Why Are Conspiracy Theories So Popular?

[hinawashi]

Last Friday I was hanging out with some of my friends and we were talking about the wildfire that's been going on for the last couple of weeks. So they brought up this topic that there were a few people who believed that the government was setting up cameras and monitoring devices while their homes were being evacuated, and they ended up getting killed because they didn't get out in time. I thought it was a stupid idea because how can anyone believe that the wildfires were fake? Well, anyways there were people who did believe that, and it was just mind-baffling to hear such stories because there are tons more conspiracy theories out there that people actually believe. There were people who believed that our government was run by shape-shifting alien reptiles, and there are also people who believed that 2012 was the end of the world, and they still insists on the idea that the world really did end in 2012 and we're living in a so-called "new world".

I've been thinking about this for such a long time now and I still couldn't come up with a conclusive reason why this is the case. I don't know if it makes any sense, but here's my hypothesis:

First, the beauty of conspiracy theories is that it requires no evidence or critical thinking, therefore, it only appeals to people without the ability to seriously question things for themselves. When you look at the population in general, there really is this wide spectrum of people, and those without any critical thinking skills definitely have their own spot on the spectrum, maybe on the lowest 5% region (or however much it is in reality, it's just a rough estimate), and it's definitely possible for them to believe in those crazy things. It's hard work trying to figure out something for yourself, it takes research even for the "smart" people. So the easiest thing to do is, of course, believe what they're told without putting any independent thinking into it.

Sorry for the long post, but here's my guess. I'm much more likely to be wrong though, so feel free to correct me.

[Truth]

@hinawashi You can really come at this from multiple perspectives, some are -- Confabulation, not knowing, egoistical agendas and biases.

Confabulation is the theory to explain the unknown variables, throw in some egotistical agenda and some self serving biases and you're left with an illusion of clarity. 

Notice it starts with a confabulation. Already we've made it into something it is not, through this we explain the unknown variables (this infinite spectrum of possibilities), and in order to gauge this massive spectrum of possibilities we posit the most fundamental things we understand as human beings..Evil. Deep down we know that evil is very sneaky, very cunning, destructive and deceptive, we recognize it's really antithetical to truth. We use evil to help grasp the truth because the two are like matter and antimatter, they are very, very distinct when they come into contact with each other. 

We recognize that Evil directly equates to Truth, this is where conspiracies come from. What else does conspiracy mean other than selfish, evil, egoic agendas? People hold these crazy stories and theories because they understand that Evil is one of the most fundamental things keeping us from Truth, so in order to combat that we have to be open to Radically new possibilities that we never possibility could imagine, as long as it serves the self we recognize that it could possibly be true. But the Truth is NOT KNOWING and people would rather side with "knowing" and this leads to crazy beliefs and ideas that people have and helps create this illusion of clarity.

a lack of critical thinking and independent thinking are definitely components, but it's also a lack of consciousness of their own self deception mechanisms and their own evils because that's how evil and the self operate. Leo's video on Mechanics of Evil is really good to check out for more details on this. 

 

Edited October 16, 2017 by Truth

[LaucherJunge]

There are multiple old consipracy theories that proved to be right after all. I wouldn't be so quick to judge. I see where you come from because some of them sound batshit crazy. My guess is that it has to do with this very confirmation itself, that when they had a shady conspiracy theory in the past and it proved to be correct they are likely to adapt new ones aswell. I have done research in this field alot in the past, not so much anymore and I will tell you that there is compelling circumstential evidence for many current conspiracy theories, the ones that are not batshit crazy atleast, don't pretend as if you are the critical thinker without having seen it yourself.

[Nahm]

@hinawashi google conspiracies that turned out to be true. 

[EndofMe]

@hinawashi  For me, there's 2 reasons.

One - because they can be fun. Not all of them are fun, like the ones that make light of people losing lives like this wildfire conspiracy that you mentioned, or that the government orchestrated 911. But some are fun and can have the unique ability to open your mind to new possibilities, whether you choose to believe them or not- which brings me to my next point-

two- I grew up an a very strict, dogmatic christian (baptist) home. I believed every ounce of it without question. Even after leaving home and sowing my own oats, I held on to my beliefs and only changed them to fit my current life choices. About six years ago I met someone that was really into Art Bell and Coast to Coast radio program. We began listening to it every night before or while going to sleep. Before then, my mind was still closed, unable to even fathom that everything that I was taught was all a lie. Now I can acknowledge that this played a key role in becoming a seeker.

