Conspiracy Theory
A Conspiracy Theory is an explanatory proposition that involves a conspiracy.
- Context:
- It can be held by Conspiracy Theorists (with conspiratorial thinking).
- …
- Example(s):
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Fake News, Falsifiability, Gullible Person, Challenge Authority.
References
2019a
- (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/conspiracy_theory Retrieved:2019-1-24.
- A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy — generally one involving an illegal or harmful act supposedly carried out by government or other powerful actors — without credible evidence.
According to the political scientist Michael Barkun, conspiracy theories rely on the view that the universe is governed by design, and embody three principles: nothing happens by accident, nothing is as it seems, and everything is connected. Another common feature is that conspiracy theories evolve to incorporate whatever evidence exists against them, so that they become, as Barkun writes, a closed system that is unfalsifiable, and therefore "a matter of faith rather than proof". On a psychological level, studies show Machiavellianism and paranoia are highly correlated with conspiratorial thinking.
- A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy — generally one involving an illegal or harmful act supposedly carried out by government or other powerful actors — without credible evidence.
2019b
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/23/conspiracy-theories-internet-survivors-truth?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Gmail
- QUOTE: Together with their first cousins, fake news, they are challenging society’s trust in facts. At its most toxic, this contagion poses a profound threat to democracy by damaging its bedrock: a shared commitment to truth.
Their growing reach and scale is astonishing. A University of Chicago study estimated in 2014 that half of the American public consistently endorses at least one conspiracy theory. When they repeated the survey last November, the proportion had risen to 61%. The startling finding was echoed by a recent study from the University of Cambridge that found 60% of Britons are wedded to a false narrative.
- QUOTE: Together with their first cousins, fake news, they are challenging society’s trust in facts. At its most toxic, this contagion poses a profound threat to democracy by damaging its bedrock: a shared commitment to truth.
2017
- https://theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/27/conspiracy-stories-jfk-donald-trump
- QUOTE: … But conspiracy thinking is no longer harmless idiosyncrasy, if it ever was. Not when it leads to the bereaved parents of Sandy Hook or the wounded of Las Vegas being bombarded with death threats and online abuse, branding them “crisis actors” paid by the government to help stage a hoax. But there is a deeper danger too. All this energy spent trying to find the hidden hands that secretly plot our destruction is energy not spent looking for the truly hidden hand – which does not belong to one shadowy individual, or even a group, but rather to the much more complicated forces of politics, economics and history that are shaping us every day.