Fueled by the internet, conspiracy theories are having a big moment in America. They're driving online chat room conversations, influencing our politics and adding to the polarization threatening to undermine our democracy.
“I have a lot of fear about what I can’t control,” … “The stuff he was telling me, it made me feel like at least we understood. He had an explanation for what was going on. I didn’t realize what I was getting into.”
It’s not often people have the self-reflection to realize this. This is what it comes down to for many conspiracists, they have a lot of anxiety about the fact that the world is unpredictable and our lives will be impacted by random events on a regular basis. So, they comfort themselves with delusions of an underlying plan and entity or group in control of everything. Often times this role will simply be played by a religion and a deity, but for others they’ll fall into conspiracy theories. The sad part about this is that it often makes their underlying anxiety issues worse as they end up believing there’s a malevolent force out to get them rather than understanding we all live in an arbitrary and uncaring universe where a lot of shit just happens.
It’s not often people have the self-reflection to realize this. This is what it comes down to for many conspiracists, they have a lot of anxiety about the fact that the world is unpredictable and our lives will be impacted by random events on a regular basis. So, they comfort themselves with delusions of an underlying plan and entity or group in control of everything. Often times this role will simply be played by a religion and a deity, but for others they’ll fall into conspiracy theories. The sad part about this is that it often makes their underlying anxiety issues worse as they end up believing there’s a malevolent force out to get them rather than understanding we all live in an arbitrary and uncaring universe where a lot of shit just happens.