The above quote comes from this op-ed piece by Karen Douglas on The Conversation. She was writing about how the Internet fuels conspiracy theories and there is a psychological reason why that happens. This professor at the University of Kent has written several op-eds on this site if you’d like to take a look at them.
Everyone wants to belong somewhere and everyone wants to boost their self-esteem in any way that works. So when getting really into a conspiracy theory or two, or more, happens, maybe that shouldn’t be too surprising when that happens to someone we know.
But when they become obsessed and seem to lose all rationale, then it becomes a huge problem. As I mentioned before, people have been harassed, had their lives ruined, or were even killed because of conspiracy theories. Recent events have happened, such as late last year when a far-right group plotted to overthrow the German government. 25 people all over the country were arrested, and it was learned that many believed in conspiracy theories involving the “Deep State”, COVID-19 conspiracies (there were plans to kidnap Germany’s health minister) anti-semitism, and QAnon. The plans to overthrow the government intended to end German’s democracy and stop the Deep State from controlling everyone’s lives.
So yes, the threat conspiracy theories can have on the world’s everyday lives are still strong.
Not that it is anything new. Conspiracy theories have been frequent throughout history all over the world. In Ancient Rome, it was believed that Emperor Nero, who had committed suicide, had really faked his death and was going to re-appear again. The Crusades are sometimes seen as the starting point for non-Muslims to destroy Islam. French Jews were blamed for the bubonic plague in the 14th century. Peter the Great and many others were the Antichrist. Rastafarians believed the death of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was a hoax by the media to stop the Rastafari movement.
Let’s not forget the many medical conspiracy theories, secret societies like the Freemasons and the Illuminati, and the fun kind UFOs, extraterrestrials, and Reptilians controlling the American government and perhaps others. And don’t forget the new edition to this group, the belief that the Titanic was not the one that sank in April 1912.
Many of these conspiracies are based on fears, some warranted and some not. I believe the year 2020 saw a burst in conspiracy theories because many of us were quarantining for months where we kept in touch with friends and family on social media, the breeding ground of so much misinformation and disinformation, and that made it easier for things like QAnon, 5G accusations, and the COVID vaccines conspiracy theories to spread widely.
Other times, conspiracy theories happen because there are no answers or explanations that do not make sense. You might remember Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared off the radar on March 8th, 2014. The plane itself has never been found, nor pieces of it. The Malaysian government was accused by family members of those on the plane of giving few or no answers, and there have been accusations of a coverup. To this day, there are no answers nor any solid explanations for what happened to MH370. There’s been theories that the plane really crashed in the South China Sea, or in Antarctica. Other theories include the plane crashed over a suicide mission by its pilot or it was remotely crashed by someone who somehow knew there was luggage carrying top secret documents or a shipment of lithium-ion batteries abroad the plane.
Whatever the case may be, no one knows what happened to MH370 because nothing has been proven or widely accepted as the cause. The Malaysian government also has said very little. So, hence the conspiracy theories running around. What else is there to do? This also happens in many countries that do not have much press freedom where reporters can inform the people about what is really going on in their country. With little chance of knowing what is really happening, and their authoritative leaders controlling most of the information, distrust runs amok and the people fall prey to conspiracy theories because there are few opportunities to know the truth.
Now, believe it or not, some conspiracy theories were found to be true after all. Among them, the Dalai Lama was receiving a salary from the U.S. government, the U.S. faked the Gulf of Tonkin incident after originally blaming North Vietnam, and Project Sunshine, in which deceased babies and children were studied without the consent of their families, was far from sunny.
So maybe not all conspiracy theories are crazy; maybe some have an ounce of truth in them. But of course, there are some that are very dangerous, or at least are firmly believed by dangerous people. That’s the big problem with conspiracy theories. That, and too many followers lose rationale and fall down a deep rabbit hole in which they don’t realize what they’ve done and become unrecognizable or scary around their friends and family.
But then again, those people may have good reasons to do so. They’re not stupid but may have gone through some kind of trauma or grew up in a way that they witnessed or experienced certain things that warped their view of the world, and they tried to make sense of everything and this is how it all turned out.
But it really would be best that with the more bizarre and dangerous conspiracy theories, those people would make up at least some of their senses, and think more carefully.
What I Recommend:
In December 2021, the Washington Post did a feature on how the Wayfair conspiracy theory hurt the lives of so many, including teens, in various different ways. One believer in the theory even died from this belief. Outstanding journalism and writing here. Please read!
Back in January this year, my favorite newsletter, Tangle, discussed why we cannot write off everything we disagree with as a conspiracy theory. It also explores the conspiracies that are causing problems in our country and why they hurt discourse. Check it out.