Thoughts on Conspiracy Theories
16th July 2024
ZMan looks behind the curtain.
Before anyone was sure what happened to Donald Trump on that stage in Pennsylvania, the conspiracy theorists were hard at work. It is reaching the point where conspiracy theories are the primary driver of public discourse. No one can accept the official version of things, so we are left to create our own versions. Throw in the fact that it is easy to manipulate digital images, video and sound and we will soon doubt what our senses tell us about anything in the digital space.
It is fair to say we are living through the conspiratorial age. Fifty years ago, the only people who trafficked in this material were the people who lined their clothes with aluminum foil and vacationed at Dallas. Today, no one believes official narratives, so everyone has their own theory of reality. If not for conspiracy theories, no one would have any idea what is happening in the world, as the official narratives often sound less plausible than the so-called conspiracy theories.
The term conspiracy itself is a conspiracy of sorts. Many people think it was created by the CIA as a way of tarnishing those skeptical of official narratives. In reality the term existed as far back at the 1860’s but was popularized by Karl Popper in his book The Open Society and Its Enemies, published in the 1940’s, which was long before the Central Intelligence Agency existed. Even so, the term is primarily used as a way to discredit people who question the official story.