RISE OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES: In a world of global disorder and financial chaos, suspicions of sinister cabals plotting anarchy and takeover are surging. Plus, FUTURE SHOCK 2.0 with IRA WOLFE

Conspiracy theories are nothing new in the United States, says Cynthia Miller-Idriss, an American University sociology professor who focuses on extremism and radicalization, but they’ve been able to spread like wildfire over the past decade due to social media, which can easily amplify and circulate misinformation. That's according to FORTESA LATIFI, writing recently in Teen Vogue.

At the height of the Covid pandemic, conditions couldn’t be more ripe for conspiracy theories to took hold. Miller-Idriss says that people tend to turn to conspiracy theories when they’ve lost a sense of control and feel afraid and anxious because these theories can offer comfort in the form of a black-and-white answer. “When people feel out of control, they’re attracted to things that offer them an action path,” Miller-Idriss tells Teen Vogue. “It’s easier to believe in some nefarious orchestration than to believe that there is an invisible virus in the air that could harm their family.”

According to Miller-Idriss, “inexplicable deaths” — whether it’s death on a mass scale, like the pandemic, or the loss of a famous person like Princess Diana — breed conspiracy theories. “When something is so horrifying, it’s easier for people to believe it can’t be true. They can become more vulnerable to conspiracy theories because maybe they can’t psychologically wrap their head around the fact that it is true,” she says. “It’s these episodic, shocking events that create vulnerability."

According to some analysts and conspiracy theorists, there's also a long historical record of the U.S. government lying to its citizens, including about medical experiments, covert surveillance and torture programs, and the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Harboring suspicions that the government isn't always telling the full story is a perfectly reasonable response to this pattern of deception, these analysts contend. But sometimes critical thinking and skepticism blossom into something more fanciful and outlandish and a willingness to believe information that matches up with our preexisting political leanings or ideological beliefs. Still, as some historians and researchers note, some though not every conspiracy theories may ultimately blossom into establishments facts. Others should simply be dismisses as fanciful. 

Source: Vogue and research