Numerological reasoning can connect any event to a favored conspiracy conclusion

Evidence

In typical esotericist fashion, Richard Hoagland claimed to uncover numerological meanings in the date September 11, 2001. Each World Trade Center tower had 110 fl oors, a multiple of 11. One of them was struck by Flight 11, which had 11 crew members, and so on. And that was only the beginning. The order of the Knights Templar was recognized by the Vatican in the year 1118, whose integers add up to 11. There are 883 years between that date and 2001, and the sum of those numbers, 19, is the same as the number of hijackers. The number 19 allowed Hoagland to introduce the Koranic numerology of Rashad Khalifa, in which it is central. By the time Hoagland had fi nished, the events of September 11 were revealed to be an attack by none other than the Islamic Order of Assassins on the Knights Templar and the Masons! — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 774

Categorization

• CANDY: The escalating numerology chain from 110 floors to Knights Templar founded 1118 to 19 hijackers is a delightfully absurd example of confirmatory pattern-finding.
• XREF: connects to: Conspiracy worldviews rest on three design principles excluding randomness — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 74; Conspiracy functions as an alternative epistemology when interpretation has no ground truth — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 105; For conspiracy believers, the conspiracy is an axiom, not a conclusion — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 812 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy functions as an alternative epistemology when interpretation has no ground truth #expands (0.80) — , The Braided Reading EPUB, 105
• Specific claims are subordinate to a superordinate conspiracy narrative #corroborates (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 195
• For conspiracy believers, the conspiracy is an axiom, not a conclusion #corroborates (0.75) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 812
• Conspiracy theories stay viable by anchoring to real events people care about #expands (0.75) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 747