A conspiracy theory starts with a warm glow, a comforting notion that worms its way into one’s mind and promises that there is a method to the madness. It is a fairly digestible premise that underlies much of our attempts to make sense of the world—from physics to humanities. Unlike science and the sum of human knowledge, however, conspiracy theories are often unfalsifiable and unknowable. They linger in the back of our minds, consigned to the limbo of fanciful ideas, where they remain unproven, but too outlandish to conclusively disprove. Conspiracy theories emerge from the depths of our despair, under the guise of healthy skepticism, spinning tales of omnipotent conspirators lying in wait for us. They rear their paradoxical heads every time our faculties are strained by questions we don’t know the answers to, whispering, what if? After all, isn’t magic just science we don’t understand yet? “When things are unclear, it is normal for people to search for explanations, sometimes this results in a wide array of possible theories as to why things are happening. This is particularly true in high stress and crisis situations,” renowned clinical psychologist Anne…
The Rise of the Grand Unified Conspiracy Theories in the Age of Coronavirus
April 29, 2020
