: I've never seen such a high showing of forums from any political leaning--actually I've never seen anything besides results from telemarketer trackers at all--when I've checked out phone numbers. But you get a number like 000-000-0000, and the conspiracy theory is just too luscious not to pluck. And is it at all surprising where folks turn in the heat of their conspriacy-porn moments? Redstate.com, freerepublic.com, stormfront.org.

We all get addicted to certain kinds of stories--no surprise there. And it programs us to see the world through some very skewed lenses. We all have these problems of perception from various routes--but it worries me to see just how easily far-right and white-supremacist sites seem to stoke those paranoid fires.