Why Am I Really Writing This?
I've often wondered why so many people believe in huge conspiracies. Here's an article that gives six reasons:
1. People don't want to believe a nobody like Lee Harvey Oswald could change history.
Plausible. People might figure big events need big explanations.
2. People want to blame those they loathe for everything.
Perhaps. It certainly seems consistent with human nature.
3. People want life to be more exciting.
Seems likely. Rather than accept the simplest explanation, why not go for a more thrilling one?
4. People who feel powerless want to believe in secret forces that control their lives.
I've always felt this is a central reason--that conspiratorial thinking is a childish way of looking at the world. If super-powerful people pull all the strings, you as an individual can't be held responsible for what you do.
5. People like the feeling of having secret knowledge.
This one also seems a pretty major factor. Who doesn't want to be part of the inner circle? This sort of pseudo-sophistication extends far beyond conspiracy theories. It's about being hip in general.
6. "In Western societies, it appears that secular people are more likely to believe in hidden conspiracies than the more religious," because non-believers have a gap they need to fill to explain things.
This argument is unintelligible to me. First, note the author all but admits this only works in the West, because he's well aware of how popular conspiracy theories are in the Muslim world. But I question if his claim (much less the reason for it) holds up to scrutiny anywhere in the world, and he presents no evidence that it does.
Another potential reason is simple laziness. Most people don't study these issues closely, and aren't engaged in critical thinking, so while they may not originate conspiracy theories, they're willing to go along for the ride.
posted by LAGuy @ 1:07 AM
3 Comments:
Is #6 really just having an issue with how you define conspiracy? Gotta say that organized religion has to be one of the most successful conspiracies ever
I agree that #4 and #5 are the key items.
David Horowitz has written some good stuff and some lousy stuff, but the most powerful story he ever wrote was the story of his father, who was a Communist Party member in the 1940's and 1950's. He said that his father was a nervous and physically unpowerful man who had a dull factory job that he hated. But what allowed him to hold his head high was that he had been shown the Truth: Marx had proved that his class would someday inevitably triumph over the forces of bourgeois tyranny. So he knew the Truth, and that set him above his opponents.
So I would submit #7: that most conspiracy believers look forward to some kind of triumph. That's why the vast majority of those who believe in conspiracies are trying to convince others! Their ultimate hope is to convince the world that their view is true.
I knew several John Birch Society members in the late 1980's. Their original belief in a huge Communist Conspiracy had been updated in 1972 by the revised story that the Communists were themselves pawns of a vastly older conspiracy. But what hadn't changed was their hope that someday they would elect enough members of Congress that America would expel the conspirators, drop out of the U.N., and repeal all the bad laws.
I argued with them that, IF their conspiracy theory was true, then they should give up -- there was no way this 200-year-old all-powerful conspiracy could be defeated by a few thousand people with pamphlets. Eventually I began to suspect that their attachment to the truth of the conspiracy was no less strong then their attachment to the idea that they could do something about it.
Some of these potential triumphs are pretty big--the rise of the working class, or a whole lot of laws being repealed. But the "triumph" that most conspiracy nuts--JFK, 9/11, whatever--can hope for is, at best, saying to others "I told you so."
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