Cafe Inquiry

This month's discussion topic: conspiracies

Conspiracy beliefs are widespread around the world. Conspiracies can be commonly believed, or even held bythemajority of the population. A December 2020 NPR poll found that almost 1 in 5 people believed in a group of Satan-worshipping elites or the Barack Obama was not born in the United States, that over 10% believed mass shootings were staged hoaxes, and that 8 percent believed the moon landings were a hoax. Recently, conspiracy theories have become bundled with the emergence of QAnon as a cultural force, with significant swathes of the population spreading misinfomation via conspiracy theories about covid-19, political elites, and current events.

Conspriacy theories exploit cognitive biases and our nature as story-telling creatures to spread. Rhetorically, conspiracy theories can take the form of asking "reasonable questions", and exploit fallacious arguments and cognitive biases to infer misinformation about certain groups of people, events (such as covid-19), or event individuals (such as Barack Obama noted above). The typical approach of conspiracy theories is to challenge any action or statement from authorities, using even the most tenuous justifications.

Conspiracy theories can be a component of extremism, are closely linked to prejudice, and can divert issues away from actual societal problems. The most dangerous can incite violence, impede responses to public health or environmental emergencies, and spread misinformation.

What contributes to conspiracy theories? Why do so many people believe certain types of conspiracies? Given their negative impacts, how can we respond to conspiracies as a society? How can we respond as individuals? Is their a way to prevent the spread of conspiracies, or to help individuals who are, in some sense, infected with conspiratorial thinking?