HOW AND WHY DO WE FALL FOR THESE ABSURDITIES:
Amusing and laughable, frivolous, and ludicrous are just some of the characterizations that I share with people who hear about outlandish theories proposed by equally nonsensical people invested in Conspiracy Theories. We will examine the origins and explore why a particular population segment believes them.
Early humans understood their environment in a more intimate way than we do. Their very survival was dependent on it. They understood that cause and effect came from the creatures around them and their circle of fellow humans.
But then came lightning and thunder, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. No amount of fingerpointing explained what they were experiencing. But human nature being what it’s always been, he needed answers.
(Here is a presumptive chronology of events but not necessarily in any correct historical order) Between 45 and 200,000 years ago, among the clouds, Zenebe and Ayana ( the imaginary Ethiopians believed to be the earliest Homo Sapiens ) saw a robed bearded man slinging lightning rods, blowing air and creating havoc on the ground. They called him Mungu (God).
From those humble beginnings, religion was born. There was a rapid growth of Polytheism. As it began spreading, man added made-up stories of visions and prophesies based on their culture and folklore. The early gods reflected his dependence on those that kept him alive.
There was a God of rain, God of fire, God of hunting, God of love, etc. Claims of a universal god came with the advent of Monotheism. But Polytheistic societies were already well-entrenched, so again, man had to invent stories that made the Abrahamic Religions much more, in a word, persuasive.
While some would tell a tale of a Prophet who came to Earth on a winged horse or a God from a cosmic “golden egg,” but nothing could be more brilliant than a “Son of God” sent to Earth to save the souls of the sinful humankind. Sensing how this title took the world by storm, many preachers used tags to indicate his closeness to God or possession of God-like capability.
Some recent examples include calling himself an “appointed son of God” and another a “Healing Priest”; the kicker? The former is wanted by the FBI, and the latter has already passed on, unable to heal himself! All these could be laughable, but for the thousands of followers who are not laughing.
Turning one back from a lifetime of indoctrination carries a psychological burden on a devotee. “Fear Factor” is one.
The early history of Abrahamic beliefs saw a profusion of assertions that to this day has substantial followings. The conspiracy theories of yore propagated themselves because there was nothing to challenge them. As a result, what may have been small and insignificant claims became bloated monstrosities.
There were talking donkeys, turning the Nile into rivers of blood, the parting of the Red Sea, and people rising from the dead. The great flood, Noah’s Ark, infant ( Cherub) with wings, or 800-year-old men are just some of the weirdest pronouncements detailed in the Bible. More came later in the New Testament, the so-called “mysteries.”
THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE REPUDIATION OF THE SUPERNATURAL
While all these were going on, a quiet revolution in man’s thinking began to take shape. The earliest roots of science were established around 3000 to 1200 BCE. Islamic scholars made early contributions to Mathematics, Astronomy, and Medicine. These provided explanations of physical events based on natural causes.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the scientific revolution offered new ideas and discoveries. The scientific method pioneered by Aristotle gave the West a logical system that eventually gave rise to Biology, Physics, and Chemistry.
After the second world war, the so-called ” Big Science” became the precursors of today’s technological breakthroughs.
Science nullified the untamed march of religious conspiracies. By the time Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and others after them came, religion was already fully entrenched and embraced by the world. While science has put a stop to talking donkeys and virgin birth, there are scattered European apparitions of the Virgin Mary ( 2,000 sightings thus far, but none seen in India or China).
By the same token, the ghost of the sacred cow or a two-headed elephant has ever been reported in Europe. A Jesus sighting in a piece of toasted bread or a grilled cheese sandwich ( sold for $28,000 on eBay) is some of the hundreds of the so-called “Face Pareidolia.”
Outrageous claims of modern charlatans continue to fleece the vulnerable, the “sheeple.” It is no different from all the earlier claims, except that they became the dominant worldview before humans found other ways of addressing his emotional challenges.
Do not underestimate the adaptive value of belief after hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution. It is in our DNA, but faith does not make anything true.
‘We have to challenge lies. We have to challenge falsehoods and conspiracy theories. If you don’t, they fester – unchecked and unchallenged.”
Briana Keilar
Science may have shortened our transition into secularism. Still, it will take many thousands of lifetimes ( e.g., there were 42 generations between Abraham and Jesus Christ ) of reverse evolution until new generations see religion as nothing more than a phase in our continuing struggle for existence. The secular stage is akin to the Agricultural-Industrial Revolution, our cultural transformation from the Hunting-Gathering period. What the secular phase will transform into would be culturally equivalent to a technological-digital step.
With or without science, any objective mind should know that the whole history of creed and theology, however benevolent, has been an elaborate conspiracy theory. But, I am not discounting that there have been many altruistic motivations that address the psychological needs of humans. But it’s a highly divisive ideology and has caused millions of lives and untold suffering throughout history. We have seen enough.
