There's something we're not seeing here. No, it's not lizard men.
The conspiracy theory has become a staple of modern society; a perfect example of the decadence of the “first-world” and all its excess of time and redirected energy from a lack of hardship.
Everyone has that one family member, perhaps an uncle, an aunt, or maybe even a parent, who you tend to avoid at family gatherings and pray to whatever deity that fields awkward family interactions that they don’t talk your ear off about a topic that balances on the tightwire line between deliberate bigotry and nonculpable ignorance.
There’s a quality in conspiracy theorists that is almost admirable. The ability to believe and defend a position that is so vehemently polarizing, one that people associate with your personality, is a kind of achievement. Not a good one, necessarily, but one nonetheless.
Where does that come from?
Sure, conspiracy theorists have online communities that enable and encourage their radical beliefs, but even with that support, there’s still something to be said about their unwavering ability to turn every conversation unbearably awkward with their beliefs. Not to sound too conspiracy theorist myself, but I posit that there’s something unsaid here. Something I’m going to try and say. They won’t silence me!
Too much?
Elise Wang’s TEDxDuke talk on “Why some conspiracy theories won’t die” delves into how these pejorative conspiracy theories are fostered. Wang comments on how the type of popular conspiracy theory has changed, from the archetypal “tin foil hat and UFO sighting” hermit to violent, radicalized individuals motivated by bigotry. Yet Wang also notes:
“We also forget that in their time these theories were polarizing, and political, and racist too. As a student of mine pointed out, the frenzy over UFO sightings and aliens at Roswell can be linked to the same fear of infestation and infiltration that led to Japanese internment.”
Wang’s point is that the recent influx of discriminatory conspiracies— from “Crisis Actors” to the Marjorie Taylor Greene cited “Jewish Space Lasers”— aren’t unfounded, but rather an extension of the conspiracy theorists fear of the “other.”
Racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism— name a form of prejudice, there’s a conspiracy theory out there that perpetuates it. The fear of “invasion” is fraught in modern conspiracies, and as Wang also explains:
“Study after study has shown that being presented with information that contradicts a firmly held belief is more likely to backfire— to make you cling to that belief harder than it is to change your mind.”
If you want to be a conspiracy theorist, you need confirmation bias. Even when theories are debunked time and time again, conspirators turn to the defence mechanism of denying studies. I mean, look at all the COVID-19 conspiracy theories and their innate distrust of corroborated science.
It stands to reason that those who conspire against the “other” and paint them as dangerous to the sanctity of a "normal" society would also oppose social and civil liberties for those apparently “dangerous” minorities. Look at all the “LGBTQ+ hidden agenda” theorists that are convinced that the LGBTQ+ community holds secret underground meetings to discuss how they plan to continue taking over society. Newsflash, buddy, they have enough to deal with without worrying about how they’re going to turn you gay. You’re not that important.
Like a lot of dangerous enabling, conspiracy theories are validated by the internet. Harmful, prejudiced individuals are platformed online through loopholes and sometimes outright endorsement, staying on the right side of community guidelines while sites like YouTube look shamelessly at the victims of misinformation and radicalization, shrugging their shoulders and saying, “what do you want us to do?”
Let’s focus on the "undermining traditional values" conspiracies. Check out this video:
Ben Shapiro on Prager University's YouTube Channel
Ben Shapiro states that Hollywood’s agenda is to turn society to the left. But what he’s really saying is that Hollywood, by “injecting their politics” into their productions, is teaching people about the validity of social liberties, while simultaneously maintaining relatable characters representative of the real world. Shapiro’s points also happen to align with a popular conspiracy theory of “Cultural Marxism”— one that his friend and equally as weird-voiced Jordan Peterson popularized. As explained by the Oxford English Dictionary, Cultural Marxism is:
“a political agenda advocating radical social reform, said to be promoted within western cultural institutions by liberal or left-wing ideologues intent on eroding traditional social values and imposing a dogmatic form of progressivism on society. Later also more generally: a perceived left-wing bias in social or cultural institutions, characterized as doctrinaire and pernicious”
That’s a lot of grad-paper words, but basically, it’s the alt-right bogeyman; an antisemetic theory that posits an infiltration into western media by Marxist values that hope to indoctrinate the youth into some kind of “liberal culture.”
These conspiracy theorists sure do find fun ways to say: “not a bigot.”
With the fear of the “other” referenced by Wang and the conspiracies against traditionally leftist values (like not being a bigot), it stands to reason that there’s an overlap between right-wing beliefs and popular conspiracy theories. Even when perpetuated online, it’s a dangerous overlap that can lead to offline violence; look at the QAnon theory and the January 6th insurrection of the White House. It’s a prime example of online radicalization.
The internet is filled with tolerant people who support civil liberties. Ironically, these conspiratorial bigots find themselves in need for a safe space, so they flock to online moguls who share their beliefs and preach conspiracy.
All conspiratorial, all right-wing, all popular among the politically unintelligent. They also have built large followings online— albeit, Alex Jones has been recently deplatformed.
However, I posit that there’s another factor here that we need to look at. They’re all white and white-passing men.
Conspiracy theories and right-wing philosophy are usually the prerogative of those who can afford to be against civil liberties— privileged individuals who, by fearing the “other,” view themselves as the “normal.” The default in society, the most powerful of the west, and even the image that Wang shows as being the image of conspiracy theories are all white men. White men whose conspiracy theories are often in lockstep with alt-right political beliefs.
Perhaps being a conspiracy theorist lends an element of revolution to the alt-right white man’s life. Everyone wants to feel like an underdog, especially those who reject the notion that they’ve been born with privilege. So, by going against the majority, they ironically become “minorities” themselves, adding an artificial struggle to their lives. Their delusion has led them full circle.
They want to be part of a group that, according to their own conspiracies, doesn't exist: individuals oppressed by society through no fault of their own.
You can't have your cake and eat it too. Wouldn't matter, regardless— the cake is a lie, remember?