In honor of unindicted career criminal Anthony Fauci testifying before Congress today, probably further perjuring himself in the grandest government gaslighting campaign in history, let’s take a moment to examine how we got here.
In college, I took a political science elective called “Conspiracy Theory.” It turned out to mostly consist of my lib professor poo-pooing every conspiracy theory of note, many of which since 2009 have come true, so it was mostly a waste of time.
But one thing I got out of it was that conspiracy theories are largely the result of the loss of trust by the public in the governing authorities and institutions of authority (and vice versa).
Via Leverhulme Trust (emphasis added):
There is a crisis of trust in modern societies. Public confidence in the central institutions of representative democracy has been declining since the 1980s. Conspiracy theories play a key part in this process. At the same time, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 made Western governments increase the surveillance of their citizens, curtail civil liberties and launch the so-called "war on terror". Lack of trust on this scale shown by governments towards the people further fuels the emergence and spread of conspiracy theories targeted at governments and states.
So there’s a mutual cycle of mistrust.
The institutions themselves, self-interested and captured by groupthink and incapable of self-reflection as they are, will often invert this reality to claim that it is conspiracy theories that undermine trust in institutions, not lying and corrupt institutions that fuel conspiracy theories, thereby absolving themselves from all responsibility. How convenient for them.
Via TIME (emphasis added):
“Conspiracy theories are effective at doing the things that they do,” says Mike Wood, a lecturer at England’s University of Winchester, who specializes in the psychology of conspiracy theories. “They motivate people to take actions—to vote or to not vote, to vaccinate their kids or not to vaccinate their kids, to do all of these things that are important.”…
Vitriol says conspiracy theories are “tremendously problematic” because they undermine trust in institutions and change perceptions of what is real. “The further we deviate from an evidence-based understanding of reality, the less likely we’re able to deal with it,” he says.
Instead, experts say it’s important to understand the science behind their mentality and the environment that fuels it. Conspiracy theories thrive in polarizing political climates, researchers say. According to Swami, they spring up when people who feel politically disenfranchised seek ways to explain what’s happening in the world. “Conspiracy theories don’t just emerge in a vacuum,” he says. “It simplifies events and gives you a sense of control of your life again.”
You will notice that nowhere in the Time propaganda article above does the question get asked: why do all of these people feel politically disenfranchised and what could the governing authorities do to alleviate this issue? Like maybe not prosecuting the most popular presidential candidate in a show trial because he is disfavored by the establishment ruling class?
The entire focus is on fixing the minds of the ignorant peasants who subscribe to these ideas, which is a self-defeating proposition. The tighter they squeeze, the more sand slips through their fingers.
So flat Earth theory is what we get as we collectively lose our minds.
