"Do your own research" is the giveaway slogan of conspiracy fantasists. "Research" here does not mean "an impartial and fair-minded evaluation of evidence," but rather "whatever claims and speculations support a conspiracistic account of events." Thus, peer-reviewed publications by accredited academic specialists (genuine researchers) supported by voluminous citations of publicly available sources, published empirical studies, statistical evidence, and all that sort of thing may be dismissed as "false information," while some bozo's maunderings in a YouTube video are accepted as the secret truth of the matter.
Cass Sunstein had a good term for this way of thinking: "a crippled epistemology." People who embrace it will never be able to walk upright in dealing with reality.
"Do your own research!" is a common phrase used by
conspiracy theorists and
pseudoscience promoters of various creeds in response to people who are skeptical of their claims. This phrase is a form of the
escape hatch (
Argumentum ad googlam) used by a charlatan who wants to win the argument but does not want to bear the
burden of proof. Typically by this, they tend not to be suggesting you actually read through papers in
peer-reviewed scientific journals—nah, they're evil, big government
shills—nor are they suggesting you conduct original research; Professor
Google provides all the info needed. Some specify
YouTube is the key to all your "research" (
Argumentum ad YouTube).
If you
must have recourse to some actual books (how elitist!), stick with the likes of
Kevin Trudeau and
Alex Jones. It should also be noted that many "research" websites are merely copied from each other, making finding true "original" sources very difficult. Ultimately, the "argument" boils down to "do your own research, from my list of self-approved sources."
Ironically, conducting actual, thorough research from vetted and reliable sources is the best way to
debunk conspiracy theories; this goes largely unnoticed by their advocates. It's commonly used when evidence is debunked too, as some people
aren't mature enough to admit that they're wrong.
[2]