Some evangelist in recent memory is a study in contrasts: e.g., a substantive Billy Graham on the one hand, and on the other, Jim Bakker and his wife, Tammy Faye. ( Billy Graham’s right-hand man in Canada, evangelist Charles Templeton, had an epiphany and denounced all he had been preaching. read: “Farewell to God” ) Both had tens of thousands of followers
But why are people unable to differentiate an ecclesiast from a “snake oil” dealer? ( Bakker served 8 yrs. in prison; now being sued for selling fake COVID cure ). But don’t be fooled with liturgical mambo-jumbo or a regalia-suffused cleric dispensing another round of ho-hum gospel. Why, just now, I was watching a vicar of the Russian Christian Orthodox Church giving his blessing to Putin’s war on Ukraine. An absolute schmuck!
Today, the world is filled with competing visions of spiritual “Kool-aid.” It does not matter what is offered or who is offering, “I ain’t drinking it.”
A SAMPLING OF ONGOING CONSPIRACY THEORIES
The prehistoric humans understandably had no reason to doubt the flat Earth. Man’s limited range did not give them any other way of disproving it; the horizon was the edge of the Earth. But, of course, we have come a long way since. A German rocket took the earliest photo of a round Earth in 1946.
Nevertheless, two percent (2%) of Americans still believe that the Earth is flat. The Flat Earth Society believes that one of the four corners of the flat Earth is on the island of Fogo, Newfoundland.
The “Q” (Q’anon) is the latest Conspiracy Theory that has caught national attention because of its pivotal role in the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol in Wash. D.C. It disputed the failed election of Donald Trump and promoted the “Big Lie.” Among many claims, it believes that the basement of a pizza parlour in D.C. is a venue for pedophiles, made up of select democrats headed by Hilary Clinton. ( it did not matter that the pizza restaurant has no basement!)
The Q conspirators are promoting eight other theories. 41% of Americans believe at least one of the eight claims. ( claims such as a link between vaccinations and autism, the so-called “Plandemic” that the elite planned COVID-19. )
Then there is Donald Trump. He is a one-man conspirator-fool who has either started or promoted conspiracy theories ( 29 in my recent count ) from Birtherism ( i.e., Barack Obama was not born in the U.S; he may have thought that Hawaii was not part of the U.S.? ) to wind turbines causing cancer, to global warming as a Chinese hoax, etc.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT DRIVE CONSPIRACY BELIEF
A study at the U.K.’s University of Kent ( Karen Douglas, Robbie Sutton, and Sleksandra Cichocka) points to Epistemic, Existential, and Social motives as sources of conspiracy beliefs.
Causal explanations for events quench a desire for understanding, accuracy, and subjective certainty. It satisfies curiosity when information is unavailable. “Theorists may use this to shore up false beliefs by casting disconfirmatory evidence as a product of a conspiracy.” There is a strong correlation with people who habitually seek meaning and patterns in the environment, including believers in paranormal phenomena.
“Conspiracy beliefs are common with lower levels of analytic thinking, and lower levels of education” Extreme and entrenched attitudes are associated with conspiracy beliefs. As a result, believers cannot think critically and rationally.
“Existential motives give theorists an extra sense of control because they offer them the opportunity to reject official narratives and feel they possess an alternative account.” “Belief is strongly related to a lack of sociopolitical control or psychological empowerment.”
Social motivations include the desire to belong and maintain a positive image of self. They may help to uphold the idea of self and the in-group as competent and moral. ” Members of groups who have objectively low status because of ethnicity or income are more likely to endorse conspiracy theory.” ” In keeping with this defensive motivation, conspiracy belief is associated with a narcissism-an inflated view of oneself that requires external validation and is linked to paranoia.”
“A feature of conspiracy theories is their negative, distrustful representation of other people and groups.” Birtherism is an excellent example of where racism among the far-right white Republicans and low levels of education conspired in their hate of a black man.
But John McCain, born in the Panama Canal Zone ( where his father served in the U.S. Navy ), should have been the one called to task about his presidential eligibility. ( they did, but congress passed a resolution declaring him eligible )
So there you have it, racial prejudice is at the root of Birtherism, and many of Trump supported conspiracy theories. “Make America White Again!” is what all these have been all about. It’s a shame how many Filipinos got sucked in this sordid debate. ( read: https://opinion.inquirer.net/138980/look-no-further-than-our-own-kababayan)
But of course, many Filipinos look at the mirror and see a white man; no, sir, lumping him with a South Asian is a contemptuous affront to his self-respect. The dim-wits among us!
There have not been any significant theories about the Ukrainian war but don’t hold your breath because Russia, Fox, and some Republicans are already hard at work trying to start something.
“It does no good to believe in what does not exist to the point one cannot focus on what is real. That would be the greatest tragedy of any ‘conspiracy.”
John Ridley
edwingdeleon@gmail.com