Conspiracy theorists
June 25th
I am tired of seeing more and more people not ashamed of vocalizing their opinions on all matters from world politics to medical care with simply wrong and outrageous takes. I know that conspiracy theorists were always active, but for most of the time they were limited to the audience — a creepy guy in a local pub or a crazy uncle now have a platform on social media not only to make fools of themselves but also to actually meet others like them. Social media also let them create an echo chamber where only people and views that they already agree with are allowed.
People start going down the rabbit hole because they think they are a lot more intelligent than they are. That the education system failed them, and that all their bad life choices are someone else’s fault. As such, they lack the ability to think critically, so when presented with these new ideas and theories, they find it appealing because they feel more clever and knowledgeable. They are not able to assess the information sources or, as said, think critically.
Once these people accept the notion that maybe something presented as fact in the “mainstream media” may have something or someone else behind it, then they start questioning everything. For example, somewhere there is a verified report of some company years ago using “chemtrails” for crop dusting or something. So they exist but are hidden in plain sight. And if “they” lied to you about chemtrails, then who is to say “they” are not lying about 9/11 or the moon landings or JFK or Diana or whatever. And because these people lack any critical thinking ability, they only pick up on information sources that suit this agenda — confirmation bias.
Also, I think the comfort aspect comes from the idea that catastrophic events are planned and orchestrated. That a life-changing event like 9/11 can’t possibly be just as simple as terrorists hijacking planes, because that could have happened anywhere to anybody. If it’s planned, and the dead people never existed, then they feel safer. And that illusory safety they seek without any regard to common sense and prevalent scientific or expert facts.
In itself, looking for and creating a safe place in your mind is not something wrong. It might be actually necessary in our times not to literary go crazy or accept a submissive and passive role in society. And I know that there are things that for many years, even generations were dismissed as a loony conspiracy theory that in the end were proven to be the truth — operations Paper Clip, or MK ULTRA, or Tonkin Bay incident, or Big Tobacco suppressing real knowledge on cigarettes. But greed and cruelty and ease in the exploitation of others are normal human traits that most people are capable of, given a chance. Anger toward powerlessness against the powerful can be channeled and used better than spewing bullshit on the internet. Direct action is always the answer.
