Conspiracy Theorists

If you have ever been active on any social media platform, there is an almost certain chance that there is one particular demographic you have encountered. They can come across as especially odd, erratic, eccentric, unhinged, and even dangerous. They are typically referred to as conspiracy theorists, but what I have come to understand as the key to understanding them is that they don't see themselves that way. These people typically share large volumes of dubious articles, usually of an alarmist nature about issues that often seem absurd to most people and often they are perceived as particularly irritating. In the past I've found myself frequently wondering why these people do this, why have they come to see the world in such a way and why are they so incessant in their practices. What I've come to understand is that there are a number of shared traits that tend to belong to individuals which one would label as a conspiracy theorist and going into those common denominators is important because those are what really paint the picture of why they are the way they are. What do so called conspiracy theorists tend to have in common? Before I get into it, I feel as though I should give a brief disclaimer before I do that. I would not label myself a conspiracy theorist and will admit that I find myself especially frustrated with this demographic. I find them frustrating because from my perspective, they spread misinformation and they cloud the consciousness of a more impressionable portion of the population. In short, I think they are making society less intelligent on the whole and I find that profoundly infuriating. That factor is worth mentioning because it will explain the hostile and possibly demeaning tone that I may take when going into the relevant common traits. Do I have a problem with the fact that I may have a hostile tone towards this group? In all honesty, not really. They are doing damage and I feel that people who have more sense shouldn't just be alright with showing them hostility, they should even feel some degree of obligation. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's take some time to go into some common themes that I've noticed in conspiracy theorists. First of all, they tend to be men. Is that relevant? I would rate that traits relevance as probable but not the main issue. I can only speculate the fact that most tend to be men as having to do with the more problematic factor of ego which I will be getting into later. It's been pointed out that men tend to be more stubborn in their ways and that's really where the gender relevance comes from but there are also many men out there of common sense and more educated backgrounds (another relevant factor that I'll get into right after this) who want nothing to do with such things and are actively trying to undo the damage. I would like to consider myself one of them and the fact that most conspiracy theorists are other men makes me want to combat the stupidity even harder, honestly out of a sense of embarrassment. The next factor is one where the demeaning tone I referred to earlier may seem like the dominant theme in my analysis of it, but that's largely because there's really no way around it with this one: they tend to have little to no academic accomplishments. Most conspiracy theorists do not have college degrees and many didn't even finish high school and when you look at that factor, the fact that the tone they often take, the tone of having a sense of intellectual superiority, becomes very telling in terms of why they do what they do. What I'm talking about, is that it really seems like they have a chip on their shoulder. They are people who strongly seem as though they are desperate to prove their intellect, and when you start to see that, it suddenly becomes very apparent as to why they choose to gravitate towards conspiracy theories. When you see a conspiracy theorist post a snarky comment, usually referring to others who don't ascribe to their fringe ideology as "sheeple" who "need to open their eyes" or making other comments along those lines, what does that look like? Well it looks like they want to feel smarter than others, and without any academic accomplishments, conspiracy theories are the only means they have of satisfying that need to feel intellectually dominant. In a conspiracy theorists mind, on some level, I believe they think they are special. They seem to truly believe that there is something about them that sets them apart from everyone else and that special something about is what allows them, in their mind, to see and understand what others cant. I believe they crave that feeling, but why do they crave it? Well that goes into the next factor. Simply having a lack of intellectual significance alone doesn't make for a conspiracy theorist. There are many people out there without any degrees who don't feel that need to think they are better than others, so what makes a conspiracy theorist different from them? Well that should be obvious: an absolutely out of control ego is at play. This is why they are so incessant with their obsessive behavior and it would actually be somewhat sad if it wasn't something that could be fixed. This trait goes back to the "chip on the shoulder" I referred to earlier. I would say the ego is the main motivator behind a conspiracy theorists tendencies. The smugness you see in them is exceedingly evident of this. There is one final trait, and I chose to go into this one last because it will serve as an ideal segue into the discussion on why the demographic is truly problematic. The final trait is the fact that many of them are unhinged. I'm not saying every single person who I would label a conspiracy theorist is dangerous, in fact, many of them are simply a harmless nuisance, however the erratic nature that tends to come with the territory is present enough in the demographic as a whole to be adequately considered problematic. While many are harmless, the notions they spread are not, because if they hit the wrong ears, as we have tragically seen on a number of occasions, the results can be catastrophic and have cost lives. Just because one individual ascribes to a certain philosophy, doesn't mean that they would act in a radical fashion on it, but that is not by any means universal. With each alarmist article that a more reserved conspiracy theorist shares, the odds that one who may do something insane after reading it go up and that's where you start to see the more holistic problem of conspiracy theories in general. Radical ideas can be good, they can cause a positive change in the world, but only under the right circumstances. If you really think about it, given all the perspectives out there, any idea could be considered "radical" depending on who is observing it, and it's because of that that it's difficult to get a concrete understanding of who is and is not a conspiracy theorist, that is, if you ask a conspiracy theorist. They are a demographic that will protect its own existence, fueled by the frustratingly ample reservoir of insatiable ego that guides their actions. What can be done in order to combat misinformation that conspiracy theorists spread? Well for one thing, don't contribute to it. If you are tempted to share an article on social media, take the time to make sure that you check it's sources. I've encountered many unfortunate instances of people I would never label as conspiracy theorists, mistakenly sharing a conspiracy because they didn't take the time to read what they were sharing or check it's sources. It's for this exact reason that I don't share a whole lot of articles that I find. For one thing, taking the time to check the sources on each and every article I've been tempted to share would be excessively cumbersome and when combined with the risk of possibly spreading misinformation even if I do check sources, it's just not worth it in my mind. So that's the main thing people can do, simply not contribute to the wood being thrown on the fire. But if you want to take things a step further in combating misinformation, you could take the time to counter it with well sourced and factual information. I don't personally do that, but I know people who do and I commend them for it. Bottom line, the reason I don't do the same is that I simply don't have the energy to argue with irrational individuals, which is what taking that sort of action typically leads to. At the end of the day however, misinformation is the enemy to me, and it should be for everyone who wants a better world. The less intellectual clutter the better.