Conspiracy theories: The appeal, consequences, and rewards

Humans have always used supernatural ideas to explain what could not be understood. Before the enlightenment in the 1700s, many people relied on various religious ideologies to explain everyday events, such as the sun setting, earthquakes, or lightning, many of which had their base in factual events but whose explanation lacked any verifiable backing. We are by nature curious animals, and being curious has been one of our greatest strengths, but at times it forces us to be unable to accept not knowing. 

Humans are also naturally social, and since the beginning of our time, we have always picked sides, made groups, and divided ourselves into what we deem right and what we deem wrong. Once these connections are made and ideas are put into place, it is nearly impossible to reverse them, even when the truth does not agree. We have been shown throughout our history to hold our beliefs above facts and statistics, and rather than the world shaping our beliefs, we let our beliefs shape the world. 

These observations by themselves are not the sole causes of why the modern day is so good at breeding conspiracy theories; a main part of this comes from modern technology’s ability to allow anyone with an internet connection to spread information to the masses. In today’s world, anyone anywhere can spread their ideas and thoughts on broadcast for the world to hear. This allows people to find those with similar interests to build communities online, in which common views on ideas can be spread. This alone is not an inherently negative thing, but when left unchecked, and when anyone’s ideas can be spread very quickly, ideas can devolve into those lacking any factual backing, picking up extremist ideologies and developing them further.  

It is with this that we can begin to understand why someone would attempt to shoot up an innocent pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C., why a man would kill his brother for giving vaccines, why an 18-year-old would shoot up a supermarket in New York, or why thousands of people would storm the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021. 

For the first example, it began with a far-right hacker who got into the email of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, in which he expected to find blackmail on Clinton. Instead, what he found was nothing of any importance, but this is where the understanding that the truth must fit with the narrative of whoever is interpreting it. Once the emails were spread online, people began to make connections that weren’t there, trying to “decode” the emails and, through what can only be described as the biggest jump to a conclusion in history, they believed the only thing those emails could have meant was that there was a child sex trafficking and satanic abuse ring, run by high-ranking Democrats based in a series of D.C. restaurants, most notably a small pizza location. It spread like wildfire; immediately, hundreds of online platforms picked it up, most notably 4chan, 8chan, Reddit, and Twitter, pushing the theory even further and connecting it to the NYPD and other government officials. Quickly, any restaurants deemed to be involved with the scandal received constant online harassment, death threats, and in one case, a man brought an AK-15 to Comet Ping Pong pizzeria and fired three shots while asking where the children were and how to find them. 

There seems to be no explanation as to how a few leaked emails containing nothing of any substance could lead to such an event, but it is now that we must look at human nature. To begin, the people interpreting this message first were almost solely far-right extremists, who expected what they found in those emails to align with their views, but very quickly, they realized it did not. That could have been the end of it, but it was not enough to accept that that was it. There must have been another explanation, one that made sense to them and aligned with their views. At any other point in human history, this would have been the end of it; the people who were invested and cared were far and few between and would have had no way to unite. But now, with instant communication, ideas began to spread and grow, and soon communities were made, building off of this false misconception, straying further and further from the truth. Within just a few months, it made national news, with the Washington Post, New York Times, and even Fox News covering and debunking the story. 

On the other hand, there have been conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. Once again, people driven by a need for answers and a desire for the world to align with their beliefs can, with a fair bit of luck, stumble upon information and make theories once deemed untrue and seem just as crazy as some of the aforementioned ones, but they turned out to be true. A great and simultaneously horrifying example of this is Operation Northwoods. This was a plan proposed to the then-president JFK to stage an attack on United States soil and blame it on Cuba. During this time period, the United States was in an intense conflict with Cuba and was continuously attempting to overthrow its communist government. The United States has no valid reason to attack Cuba outside of a difference in ideologies, thus some generals found the only way to justify its attack was to make a reason. Thus came Operation Northwoods, a plan that involved taking down civilian planes, refugee boats, and killing American civilians, all while pointing the blame at Cuba. Thankfully, JFK rejected the plan and made sure nothing similar to it was to be put forward, but it still holds as a chilling reminder of the lengths the United States would go to accomplish its goals. This plan was not disclosed to the public until 1991, after an investigation into the assassination of JFK, another historical moment partially connected to this plan, and one of the most controversial and theorized events in American history. Even before the plan was released, many people suspected that something similar was proposed, and these conspiracy theorists appeared at the time just as insane as those involved in Pizzagate, but they happened to be right. Now, this by no means suggests that the Pizzagate conspiracy theorists are right, but it is a stark reminder that questioning authority and the status quo and holding our beliefs above what is generally considered to be true can be beneficial. 

Conspiracy theories are no doubt dangerous and have a very troubled history, but they are here to stay. These explanations will always appeal to people, so it is time for modern society to learn how to deal with the theories themselves and their consequences, because ignoring their supporters and labeling them as “crazy” or “insane” only pushes them further away from reality and closer to their warped version of it. Once again, some of these claims can hold water, and it is by no means a bad thing to question the world around us, but we need to be kept in check before things go to extremes. In moderation, conspiracy theories can act as a powerful tool to uncover the truth, but they can just as easily be used to justify hurting innocent people if they are taken too far.