Tying things together

We’ve seen that conspiracy theories work by playing to the brain's psychological shortcomings and spread through exposure to those who believe and promote such theories. The next step is understanding why we should care about the information presented so far. This takes 2 forms.

 

First it is important to acknowledge that people may have misconceptions about conspiracy theories. Some people, like myself, have a tendency to automatically assume that all conspiracy theories are false and that there is no logical reason why somebody would believe in them. But this is not the case, in fact many of the psychological phenomena that create conspiracy theory beliefs are experienced by everyone, so it's reasonable to understand why people believe in them. Misjudging conspiracy theories in this way can be a point of division between people. Those who don’t consider themselves believers in conspiracy theories may create their own “us versus them” mindset where “us” is people who have logical minds and believe the science. Meanwhile, “them” is a group of  crazy people who believe whatever they want and don’t worry about if it’s actually true or not. However, if people realize that some conspiracy theories can be convincing then they can begin to develop empathy for those around them and the gap between “us” and “them.” With the world becoming more and more divided on political and social issues I think it’s important for people to be compassionate towards others and remember that everyone is a person and we don’t need to agree on every issue. Furthermore, conspiracy theories are based off of skepticism which at it's heart isn't a bad thing. In fact everyone should be skeptical of those who hold a lot of power and should make sure to hold them responsible for their actions if they deceive the population. 

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It’s important to note that I’m not trying to argue that every conspiracy theory could be believable. I still consider myself to be skeptical of conspiracy theories and would hesitate  to believe in one. I am also not encouraging people to dismiss the dangers of believing in conspiracy theories. This leads into the second way that the information presented here can be of use. That is that we have to create more of a community understanding of why widespread conspiracy belief is dangerous. If a person believes in a whole bunch of conspiracies that are untrue then they have a distorted view of the world. When trying to make decisions and make the world a positive place for everyone it is dangerous for large populations to have a distorted view of the because, like most concepts nowadays, it leads to fraction of the population being unable to find common ground with others. This makes creating a happy, safe, and equal space for everyone increasingly challenging. Again, this emphasizes why it’s important for people to constantly be thinking critically and challenging their own beliefs about the world. We should all be cautious to analyze our beliefs and confident to approach people who have a distorted view of the world due to intense conspiracy belief.