Page 66 - March 2019 - v1_june_july_2009.qxd

66 Faking Reality
Faking reality: why people
embrace conspiracy
theories
by Jeff Glorfeld
“Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you
believe it.”
George Costanza, Seinfeld (1995)
A recent edition of New Yorker magazine
includes a story about the growing number of
people who insist that the Earth is flat. Vital to
their belief is the understanding that the moon
landings were faked – indeed, space flight in
general, and many accepted scientific principles
are, they say, all part of a network of
conspiracies, organised towards achieving an
unspecified goal.
The article quotes several attendees at a theories “flourish in the wide-open media of the subversive alternatives to establishment
flat-earth conference in Raleigh, North
Carolina, in the US. “Facts are not true just
because they’re facts, if that makes any sense,”
one speaker says.
“99% of received wisdom is
questionable; if you can’t observe it for
yourself, it can’t be trusted,” says another. “It impact of general literacy on partisanship. intuitively, threatening the status quo in British
simply comes down to, ‘Have you been there?
Have you been to Saturn? Have you been to
Jupiter?’”
One of the key messages delivered at the
conference was to trust in your senses, the
article notes. “We all live in the world,” one
presenter says. “We can see what’s real and
what’s not. Science is really an excuse for
people to be stupid.
It all sounds like a badly executed script
for The X-Files, the popular TV series that
started in 1993. But today’s environment of
alternative facts and post-truth seems to be
fertile ground for an increasing array of
conspiracy theories.
In a 2016 paper exploring the link
between schooling and conspiracy theories,
published in the journal Applied Cognitive
Psychology, researcher Jan-Willem van
Prooijen from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam when members of the audience at a campaign
in the Netherlands says well-educated people
are less likely to believe in them.
He cites three factors: “a belief in simple
solutions for complex problems; feelings of
powerlessness; and subjective social class”.
Joseph Uscinski, from the University of conspiracy theories that mostly involve a cabal
Miami in the US who, with Joseph Parent,
authored the 2014 book American Conspiracy
Theories (Oxford University Press), tells
Cosmos that their research found that
“conspiracy thinking is higher among people
with less education and less wealth”.
“But it is true that conspiracy theories
are a natural outcome of having power
imbalances,” he says. “Conspiracy theories at
their core are about power – who has it and what Molly Roberts called QAnon “terrifying”.
do they do with it when we’re not looking.”
Uscinski says conspiracy theories are
one mechanism people use to balance against
that power.
“By communicating these theories,
people can mobilise action, they can alert each
other to oncoming dangers,” he explains. “So,
there’s something very important there.”
coverage does”.
He says studies of the mainstream media
coverage of conspiracy theories shows that it’s
“largely incredibly negative”.
“It’s not that they look at these
conspiracy theories and say ‘hey, we should
look into this’,” he notes.
“It’s always ‘this is crazy, why would
anyone believe in this’? And there’s often a very
pejorative tone to the articles: ‘this is the
craziest, this is the stupidest, why do people
believe this’. That’s a big part of the coverage.”
The scientific paper with the best title on
the subject – Blaming a few bad apples to save
a threatened barrel: the system-justifying
function of conspiracy theories – published this
year in the journal Political Psychology, shows
the complexity of the topic.
In a 2017 paper in the journal Communication
and the Public, Stephanie Craft from the The authors, led by Daniel Jolley of
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Staffordshire University in the UK, say
US, and colleagues write that conspiracy conspiracy theories are “often represented as
narratives”, but in fact they “may bolster, rather
digital age, spurring concerns about the role of
than undermine, support for the social status
misinformation in influencing public opinion quo when its legitimacy is under threat”.
and election outcomes”. They cite a pilot study that verified a
The study looked into what the authors
relationship between conspiracy belief and
termed “news media literacy”, its role in the
spread of conspiracy theories, and also the satisfaction with the status quo. Counter-
It determined that greater knowledge society caused participants to endorse
about the news media led to a lower likelihood conspiracy theories. “This time, the heroes are
already in charge and, still, the theorists see
of conspiracy theory endorsement, even for
themselves as victims. Why, even with their
theories that aligned with their political man in the Oval Office, do they feel
ideology. embattled?”
As The Washington Post recently
The result was in part explained because
reported, “the internet has made it easier than
ever before to evangelise on behalf of a study participants exposed to conspiracy
conspiracy theory”. theories were more likely to attribute societal
One of the latest evangelists to emerge problems to small groups of evil people rather
from social media is known simply as Q, who than systemic causes. “By blaming tragedies,
disasters, and social problems on the actions of
claims to be an intelligence insider with high-
a malign few,” the researchers conclude,
level security clearance. His, or her, claims have “conspiracy theories can divert attention from
spawned a rapidly growing and very vocal the inherent limitations of social systems.”
movement called QAnon.
In another study, published in 2017 in
The QAnon phenomenon recently
graduated from generally anonymous and the journal Current Directions in Psychological
unmoderated internet chat sites such as 4chan Science and led by Karen Douglas from the
and 8chan, and into the mainstream media, University of Kent in the UK, the authors say
little research has investigated the consequences
of conspiracy belief, and, to date, “this research
rally for US President Donald Trump held up
does not indicate that conspiracy belief fulfills
placards and wore tee-shirts proclaiming, “We people’s motivations. Instead, for many people,
Are Q”. conspiracy belief may be more appealing than
The Q character has evolved a complex
satisfying.”
mythology to support a dizzying array of
Whether such a conclusion indicates a
of evil people – many of them paedophiles – weakness in the theories or in the protocols used
with power and influence who have to study them remains an open question.
systematically enslaved the world for economic “Part of the thing you’re seeing is, you
have psychologists studying this and they leave
and political gain.
the politics out, and they’re looking at what are
But not all powerful people are in on the the psychological processes here, so a lot of the
scam. In some QAnon scenarios, President
mechanisms aren’t dealt with in the context of
Trump is leading the forces of good that will
the political landscape,” says Uscinski. “I try to
free mankind and unleash a new renaissance.
In a recent column, Post editorial writer account more fully for power.”[]
“QAnon isn’t your average story of all-
powerful actors exercising complete control “As long as there is a conspiracy in
place, evidence of the alleged
over a helpless populace,” she writes.
conspiracy needs not to be
Uscinski says he has given more than 70
produced to keep the conspiracy
interviews on Q in recent weeks, “and one thing
alive.”
I keep saying is, we should not treat people like
circus animals, and that’s what a lot of the - Rob McConnell