The mainstreaming of conspiracy theories

Lleuven notes that social media and, by extension, the internet, are the dream playground for those who trade in doubt. But traditional media shouldn’t throw stones either, says Aupers. “The media logic of today is very far removed from the scientific debate. On TV, ratings play a huge role. As a news program, you want to have a lively debate in the studio. So you won’t just invite people who always agree with each other, but also guests whom you know will cause a spectacle. As a result, climate sceptics and other people with dissenting opinions get a forum, often going directly against scientific consensus. And that, of course, fosters doubt.”

“Add the appeal of conspiracy theories in a demystified world to that mix. Mysteries are enticing. Fox Mulder put it nicely in The X-Files: ‘I want to believe.’ Conspiracy thinking is a lot like religion for atheists.”

Alive and dead
So that’s the analysis; what’s the cure? “In any case, a die-hard conspiracy theorist is impervious to reason. Inconsistencies don’t bother him. A colleague described it as follows: Osama bin Laden is dead and alive. A conspiracy theorist may simultaneously believe that bin Laden is still alive, and that he was already dead long before the official announcement by the American government. The true believers have a completely alternative world view. That our global leaders are shapeshifting aliens. That the whole world is staged, similar to The Matrix. That one small group pulls all the strings. Don’t ask me how any of this would work in practice.”

So how can we contain the “milder” form of conspiracy theories, the widespread distrust of institutions? “What doesn’t help, in any case, is a common government strategy: flooding citizens with information. It reinforces the trust of those who already have faith in institutions, but it makes others more suspicious. When distrust determines how you think, it doesn’t matter what people tell you.”

“We should pay more attention to the media literacy of young people so that they develop a more critical attitude to knowledge and truth claims. It’s also useful to ferret out what is at the basis of all this paranoia. If someone doesn’t believe in vaccines because he suspects Big Pharma of a conspiracy, we should take a good hard look at why the pharmaceutical industry has this reputation. Because actual conspiracies exist: scandals whereby economic interests were prioritized over safety or public health.”

“Companies will have to prove that profits are not their only motive. And politicians will have to show that the interests of the elite are not the decisive factor in everything they do. It will have to be more than a cosmetic exercise, more than marketing talk. If Facebook keeps recycling its hippie-ish ‘connecting people’ story, while it’s crystal clear that they’re after our data, that doesn’t take away any suspicion.”

“Conspiracy theorists are not entirely crazy. Conspiracy thinking is an attempt to make invisible power visible. The sense of alienation in an ever-expanding world, in which we can no longer see where power lies, who our leaders are: that is real. And yes, our collective imagination may go overboard every once in a while. But it’s not too hard to see why alienation may literally become an ‘alien nation’ in some people’s minds.”