In the late 20th century, falling election participation and declines in other key metrics of social engagement were noted by several observers. Those who were most influenced by this period, the so-called "Generation X," are characterized by their cynicism towards traditional institutions and authorities, offering a case example of the context of political dis-empowerment.
Media commentators regularly note a tendency in news media and wider culture to understand events through the prism of individual agents (pundits) as opposed to more complex structural (scientific) or institutional (academic) accounts. As far as this is a true observation, it may be expected that the audience which both demands and consumes this emphasis itself is more receptive to personalized, dramatic accounts of social phenomena.
A second, perhaps related, media trope is the effort to allocate individual responsibility for negative events. The media have a tendency to start to seek culprits if an event occurs that is of such significance that it does not drop off the news agenda within a few days. Of this trend, it has been said that the concept of a “pure accident” is no longer permitted in a news item. Again, if this is a true observation, it may reflect a real change in how the media consumer perceives negative events. In that context, a typical individual will tend to be more isolated from the kinds of peer networks that grant access to broad sources of information, and may instinctively distrust any statement or claim made by certain people, media, and other authority-bearing institutions. For some individuals, the consequence may be a tendency to attribute anything bad that happens to the distrusted authority. For example, some people attribute the September 11, 2001 attacks to a conspiracy involving the U.S. government... consider the recent statements on The View regarding building #7.
Perhaps the most contentious aspect of a conspiracy theory is the problem of settling a particular theory's truth to the satisfaction of both its proponents and its opponents. Particular accusations of conspiracy vary widely in their plausibility, but some common standards for assessing their likely truth value may be applied in each case:
NOTE-----------------Some of these tests can have a downside as well. For instance, overeager application of "Occam's razor" can lead to acceptance of oversimplified views of history.
Your Assignment: Use the media we study, and each of the three methods for testing the validity of conspiracy theories (above) to develop a report for your final news program on the events at Roswell. Be sure to keep a detailed reporters notebook to be submitted.