Back in the day, it was fashionable and considered
perfectly normal to believe a theory or two
about the JFK assassination.
It could be said the initial investigation
was a bit botched, and naturally, imaginations
went wild.
However, since those days, theories like 9/11
“truths” have created a sense of paranoia,
fear and far-reaching power behind conspiracy
theories.
That’s made them sort of like a religion,
and also like one of the worst horror movies
imaginable — one where normal citizens have
allowed governments to become more fascist,
all because they believed it already was.
Scary indeed.
10.
Many Conspiracy Theorists Are Insecure; Complete
Government Control Is Comforting
Conspiracy theorists flummox a lot of people
by the way they talk about the government.
The talk they engage in seems to be less than
positive, and they will mention all the ways
the government subtly controls you or influences
you in ways you “didn’t even realize,”
but in the end they don’t seem to have any
interest in doing anything about this.
And often, no matter who is in charge, the
conspiracy theorists take a certain sense
of satisfaction in knowing that the whole
situation is tightly controlled by the shadowy,
nefarious, all-powerful “government.”
This is likely because many conspiracy theorists
are actually quite insecure.
The world around them is scary, and with so
many different powers around the globe fighting
with each other on a regular basis and even
the allies often disagreeing on important
matters, it can be a nice feeling (and quite
comforting) to think that the government has
the situation well in hand.
9.
The Craze Online Has Created An Entire Industry
Around Selling Conspiracy Theories
Alex Jones is now famous, or infamous if you
prefer, for screeching like a howler monkey
all over any media he can get his hands on,
and giving all the real howler monkeys a bad
name.
His conspiracy theories and crazy rants have
made him one of the most controversial people
alive, but he is not the only one taking advantage
of this kind of thing.
And, worse yet, Alex Jones and his ilk don’t
just stop at getting advertising dollars.
There is an entire industry online dedicated
to selling things to the gullible conspiracy
types.
From wallets meant to block the government
from spying on you with NFC technology, to
special fluoride removing water bottles, and
everything in between, these websites will
warn you with screeching klaxons about the
danger you are in — and they have the answer,
of course… for a price.
8.
It Is Likely Many Conspiracy Theorists Have
Delusional Disorders, And Are Being Used
Now, we aren’t saying that the average person
who believes that 9/11 was perpetrated by
the US government has schizophrenia, or even
that someone with the belief in many irrational
conspiracies necessarily does, either.
However, there is an entire umbrella of delusional
disorders, often called schizotypal, that
display some delusional traits but aren’t
actually showing anything close to full blown
schizophrenia or anything similar.
People like Alex Jones, who has claimed his
entire thing is just an act to get views when
he was trying to keep custody of his kids
in court, likely understand all too well that
people who have delusional disorders are easily
taken in by conspiracies, but they take advantage
because it’s a really easy way to get money.
Jones and his ilk should be especially ashamed,
because when it comes right down to it, they
are taking advantage of people with what is
perhaps a very mild mental illness, and not
only bilking them of their money, but helping
the seed of a mental illness blossom into
something potentially more serious.
7.
A Single Theory Or Two Have Snowballed Into
A Vast, Overarching Conspiracy
There are those who are happy to believe that
the United States government almost entirely
controls its citizens — without them even
realizing it — and controls much of the
world, but some of these theorists don’t
necessarily believe in any larger conspiracy
than that.
Many theorists started quite US-centric, and
focused more on things like the Kennedy assassination
and the 9/11 conspiracy.
However, in more recent years with global
communication, things like the Illuminati
have become increasingly popular among conspiracy
theorists.
Many of them now believe that perhaps something
by an entirely different name (but still,
very similar to the Illuminati) secretly does
regularly meet, and basically controls and
plots the fate of the world.
Of course, this is both a comforting worldview
and quite a simplistic one.
It is nice to think the world is that organized
and well in hand, but the truth is that many
diplomatic meetings occur all over the world
every day, and that in itself is still often
barely enough to keep the peace.
6.
Ancient Aliens Has Helped People Lose Their
Sense Of Reason By Misleading People
Ancient Aliens is a well known series and
a well known joke among many.
However, there is (sadly) a rather large number
of people who follow it, many of whom are
normally quite rational.
The series, for those who aren’t familiar
with it, is a program on a channel once known
for history that tries to tie every single
thing that ever happened in the ancient world
to extraterrestrial visitors.
The premise is ridiculous, and there are videos
out there debunking some of the crazier claims.
The biggest common claim they make are that
many things would be impossible without alien
technology.
However, nearly every single thing they make
a huge deal about being impossible has been
demonstrated as doable with primitive tools
by archeologists testing out theories.
The show does give some interesting presentations,
but it is very misleading about how hard it
would actually be to do most of these feats.
Combine this with the fact that the name of
the network is “The History Channel” — which
certainly sounds like it should have accurate
information — and anyone who already tended
a little toward conspiracies was easily taken
in.
5.
