To me, the most frustrating thing about proponents of conspiracy theories is that there is usually no way to reason a sincere believer out of one. They are not objectively looking for truth, or there would be greater success with this approach. I suspect that conspiracy theories meet some deep emotional or psychological need, and the person will cling to beliefs that meet that need rather than accept evidence that disproves their belief.

I’m fond of saying, “Nothing will change my mind faster than data.” I’ve been swayed on several big things over the years, and it was all after research and reflection. So, I’m confident that I usually approach things with an open mind and am willing to look at the evidence. But there has to be hard evidence. Conversely, with die-hard conspiracy fans, they stop with, “Nothing will change my mind.”

I have three main issues with conspiracy theories:

 

1. 1. There is No Useful Action to Take
      There is never a clear, actionable solution to “the problem.” But, there are plenty of verifiable problems in the world that could use some fixing. Why not focus on those, instead? Conspiracy theories are just distractions that keep otherwise well-intentioned people from giving energy to meaningful change.

1. 1. They Feed Negative Energy
      All “conspiracies” feed on fear and mistrust. They emotionally validate the person’s assumption that there is some shadowy cabal at work, some nefarious organization to fight. It’s been said that “truth is stranger than fiction,” and people will often create a fiction in order to explain a strange truth.

1. 1. Surface-Level Thinking
      In my experience, people who buy into conspiracy theories tend to take what they read or hear at face value as long as it supports the narrative. They assume that the information they are given is accurate and complete, trusting that someone else has done “all this research,” but they, themselves, they don’t dig deeper to ask questions that unravel the claims. I’ll be honest — I find this very exasperating. Especially when poking holes in the claims doesn’t sway their conviction.

If you’re a friend of mine reading this, you can ask to use me as a sounding board for a conspiracy theory that you are considering. I may be up to helping with that. But, don’t expect me to do the research for you. What I will do is ask questions that you can then go dig deeper into and see if there’s a viable answer or if it leads to a dead end. I’m happy to help you get better at critical thinking. I’m not going to do all of the research and thinking for you.

xkcd has a great comic that sums up my thoughts really well…