This study aims to investigate some aspects that contribute to the growing popularity of conspiracy theories in the 21st century. They have gained so much popularity among the public in recent years that an age of conspiracies. Conspiracy theories are increasingly responding to several socially significant events occurring around us, coming up with an alternative explanation, especially for those political, social, tragic, or other events that concern a more significant number of people. Thanks to the rapid expansion of access to (...) the Internet and rapid development in information and communication technologies, systems, and means, conspiracy theories are significantly penetrating the mass media and especially the sphere of new media. Currently, social networks are the medium with the most incredible spread of various conspiracy theories. It is one of the primary reasons why conspiracy theories have become the subject of our scientific interest. Using relevant methods of qualitative theoretical scientific research, in this work, we present our research findings and a view on some selected aspects contributing to the growing popularity of conspiracy theories to readers from the professional and lay public. (shrink)

The emergence of the Internet and various forms of virtual communities has led to the impact of a new social space on individuals who frequently replace the real world with alternative forms of socializing. In virtual communities, new ‘friendships’ are easily accepted;however,how this acceptance influences cultural identity has not been investigated. Based on the data collected from 443 respondents in the Republic of Serbia, authors analyzethisconnexion,as well as how the absorption of others’ cultural values is reflected on the local cultural (...) values. The results show that the adoption of others’ cultural values diminished the bond with the local community. The present paper adds to the theory of virtual communities by examining the relationship between the acceptance of an unknown person in a virtual community and its effects on cultural identity. This study contributes to the clarificationof the impact that virtual networking has on cultural identity. (shrink)

The paper aims to show that by abstracting from a specific mythical historical- stylistic context and “ideation” of the notion of the Proto-Slavic deities Perun and Veles, especially in Croatian tradition, symbolic archetypes and abstract notions of form and primordial matter (materia prima) can be extracted from mythical content. We refer to mythical texts and contents according to the reconstructions and materials brought by Radoslav Katičić, and comparative analysis by Mislav Ježić. We distinguish form (1) as that in which (...) identity and possibility of a thing consists, (2) as the reasonableness of judgment and the form of existence, and (3) as the specific structure of a thing, which unites its parts and aspects as a whole and constitutes its internal necessity. These formative notions are relativized and nullified in Veles’ appearances, in which the archetypal notion of primordial matter is encoded. Examples of Platō’s dialogues historically confirm certain aspects of decoding myth as constitutive of philosophy. The above approach also opens a view of the roots of Croatian philosophical thought, which in its genesis can be traced back to Proto-Slavic mythical archetypes. With the implementation of Christianity, the questions of identity, reason and the structure of the whole are raised radically and sharply, as shown by the text of Trpimir’s grant (852). (shrink)