Part of me really wants to like conspiracy theorists. Really.
What they do is explain the world around them with the limited tools available, something humans have done since time immemorial.
And there is something enchanting about a world
where large, unknowable animals lurk just out of sight,
aliens have reprogrammed grandma,
and history is riddled with clues that open unseen doors
that explain which secret medieval cult runs Congress.
So where does all this come from?
A place of entitlement.
It doesn’t matter that tragedies are so well-documented these days one can figure out what brand of socks a shooter was wearing, or that we have just enough medical knowledge that says no, you cannot catch anything from a chemtrail.
It’s become commonplace that the only truth one needs to believe in is the one you make with your own hands, perhaps in the garage after a couple of beers.
Fact-checking has gone awry, where the investigative spirit has been perverted behind fantasy, gossip and clickbait. Even though knowledge (and the simulacra thereof) is readily available at our fingertips, the fools are still able to spawn bigger fools.
You believe that? Hey, so do I!
Unlike ancient humans attempting to explain why the ball of fire rolled across the sky every day, contemporary Johnny Appleseeds have a plethora of tangible information they can simply ignore, reject at the wave of a hand. Why? Because they don’t like it.
And if you – personally – don’t like something, it’s obviously WRONG.
We live in a rich age, where one is really spoiled for choice. You can choose to trust in the myriad fact-based conclusions of people paid to be smarter than you, or you can camp on an internet forum foaming about how the Holocaust never happened.
And, as an adult, one can easily make these choices. However illogical, however hairbrained, one can find companions – starting with some keywords thrown into Google. What you believe is out there.
Part of me really wants to like conspiracy theorists. But never for very long.
—rachel gardner
Flommist Rachel Gardner currently writes weird fiction with a horror bent. Find her at Greetings from the Wasteland, which updates weekly. Copyright © 2016 Rachel Gardner. Image by flommist Danny Joe Gibson, © 2016.
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