Why Are There So Many Conspiracy Theories Circulating Right Now?
And Are The People Who Believe them Crazy?
A good two months back, Shannon Ashley, wrote an article where she was critical of anyone criticizing the whole Bill Gates vaccine creation paradigm. Shannon apparently believes that Bill Gates deserves our sympathy for being attacked by legions of conspiracy theorists.
I can’t imagine how he must feel. Poor Bill Gates!
She actually wrote that; but then she reversed herself, because clearly the man is rich AF. So I said this:
And you’re not Bill Gates. I’m sure he could care less…having a gazillion dollars to play around with, up to and including your personal plans for world domination, doesn’t exactly make one a sympathetic character. I don’t do conspiracy theories, but I don’t care for simply writing them off either. Conspiracy theorists are critical thinkers, and I do not appreciate the demonization or crazy stigma that gets thrown onto them all the time. Conspiracy theorists does not = crazy.
For this silly, offhanded comment, I received over 600 claps (more claps than for anything I have ever written on Medium!) and multiple responses. (Also more responses than for anything I have ever written on Medium.)
The responses are frighteningly all the same. They all insists that Conspiracy Theorists ARE crazy, and wtf is wrong with me for daring to say that they are not. This is the latest from Charlie Adams:
Critical thinkers”, my ass. “Crazy”? Absolutely. The last thing we need is an influx of even more idiotic CT apologists. Conspiracy theories can be fun — IF you retain enough functioning mental faculties to separate the game from reality. Most conspiracy theorists do not. They are a clear and present danger to themselves, their friends and family, and society as a whole. End of story.
You see that? Now I have been labeled an idiotic Conspiracy Theorists Apologists, enabling crazy people to endanger others. That is quite an accusation. JUST WOW. Charlie also took care to brand me with a degree of criminality just for saying, do not dismiss conspiracy theorists out right. This is very dangerous thought policing.
There are lots of people (evidenced by the number of claps I received for this comment) who, much like me, are unwilling to dismiss conspiracy theorists. And there are a lesser number…also much like me, who think that (at least some) Conspiracy Theorists are f*ckig nuts!
But…how can we tell which is which? Which conspiracy theories deserve to be entertained? Which are just bat shit crazy? These days it is nearly impossible to tell…and yet, I still maintain that it is important not to throw the conspiritorial baby, out with the conspiritorial bath water.
The Reason There are So Many Conspiracy Theories Circulating NOW
There is a reason there are so many nutty conspiracy theories circulating these days. The traditional information outlets that people used to rely upon to create their worldview (television, internet, mainstream news media, social media, etc) have always promoted a less than honest or transparent agenda. The point has always been to manipulate sheeple/people; but today, the manipulative efforts are just insane.
Information outlets have been profitized, polarized, propagandized, and in many cases provide information that is just bizarre. They have been corrupted beyond recognition and are unable to approach anything remotely resembling objective truth. Arguably there never was such a thing.
Instead of the appearance of any objective truth, we have millions if not billions of personal truths (which are often devoid of anything resembling a fact and quite often are outright lies.) Many of these “personal truths” (that people hold so dear) tie into elaborate conspiracy theories.
The Official Narrative
We have a dozen or so official narratives circulating about a number of challenges confronting our world and our country today. (The state of the economy, that state of healthcare, the state of politics/democracy, the state of education, the state of technology, the state of science, the state of vaccines, the state of food, the state of the environment, the list goes on.) I’m not going to get into what the official narratives are. It doesn’t really matter, because, millions of people who are outright rejecting them.
And, for as many people who outright reject official narratives, there are millions who also whole-heartedly embrace them. Take the masks. I’m not going to get into it, but the whole for or against mask thing is utterly exhausting.
To mask or not to mask (the official narrative is mask) are causing endless polarity, friction and division, and yes also conspiracy theories.
Someone just told me, the point of the masks is to test who is or is not willing to get a vaccine. Oh boy. Yet another conspiracy theory to contend with. And yet, there is absolutely no convincing this person otherwise. Personally? I am sick of the debate. And yet, we are all supposed to be thinking, that we need to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the Corona virus. Many people just don’t think this, no matter what mainstream media reports about it. It is getting increasingly difficult for traditional information outlets to control what people think .
“Official narratives” are so polarized into various and competing agendas, getting the whole world to believe one “official narrative” is impossible. Then too, many of the “official” narratives being presented are patently false and or based on anything from partial truths, blatant lies, and ridiculousness that is steeped in pure fantasy.
And yet, almost everything circulating in newsfeeds on social media someone’s deep and indisputable truth, while also being someone else’s crazy conspiracy theory.
It’s nuts.
Black Lives Matter - is both my truth and my conspiracy theory. I am black…and my life matters…that is my truth. But the minute huge corporate entities start spouting this phrase like it is a new form of “branding”…something is up. I don’t know what…but the Conspiracy Theorists are running wild with it. I sort of listen to them, just so I can understand what kinds of cray-cray half the population is into.
About half the American population believes BLM is a hoax, or a set up, or a George Soros funded initiative designed to implement dreaded socialism! (A economic theory no one actually understands — and that is by design.)
Many of these same people also believe that Qanon is apart of some secret military that is saving all the children from nefarious forces which are raping and eating them. Factually there are many ways to dispute these assertions, but metaphorically, there is some truth to this. There are rabbit holes. I would assert Qanon just goes down fictional ones, instead of exploring the real ones, which are quite inconsistent with the wordview Qanon wants to hold.
I will be the first to admit that, many of the quips of the Qanon affiliated sound f*cking crazy, but the WORLD right now is F*CKING CRAZY. So who the f*ck knows?
As a result, we have endless conspiracy theories circulating.
The nonstop attack of these theories, and generally anyone who thinks outside of or beyond the official narratives, occurs pretty consistently. This is all a part of the current competition (among a variety of competing forces) to control the official narrative. And as Caitlin Johnstone constantly points out, controlling dominant narrative is the key to controlling the world.
And also this…he who controls my narrative, also controls me and how I respond to my world. And so, while I don’t create conspiracy theories, neither do dismiss them, nor do I blindly accept any “official” narrative that is presented for consumption. I am sovereign. I maintain control over my response to the world.
Trust no one, has ALWAYS been my motto. Authorities have always (as per the X-files) been into weird and freaky shit, and have always lied about it.
The only difference now, is that we are living through times a time where that above fact has become REALLY OBVIOUS.
So almost no one is believing in authoritative “official” narratives anymore. For one thing, they just don’t make any sense. This has caused a proliferation of all kinds of Conspiracy theories. This is breaking down consensual reality. I even wrote about that:
The rivers and oceans of information that we are subjected on a daily basis have become so polluted and corrupted, many of us just want to stay as far away from it, just to survive. We have about as much chance of finding pure, unpolluted information, as we have as finding pure, unpolluted air or water.
And…good luck with that.
With regard to all of it, my advice is this: be discerning. Every entity, (be it a government, and organization, a Super Pac, a corporation) behind every major information source has an agenda. Most of these agendas do not include your best interest…no matter who you are or what that may be.
The truth IS out there…but also within. And that’s where we all should be looking now.
