Harmful conspiracy theories are everywhere to be seen – on our computer screens, in the media, on the lips of those we thought we knew

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“Conspiracy theories” are neither.

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They’re not “theories,” for starters. Almost always, they are fiction. And there’s nothing theoretical about them. They are deliberate, calculated falsehoods designed to promote lies.

They aren’t just “conspiracies,” either. A conspiracy, the dictionaries tell us, is “a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.” Most often, there’s nothing secretive about “conspiracy theories.” In the social media era, they are right out in the open.  They do big box office – more than the truth, some days.

The phrase “conspiracy theory” has been around since at least the Forties. An Austrian-British philosopher, Karl Popper, wrote a book called The Open Society and Its Enemies. In it, he used “conspiracy theory” to describe a simplistic explanation for complex events. Evil forces are usually seen as the authors of conspiracy theories, Popper wrote.

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But it’s conspiracy theories that are themselves evil. They seek to blame someone or something for a catastrophic event: JFK’s assassination, 9/11, Covid-19.

In the past two years or so, harmful conspiracy theories are everywhere to be seen – on our computer screens, in the media, on the........

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