> Randomness has no place in the mind of a conspiracy theorist.
I agree, and I see chronic conspiracy theorizing as a pathology. One should beware the Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory of Everything (antisemitism, capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, 'Cultural Marxism', are common belief attractors on who to blame)
But conspiracies do also exist in reality - in fact, conspiracies should be rather common, as giving your opponents perfect information makes you less competitive. As they say, one man's conspiracy is another man's business plan.
There have been many occasions when "conspiracy theories" turned out to be true (Iran-Contra, Watergate, George W. Bush's manipulation of intelligence over Iraq's WMD), and it's all too convenient for the perpetrators to dismiss accusations as such.
Particularly, present day corporate media that only airs a narrow range of opinions and has zero interest in investigative journalism, tends to call anything that question the motives of those in power a conspiracy theory. Likewise the outsize role of money in US politics means it's easy for politicians to be bought and lobbied. And difficult for the corporate media, subject to the same financial pressures themselves, to point it out.
That disconnect between media reporting and reality also leads to a kind of 'conspiracy theory' that isn't a conspiracy theory at all: when politicians or corporations do corrupt things or go against the public interest in plain sight, but nobody in widely circulated news media's willing to report on it and bring it into public conversation. If you're on the right you'd say this is what's happening with immigration. If you're on the left you'd say it's what is happening with financial corruption or the military-industrial complex.
Successful democracy depends on information flow between population, media and politicians, and corruption and pressure from special interests can undermine that. Arguably conspiracy theories are a symptom of a decline of trust in a unified democratic society and particularly government and media. Those who subscribe tend to feel marginalized in some way.
Plenty of those who point this out aren't authoritarian in the least.
I agree, and I see chronic conspiracy theorizing as a pathology. One should beware the Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory of Everything (antisemitism, capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, 'Cultural Marxism', are common belief attractors on who to blame)
But conspiracies do also exist in reality - in fact, conspiracies should be rather common, as giving your opponents perfect information makes you less competitive. As they say, one man's conspiracy is another man's business plan.
There have been many occasions when "conspiracy theories" turned out to be true (Iran-Contra, Watergate, George W. Bush's manipulation of intelligence over Iraq's WMD), and it's all too convenient for the perpetrators to dismiss accusations as such.
Particularly, present day corporate media that only airs a narrow range of opinions and has zero interest in investigative journalism, tends to call anything that question the motives of those in power a conspiracy theory. Likewise the outsize role of money in US politics means it's easy for politicians to be bought and lobbied. And difficult for the corporate media, subject to the same financial pressures themselves, to point it out.
That disconnect between media reporting and reality also leads to a kind of 'conspiracy theory' that isn't a conspiracy theory at all: when politicians or corporations do corrupt things or go against the public interest in plain sight, but nobody in widely circulated news media's willing to report on it and bring it into public conversation. If you're on the right you'd say this is what's happening with immigration. If you're on the left you'd say it's what is happening with financial corruption or the military-industrial complex.
Successful democracy depends on information flow between population, media and politicians, and corruption and pressure from special interests can undermine that. Arguably conspiracy theories are a symptom of a decline of trust in a unified democratic society and particularly government and media. Those who subscribe tend to feel marginalized in some way.
Plenty of those who point this out aren't authoritarian in the least.