If you fall for conspiracy theories, you’re either delusional, psychotic or flat-out stupid. Take your pick.
You’re delusional. Or psychotic. Or dangerous. Or flat-out stupid. Take your pick.
If you’re one of those nut-jobs who believe that all of your personal debt and home mortgage will be wiped clean by a “redemption movement” or “engineered debt forgiveness” through the National Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act, you’re delusional. You deserve to lose all your money, your fancy new car and future credit.
If you’re someone who believes that Hillary Clinton is the secret satanic mastermind behind a “deep state” pedophile sex trafficking ring that cannibalizes children, you’re psychotic. This word is characterized clinically by a disconnection from reality.
If you think that the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting was staged, you’re dangerous to future assaults of mass disinformation. There are 26 reasons — 26 victims’ corpses — to debunk your baseless beliefs. Shame on you.
If you believe endless conspiracy theories belched out by QAnon blowhards and regurgitated by gullible dupes, then you’re flat-out stupid. You’re feebly attempting to understand a complex world with the mind of a child who believes in the Easter Bunny. Somewhere in life, you lost a few eggs from your basket of mental stability.
This past Sunday, it didn’t take long for my family to hatch this conversational topic after two years without a proper holiday gathering due to the pandemic. All it took was a simple observation from one of my relatives about steel mill workers who believe in obvious lies and fictional theories while working too many hours in an insulated environment of anti-establishment tribalism.
That relative of mine described it with the perfect balance of brevity and levity.
“They’re (expletive) nuts!” he declared.
Yep, that about sums it up, I replied. “People have always been (expletive) nuts!” an older family member declared.
Yep, they’re both correct.
This is why I’m convinced we have it backward when it comes to our reaction to people who believe in so many delusional, psychotic or dangerous conspiracies. It’s not a new sort of pyramid scheme based on social media algorithms, high-tech communication, and QAnon ramblings. It’s as old as the hills, steeped in stupidity, gullibility and anti-social attitudes. Or, in this case, primitive caves that many of these people choose to quarantine themselves against reality.
It’s like playing a game of whacka-mole with these people. You smack down one conspiracy theory with the gavel of facts, yet another one pops up. Let’s smack down future ones with the definition of a conspiracy theory: “a set of ideas describing the collusion of various individuals or entities for a malevolent purpose.”
“The claims encompassed in conspiracy theories are unverified, unverifiable and sensationalistic, and they rebut more coherent and logical explanations for the topic at hand,” states a thorough new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. “Central elements of a conspiracy theory include a pattern or causal connection between various people, objects, or events; a coalition of actors; threatening or malevolent goals; and secrecy among those involved.”
Ding dong! Does this ring a bell about someone you know?
You may think these people are strictly radical-right, Trump-loving zealots who were converted by 21st century political propaganda and high-tech machinations. I disagree. They’ve always been among us and they’ll latch onto any new movement, sensational conspiracy or outdated belief system that reflects their anti-reality mindset.
It’s about lies they want to believe regardless how far-fetched or radical. It’s about viewpoints that have been around for centuries, triggered by generational insurrections of mental stability. Based on primal fears and current events, these people will buy into endless conspiracies without spending a cent on critical thinking or rational thought. It’s easier this way to bolster their shared beliefs, similar to, say, religion. Any religion. Take your pick.
People with shared beliefs have always sought out and embraced members of their own tribe. They seek the same norms and mores, as well as the same myths, dogma, and rituals. This binds them. This empowers them. This insulates them from other beliefs, and also from facts.
Our species has historically been indoctrinated by lies that we want to believe are truths. Lies about ourselves, our genesis, our faith, our exceptional nation of origin and our theories about complexities we don’t understand. It’s in our DNA. It’s in our social blueprint. We breathe in lies to keep from drowning in truths that don’t buoy our beliefs.
This phenomenon is historically accepted with antiquated religions, so why not with modern day conspiracies, too? Problem is, these fictional new theories can have real-life consequences. For instance, the lies spewed by social influencers such as Alex Jones, a right-wing flimflam man who repeatedly and shamelessly spread falsehoods about the Sandy Hook mass shootings.
Some of the victims’ families have been confronted and harassed by Jones’ sycophants who believed his years of lies. It helped make him more wealthy, more famous and more powerful. Sound familiar? Jones, who recently filed for bankruptcy protection from several defamation lawsuits, swore in a deposition that “a form of psychosis” caused him to spout those lies.
If you’re someone who believes in such conspiracies, it’s time to face the truth: you also are experiencing a form of psychosis, and you may be bankrupt of rational thought.
“Clinically, it is important ... to be able to differentiate QAnon beliefs from other types of beliefs, including delusions and other delusion-like beliefs,” that new study states. “Like any other type of belief, a conspiracy theory can motivate the believer to act, including in ways that are violent or otherwise unlawful.” Or simply stupid, I might add.
You’re chasing feathers in the wind and I have to tell you that most of those feathers don’t exist. They’re only in your birdbrain. I’m not here to personally convince you otherwise, or to rescue you or convert you. I’m here to publicly mock you. And your debt of foolishness will never be completely wiped clean.