Riding the Orbiting Teapot: Belief, Conspiracy Theories, and Delusion |
Conspiracy theories circulate so persistently now that they spring easily to mind. The COVID-19 virus, as the malign fantasy goes, did not arise from animal disease reservoirs or from sloppy and risky laboratory processes. Instead, it is a bioweapon devised by evil Chinese geniuses to undermine American hegemony.
And here are two more. A future (and soon-to-be ex) congresswoman rode to office on the claim that solar-powered energy weapons engineered by a devious, ancient banking family ignited California wildfires to, now get this, clear the way for a rapid-rail project. Then, the truth behind the rapidly intensifying Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Milton of 2024 and the deadly Texas flooding in 2025? Sinister geoengineers have deployed weather-control technology to skew election results.
Can we disprove these silly, malicious claims? Certainly, we cannot. After all, Fu Manchu will stay in the shadows. Even our most penetrating radar arrays cannot detect miniaturized space lasers. Now think, take a leap in faith; controlling the weather is not so hard if you conspire with aliens.
These claims do not leave us helpless because extraordinary declarations demand extraordinary support. We could probe for detail, and of the claimants, call for even a shred of supporting proof.
Who are these evil geniuses? Why did their designer pathogens also infect their own population? Is it possible to shrink a powerful laser? How is it that we failed to notice the plasma bolts and searing beam blasts? Or what technology could possibly steer a cyclone? Wouldn’t direct-mail campaigns better tilt an election?
The cleverest conspiratorialists will respond with ever weaker and more elaborate evasions and excuses that mean to turn the tables on a reasonable listener. When pressed, the various claimants will ask, “Can you prove otherwise?”
The question is meant to be........