5 Signs You’re Facing a Conspiracy Fancy

Conspiracy speculations often masquerade as scientific thought.

Although rumors about ruling reptilians and the “true” story of the moon landing make for fun conversations at friends’ parties, so-called “conspiracy theories” are no joke.

Superficially, this kind of conspiracy speculations invites us to the noble task of seeking the truth for ourselves. We are often exhorted to “connect the dots” and “do our own research.” Even the very name that’s given to them in the culture, conspiracy “theories,” makes it seem as if they were a worthy scientific endeavor.

But they are not. Granted, conspiracies have always occurred in history, as we know from the bloody successions of Roman emperors or Al-Qaeda’s very real plot that brought down the Twin Towers. But there’s a world of difference between the careful examination of these conspiracies and the negligent accusations that we frequently come across in the news and that respond more to ideology than to evidence. The latter are a travesty of knowledge.

And as we saw last year, wishful conspiracy thinking can have dire consequences at the individual and social level.

When people seriously commit to unwarranted conspiracy speculations and act on them, their behavior can range from avoiding 5G technology and unjustly accusing individuals and entire groups of heinous crimes, to refusing to take life-saving vaccines. In the worst cases, conspiracy fantasizing has gone as far as inciting murder.

Separating baseless conspiracy talk from real information is not always easy. What’s more, the poor state of our science education and communication makes it more difficult for non-experts to know when they are being exposed to pure manipulation.

Still, there are some common patterns that you can repeatedly find in wild conspiracy speculations, separating them from any reliable scientific or journalistic inquiry. By learning about these signs, you can be more prepared when sorting out news from nonsense.

Loose

Does it sound vague? Conspiracy speculations lack any fixed identity that allows us to discern what precisely they are about. Cries of “Fraud” or “Rigged!” often fail to tell us how exactly an election has been defrauded or rigged.

Similarly, talks about so-called elites (like the “military-industrial complex” or the “deep state”) are ambiguous about who conspires. Is it government officials? Unelected lobbyists? Rich people?

Impermeable

See whether the claim is impervious to new information: conspiracists unduly dismiss sources that do not support their narrative.Quite often, they arbitrarily accuse their opponents as complicit. If hundreds of independent studies and investigations disagree with their conclusions, then that shows that the experts are involved in the conspiracy.

Instead of challenging their own beliefs, conspiracists cling to their hermetic sources and assumptions.

Manichean

Beware of sensationalism. Conspiracy fancies are morality tales that pit absolute good vs. evil. They are hasty in making bold claims about people’s character and always assume the worst in human beings.

We are not only asked to believe that politicians are corrupt, but also that they personally oversee satanic cabals and human trafficking rings.

Illogical

Conspiracists misconstrue the data: pay attention to whether their conclusions follow from the particular facts they point to. Conspiracists went to great lengths to draw a connection between the emergence of 5G technology and COVID-19. Surely, they wondered, it’s not a coincidence.

Well, Detective Pikachu also appeared shortly before the pandemic. Do we have reasons to distrust Pokémon?

Total Control

Is it plausible? Conspiracists give the plotters extraordinary, almighty powers to conceal the truth. Believing that Bill Gates plots to implant us microchips through vaccines is to be naive enough to think that he’s overseeing hundreds of thousands of doctors, businessmen, politicians, and journalists that secretly conspire for this evil deed. Surely the truth would have leaked out at some point.

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There is no LIMIT to what conspiracists would have you believe. So, keep an eye out for these signs whenever you want to assess whether a conspiracy claim is warranted or not.

What do you think? Are there other signs you’ve encountered in conspiracy fancies?

By Ricardo Pinto

Ricardo is a Content Writer and Creator at Novel Philosophy Academy