Politicians Love Using Conspiracy Theories
To Their Advantage
While it may be a political risk to push a
conspiracy theory too hard, a politician can
also make just the right suggestions about
how “it’s okay to ask questions,” and
then get their followers and commentators
to do most of the dirty work after that.
Conspiracy theories about their opponent,
or about their opponent’s policies, are
a great way to gin up a crowd and get them
to the polls.
Even if the politician using the theories
to their advantage knows they are not true,
it hardly matters — an advantage is an advantage.
The fires of this sort of thing are easy to
stoke, and once lit, the truly delusional
people who get their hooks on the idea will
never let go.
They can be asked to back off by the person
who started the slanderous theory, but by
then it will have taken on a life of its own.
This sort of tactic is a great way to create
an aura of distrust around your opponent,
and get dangerously unstable people set against
them while avoiding too much scandal in the
media for your actions.
4.
Once A Conspiracy Theorist Believes Something,
It Is Practically Set In Stone
One of the most difficult things about the
modern conspiracy movement is how hard it
is to ever get a theorist to give up an idea.
Whether it is the moon landing conspiracy,
the 9/11 conspiracy, or something similarly
outlandish, with the internet so quickly reaffirm
the craziest belief possible even a “village”
of people who know the theorist in person
may not be enough to bring them down from
their conspiracy delusion.
It is made worse by the fact that the internet
can not only act as an echo chamber, but also
provide reams of very convincing arguments
about the most ridiculous beliefs imaginable,
as long you just look hard enough for the
right random person’s blog.
Almost any evidence you provide will be countered
with a non-sequitur, and if you provide insurmountable
enough evidence, they will just claim the
government used its power to wipe the evidence
of their doings from the web.
3.
Conspiracy Theorism Is Practically Becoming
A Religion
One thing you may hear from some conspiracy
theorists when you do manage to actually get
on the same page and present evidence they
truly cannot ignore is that they “choose
to believe” the theory anyway, despite what
you just showed them.
They have no argument against it and they
aren’t trying to say what you showed them
was wrong; they just believe what they want
anyway, because their belief in grand conspiracies
and government control makes them feel comfortable
and safe in this crazy world.
And so the movement starts to resemble a religion
more and more every day, as conspiracy theorists
become more connected and ignore evidence
in order to believe that the government controls
everything.
And the sad truth is, the movement of theorists
is getting to a dangerous place.
But it didn’t always used to be this way.
Theorists used to be more honestly concerned
about government control and saw the increase
as a bad thing.
They weren’t looking so hard to see things
that weren’t there, and were more likely
to be evidence-based in their beliefs.
For example, many of the old Kennedy theories
went to great lengths to be as scientific
as possible.
Today theorists seem more concerned with forcing
the facts to fit a greater narrative than
with finding actual facts, all so they can
discover the “real truth” like the theorists
of old.
2.
People Can Be Easily Duped By “Experts”
(… And So Can “Experts” Themselves)
One of the most enduring pieces of “evidence”
used by 9/11 truthers is that a whole bunch
of structural engineers signed a document
claiming that the whole thing was just impossible
based on the official story, due to structural
integrity, heat of jet fuel, etc.
This has caused many people to be taken in
by the entire conspiracy, and some “experts”
in the field — who do not really understand
the issue properly — see a few other experts
(who may have been of ill-repute to begin
with) signing on, and then jump on the bandwagon
themselves.
What we’re saying is that even experts can
make mistakes in evaluating information and
let other experts, who think they know more
about a particular specialization, speak for
them when they do not understand enough to
know if what that “expert” was saying
made sense or not.
There are many more experts who say the official
story does make sense than those who say it
doesn’t, but conspiracy theorists will gladly
throw that kind of logic to the wind because
it doesn’t fit the narrative.
Some will scoff and say the majority of scientists
are dumb sheep, and others will claim they
are under the thrall of the government.
Only those who agree with them could possibly
be intelligent and independent actors.
1.
Leaving The Belief In A Conspiracy Can Be
Like Leaving A Cult
Increasingly, the belief in conspiracies has
becoming more and more cult-like, as theorists
often band together for moral support on the
internet, and to argue about a bunch of different
things — none of which are true.
If you decide that the conspiracy is wrong
and abandon it, you may find that many of
your online friends (or in person ones if
you roll with those types of people; we don’t
judge) suddenly aren’t that interested in
spending time with you anymore.
Or, at the very least, they will be way more
guarded around you, as if you may even be
an object of suspicion.
For some, they now reckon you may actually
be a government agent or someone else working
against them, as conspiracy types can often
be deeply paranoid.
However, conspiracy theorists — like any
budding religion — can also get themselves
into the situation where they just flat out
ostracize those who no longer fit into the
group, and if you don’t really believe in
the popular religious beliefs of the rest
of the collective, you don’t really belong
anymore.
If your social circle spends a majority of
time talking about conspiracies and you start
to disagree with the outlandishness of it
all, you may find it to be a difficult social
situation 
to be in.