Very recently I have began studying how the bible may be an allegory for human consciousness, from Genesis to Revelation. It's really interesting stuff. Six years ago I would have thought it was heresy.

Edited October 17, 2017 by EndofMe

[hinawashi]

I mean there are indeed conspiracy theories that turned out to be true, but I'm talking about some really crazy, out-there theories like the wildfire one. Still like @Truth said, the fundamental reason that people believe in those theories is not wanting to accept that there are unknowable areas in life. Somehow we all think that believing in something, whether it's true or not, is better than not knowing at all. On the other hand, I think an enlightened person would be much more willing to accept that there limitations to our knowledge.

[Kaizen]

Because the erasure of meaning carved into the stones of reality (religion) from society is not the psychological cakewalk certain people thought it would be. Conspiracy theories and their increasing popularity is the fetal stage of a trend that will end in the re-establishment of "religions," this time of a somewhat less literal sense.

Edited October 18, 2017 by Kaizen

[Scholar]

Ironically the CIA invented the term "Conspiracy Theory" in the 1960s to discredit controversial criticism of the goverment, which itself of course would be labelled as a conspiracy theory. The fact that something like the Kennedy Assassination is put in the same category as people claiming they have been abducted by aliens is quite an effective way to have the public view any investigation in possibly real conspiracies as completely uncredible. Whether or not there was a conspiracy is not even that important, either way it was an ingenious way to control public opinion. No high profile journalist will risk his career to go and actually investigate something that would be labelled a conspiracy theory, and that is a big reason why you get a lot of these "far out" conspiracies, which even if they contain certain truths, are entirely untrustworthy because of the hyberboles and the lack of investigative competence of the people who come up with conspiracy theories.

I don't get too deep into this kind of stuff, but from the little research I have done, it's quite ridicilious how the goverment can just stage suicides and deaths in completely ridicilous manners without any real, credible jouranlists even mentioning that it happened or by god, that it might even seem suspicious. Whether or not the goverment actually does that is not even the point, the point is that they easily could do it with no consequence whatsoever, because even if something is ridicilously suspicious, no journalist will risk their job for it, partly because they themselves dismiss everything as conspiracy theories.

 

Other than that, I think there are multiple reasons for why conspiracies are so popular, for example:

- emergence of the internet and the resulting uncertainity of credible information 

- cultural dispersion

- increase of atheism

- actual conspiracies like Operation Northwoods

- lack of mystery in modern culture

- increase of social isolation

- lack of critical thinking in the population

[AxelK]

The human brain is wired to find patterns, one of the disadvantages aboutthis is that we see patterns where there are none. This can easily create conspiracy theories. Also, they serve as a great distraction from people with personal problems and boring lives. I remember many years ago when i was totally into conspiracy theories and swallowed most of them, at the same point my personal life was a total mess. But it served it's purpose as a distraction.

And last, there is the satisfaction the ego gets by thinking that it knows something that other people don't. Here conspiracy theories can provide a feeling of superiority, which is appealing to many.

Edited October 18, 2017 by AxelK

[Morten]

@hinawashi

How can you discern really crazy from the ones that might turn out to be true?

Wasn't Copernicus Theory that Earth revolves around the Sun kinda conspiracy theory?

Wasn't Darwin's Theory of Evolution considered conspiracy theory?

Yes, they had a scientific background, but for most people who heard them they sounded completely crazy, even dangerous

[Thewritersunion]

 

[No Self]

The simplest psychological mechanism behind this phenomenon is the mind's desire for control in times of stress. A simple narrative turns an outgroup into a villain, satisfying the ego's desire for an us-versus-them battle. There is also an implicit sense of superiority, both in terms of possessing exclusive knowledge, as well as moral high ground (read, psychological projection) over the purported villain.

