Back on July 16th, I wrote a blog article called “The Mask-Wearing Civil War” in which I happened to mention Conspiracy Theories. The article received an angry, albeit misdirected response from someone I can only surmise is a Conspiracy Theorist.
On July 20th, CNN aired a primetime special on Conspiracy Theories, in which President Trump himself was labeled “Conspiracy-Theorist-in-Chief.” Obviously, the topic of Conspiracy Theories has gathered enough steam in the public consciousness to warrant a CNN special.
For the record, I am most decidedly NOT a Conspiracy Theorist, and normally observe with amusement the many Conspiracy Theories (CTs) in existence today. Most CTs, in my opinion, are rather harmless… as in… who really cares if some people believe the lunar landings of the 60’s and 70’s were staged. Others believe the Earth is flat. Ridiculous, but harmless as well.
Other CTs are mean-spirited, like when theorist Alex Jones suggested that the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting of 2012 had been staged. Jones’ popularity on the Web is a troubling indicator of the number of people who engage in this sort of practice.
Given the backdrop of the current COVID-19 pandemic however, CTs have become downright harmful. No longer is it a matter of not believing man landed on the moon. Now it’s that COVID-19 is a hoax, perpetrated by the government in an effort to force people to wear masks… control them… and eventually implant a surveillance chip in them through the excuse of vaccination.
This is harmful because it directly impacts other people. General consensus among recognized health authorities state that the use of masks, social distancing, and frequent hand-washing practices help prevent the spread of the virus. To be successful though, it must be practiced by all. “Anti-maskers” and Conspiracy Theorists however, for the most part refuse to cooperate.
Why the title “Conspiracy Theorists on Steroids”? Because to compound matters, this “perfect storm” combines Conspiracy Theorists with:
- The social media explosion
- The technology to manufacture fake data (manipulated statistics, “Photoshopping”, “fake news generators”)
- Gullible people… and people ready to take advantage of gullible people
All of which makes for fertile ground for the surge of Conspiracy Theories taking place today. Gullible people and Conspiracy Theorists have always existed… but social media and fake news generation technology is fairly new.
But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s a recent video by John Oliver explaining the whole thing.
I have my own Conspiracy Theory however, regarding weather control. I have it on good authority that the U.S. government is researching methods of weather control, including the manipulation of the nationwide consumption of goods.
The graph below illustrates and proves my point perfectly:
Correlation: 0.868102
Ha! And they think they’re pulling a fast one on us…….
I have never commented on my own articles before, but I feel compelled to comment on this one. As always, I put all my articles on my Facebook page. Many times I’ll boost the article to get more readership. The boosts are within Puerto Rico most of the time. I boosted this article and was surprised to see a handful of negative responses on Facebook. I feel it’s a culture thing… as Conspiracy Theories are admittedly not a huge topic here on the island and probably some people have no idea what they are. Well… live and learn.
This is very interesting. I like the way you correlated the impact of social media on conspiracy theories with steroids, because it is easy to forget that these theories have always been around. Social media has really bolstered the power of things that have been overlooked. Reading this has also made me think a lot about the psychology behind a gullible person. I learned that a person who believes in conspiracy theories, is someone wanting to justify a big event with a big solution because the current solution doesn’t seem to satisfy the gravity of the problem. At first I thought the making of conspiracy theories is due to boredom, and although that may still be true, there is more behind the reasoning of a “gullible” person. Now I understand the effect of proportionality bias. It is scary how much this current crisis is being controlled by conspiracy theorists such as our own president. Overall I enjoyed reading this because it gave me a lot to think about. Very well written!
Thank you Arielle! I truly appreciate your comments. Sometimes I find it difficult to find an interesting, suitable title for my articles… but this one seemed to fit perfectly. Yes, we commonly refer to “super-enhanced” things (topics, beliefs, behaviors) as “being on steroids.” You nailed it by identifying the ability of social media to “bolster the power of things that have been overlooked.” Conspiracy theories are certainly one of those things. It used to be that conspiracy theorists had little to no tools with which to convince those gullible enough to go along with them. But social media, plus the technological advances I mentioned in the article, make it easier to pass off some of these outlandish theories as truth.
I am happy you enjoyed my article on this topic, and I invite you to navigate through my blog, in which you’ll find a wide variety of topics in my many articles. Also, I like to encourage new ideas for articles… and I always welcome comments on my blog.