Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories

We’re all conspiracy theorists. Some of us just hide it better than others. Conspiracy theorists do not wear tin-foil hats (for the most part). They are not just a few kooks lurking on the paranoid fringes of society with bizarre ideas about shape-shifting reptilian aliens running society in secret. They walk among us. They are us. Everyone loves a good conspiracy. The plots of countless Hollywood blockbusters, bestselling books, and beloved TV shows revolve around conspiratorial shenanigans. And surprising numbers of people believe that the kinds of vast, insidious conspiracies that Mulder and Scully routinely unearthed in The X-Files are happening right now in the real world. Yet conspiracy theories are not a recent invention. And they are not always a harmless curiosity.

Categories: Politics & Society