Reading Dr. Solomon Stevens remarks concerning conspiracy theorists, or those with a “conspiracy mentality,” as he puts it, reminded me of yet another, errr, theory:
And those with a conspiracy mentality lack social trust [or asabiyah – haw]. They see the world as moved by what Daniel Pipes called a “hidden hand.” Forces that cannot be seen or controlled are wielded by people behind the scenes who cannot be held accountable or controlled. The deep state is responsible. Satan is behind it. Some ethnic, racial or religious group is enabling it. People who we do not know but who have significant power are trying to hurt us.
Just think about all the ways in which social trust has eroded in recent years. For those with a conspiracy mentality, law itself is suspect; it is being manipulated by some hidden hand. The news media are seen as hopelessly biased and unreliable. Medical professionals are part of a conspiracy to promote a fake narrative about a disease. The election has been stolen. Our teachers are working to destroy the country. [The Post and Courier]
Along with the usual faux-explanatory power of conspiracy theories is this: these theories of hidden powers relieves the believer of responsibility. The degree to which one is loyal to a particular version of social theory, which is to say the theory, implicit or explicit, by which one believes society should be run, is developed by a number of factors; I hesitate to even attempt to fully enumerate them. But we can include in that list personal / family prosperity, and religion and its precepts & dictates; as well as personal experience and prejudices.
In reality, the correspondence between the dictates of all of these various contributors to personal social theory and the result is not necessarily congruent. That is, a particular group may take to heart the Christian decree of Don’t tolerate a witch to live!, which sounds good if you and your fellow citizens believe a witch is always a malevolent personality, but in practice the society resultant from hanging all the witches is so damaged that the formal dictate is quietly discarded.
The state of decay of a society might be described as the divergence of the apparent state of a society from the desired, or ideal, state. We don’t like the idea of unintended consequences, do we? Yet, they occur, diverging our society. Disturbing our prestige, even.
But if a different explanation, The Lizard People, say, can be found, then It’s Not Our Fault. It’s someone else at fault. The faults of our society suddenly fall to the acts of malevolent forces, rather than our own incompetence, fatuous principles, and dismayingly awful theories of how humanity works.
And all we need to do is eliminate those others. So easy.
Humanity hates to look at itself, a fault long ago observed and established. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” – George Orwell
