Why people believe conspiracy theories
The idea for this post started as a reply to a post by Adam which speculated that drug companies are withholding the discovery of cures for diseases–in effect conspiring to keep patients dependent on their treatments. And it would have to be a huge conspiracy, indeed, to keep even one such breakthrough a secret. Today’s medical treatments are developed by teams of dozens or even hundreds of researchers. And since a great deal of basic research is done at universities and published in open literature, companies are often racing each other to be the first to discover a treatment.
It would take only one whistleblower out of hundreds of scientists and the secret would be out. The ethical impetus to disclose the cure would be tremendous, and the discloser would be hailed as a savior. But my aim here is not to assail Adam’s speculation. Instead, I want to examine why people tend to believe such conspiracy theories.
In many cases, conspiracy theories form when realities do not match people’s deeply-held
assumptions. A recent example is the crashing of American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. A conspiracy theory that something other than an airliner caused the damage quickly arose (abetted by a book by a French author), based mostly on the fact that no large sections of an airplane could be seen in photos of the site. Even the theorizing about the assassination of JFK can be traced to the fact that people found it hard to believe that a lone gunman could kill the leader of the free world.
In this day and age, people have come to place great faith and confidence in modern technology. Stunning successes have led laypeople to expect more successes as a matter of course. I remember when I was young, a popular conspiracy theory was that a secret automobile had been developed that would get 100+ miles per gallon, but the oil companies were conspiring with the auto companies to keep it off the market. After all, if we could land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth, surely an efficient car would be a walk in the park, right?
A similar thing has happened with modern medical technology. We eliminated polio and smallpox. Measles and mumps are virtually unknown in modernized nations (soon to be followed by chicken pox, which was a rite of passage for me and my peers). So, naturally, people come to expect more and more cures. But a vaccine for HIV has proven elusive (for technical reasons beyond the scope of this post), and curing a non-pathogenic disease is harder than developing a vaccine.
To put it simply, when one of the body’s own systems gets off track, it is hard to set it back on track permanently. Usually the reason it got off track is genetic. Take diabetes, for instance. There are many drug treatments that help fill in where the pancreas is no longer doing its job, but none of them to date have been effective in regenerating insulin-producing cells. Gene therapy or stem cells/cloning may eventually provide a real cure, but those technologies are only coming into the picture today, after generations of conventional (i.e. “small-molecule”) treatments.
Stories about breakthroughs kept secret for the profit of evil corporations make good fodder for sci-fi or action movies, but in reality technology is simply not as omnipotent as people expect.
12 Responses to “Why people believe conspiracy theories”
It’s always been my belief that the behind-the-scenes reality of life is a lot less interesting than people think it is.
It may be a bit before your time, but 30 years ago there were people spouting theories that car companies had engines that would get 60 or 80 miles per gallon of gas. It was beyond scientific possibility, of course, but that didn’t stop them.
Sometimes it is because conspiracies have existed and do exist.
I think that somewhere, deep inside a government building, Cancer Man is smiling.
My theory – there is no Osma Bin Laden. The government made him up.
The fact that conspiracy theories exist is not the question. The question is which ones are true and which ones are bogus? Did Nixon conspire in Watergate? Do polititions lie? (Answer, only when their mouths are open.) When are we being told the truth by the government? Who knows, we await the whistle blowers to out them.
Sad… What we don’t know can often be better for the future of everyone as a whole. When thinking in short term, the mind is not able to see beyond what we are currently experiencing in our 3D that we are seeing now.
Many people belive conspiracies because they are often more documented, relevant, logical, and resourceful that what is commonly accepted as the truth surrounding an event. As for 9/11. I think the public now knows it was an inside job. C’mon people, osama bin laden did not warn mayor willie brown that morning not to fly, Nor did he have NORAD stand down. Disregarding just look at the building 7 collapse and that should say enough.
People like to believe in things that are bigger than they are, it makes them happy and content. Conspiracy theories tend to be largely faith based.
To the commenter above, anybody who believes 9/11 was an “inside job” is naive and has been fooled by money making conmen.
People who are introduced to the 9/11 conspiracy theories should visit: http://www.screwloosechange.blogspot.com
This website proves wrong all of the conspiracy theories in regards to that day. Also demonstrating, often humourfully, the ineptitude of the conspiracy theorists.
Of course the problem of arguing with these loons is that if you prove them wrong, they simply accuse you of being in on the whole thing
James: you nailed that on the head “makes them happy and content”. I’d throw “because they are lazy” in there as well. If you take a look at most people who believe in conspiracy BS, their lives generally are pretty banal and unaccomplished. It’s easier to accept that your life is banal and unaccomplished when you believe that somebody else is responsible for it. They could try to improve their life, but that requires more effort than reading some poorly written books and spouting off their bs theories to anyone who will listen.
The flip-side are the paranoia peddlers: authors and douchebags on the lecture circuit (google “Craig Hulet” sometime). The people who tour the country, selling books and videos on this crap always sign off with “I just felt I needed to get this message out because I care about this country and blah blah blah” as if they’re doing something heroic. They could do something really heroic like volunteer at a homeless shelter/animal shelter/whatever…you know, something substantive to actually make someone’s life better, but that’s less satisfying to the ego than becoming the patron saint of paranoid idiots everywhere.
So, did I miss something? Why do people believe in conspiracy theories? You just listed a bunch of examples and gave no explanations.
quick note… polio has not been eradicated. idiot!