99% of conspiracy theories are dangerous garbage, and are not fun. Germany was treated horribly after losing WWI, but the idea that those events were part of a Jewish conspiracy, and hence the Holocaust, were not fun. In modern times, David Icke is regarded as a Holocaust denier and his popularity should be concerning to any responsible citizen. In addition, Donald Trump's reign of chaos is predicated upon his entire political party divorcing itself from reality, and lunatic conspiracy theories like Qanon are the main way in which this is achieved.

Cults of any type are a 'fool's gold' solution to loneliness or anxiety regarding the state of the world. Jim Jones is one of many historical examples.

In order to deal with the problems of the world, particularly ecological destruction, we need unity and focus, not obfuscation of basic facts.

[Nahm]

Conspiracy:

An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

A group of conspirators.

An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.

 

That is all that a conspiracy is. Two or more humans breaking a law. Conspiracy is not “stories about aliens”, or “the truth of 911”, etc, etc, etc. 

If two people conspired together and broke a law, that is a conspiracy. It could not possibly be more practical and less fantastical. 

[Consept]

2 hours ago, Nahm said:

Conspiracy:

An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.

A group of conspirators.

An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.

 

That is all that a conspiracy is. Two or more humans breaking a law. Conspiracy is not “stories about aliens”, or “the truth of 911”, etc, etc, etc. 

If two people conspired together and broke a law, that is a conspiracy. It could not possibly be more practical and less fantastical. 

Reality is usually quite boring and practical 

[Nahm]

2 minutes ago, Consept said:

Reality is usually quite boring and practical 

Reality = you. You don’t seem boring and practical to me. 

[Consept]

15 minutes ago, Nahm said:

Reality = you. You don’t seem boring and practical to me. 

I mean in comparison to expectations, as in what people expect conspiracies are compared to what they actually are. I blame hollywood lol

[Nahm]

@Consept

I think I hear ya on that. Sometimes I think it’s more of the reverse though. Often people see what they believe and don’t see the actuality of people having conspired. Kind of old news though. People just figured out to make the laws instead. 

[Freakyboo]

16 hours ago, No Self said:

The simplest psychological mechanism behind this phenomenon is the mind's desire for control in times of stress. A simple narrative turns an outgroup into a villain, satisfying the ego's desire for an us-versus-them battle. There is also an implicit sense of superiority, both in terms of possessing exclusive knowledge, as well as moral high ground (read, psychological projection) over the purported villain.

99% of conspiracy theories are dangerous garbage, and are not fun. Germany was treated horribly after losing WWI, but the idea that those events were part of a Jewish conspiracy, and hence the Holocaust, were not fun. In modern times, David Icke is regarded as a Holocaust denier and his popularity should be concerning to any responsible citizen. In addition, Donald Trump's reign of chaos is predicated upon his entire political party divorcing itself from reality, and lunatic conspiracy theories like Qanon are the main way in which this is achieved.

Cults of any type are a 'fool's gold' solution to loneliness or anxiety regarding the state of the world. Jim Jones is one of many historical examples.

In order to deal with the problems of the world, particularly ecological destruction, we need unity and focus, not obfuscation of basic facts.

This is very eloquently argued, thank you.  Yes, as you said, the spread of QAnon in times of world upheaval is like people grabbing the lifeboat of seeming certainty when everything feels anything but and believing someone like Trump is a superhero who will save the world from the lizard baby eating Democrats.  I have also come across those who spread these theories on facebook, who tell everyone else that they are brainwashed and not 'awake' like the theorist - this reminds me so much of cult behaviour and it is obvious that the person posting feels superior to those they are speaking down to.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Freakyboo

[lmfao]

12 hours ago, Consept said:

(can't get rid of this quote box on mobile) 

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@hinawashi let's put aside the point that some conspiracy theories will be true. 

Here's one reason they're popular. People feel and realise they're living in a false reality. Everyone is crazy, nothing makes sense. They realise most people go through life as sheep with no insight. And see that they themselves have fallen for "the game" 

This "game" might be called ego/maya/duality by some. 

However, perhaps this recognition of this game gets projected outwards rather than recognised as a force within. And so this sense of living in a false reality gets projected into fantasies in the form of conspiracy theories. 

You've seen the film the matrix right? It's an excellent metaphor for enlightenment. 

In the matrix, everyone is living in a simulation, a false reality. And that's currently a popular conspiracy theory, because it resonates. 

Edited September 28, 2020 by lmfao