Gareth O'Callaghan: A conspiracy theory is a risky mutation of information
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I spent time last week researching conspiracy theories, deceptive beliefs that a situation or an event is the result of a secret plan made by powerful people. I slowly realised that the task was amounting to a lot of precious hours I would never get back.
By the time I threw in the towel, I felt like locking myself in a bedroom and closing the curtains, which, I suspect, is what a lot of conspiracy theorists who take their beliefs seriously do, when they’re sharing their beliefs on social media, or preaching to those they believe need educating.
It’s deeply worrying that the conspiracy theory is so highly regarded. If I were to believe all I read in recent days, then I am living in a society where bar codes attached to everything from food and clothing products to passports and aeroplane boarding passes are communicating with secret microchips, injected into me in vaccines, collecting vast amounts of personal information that can be accessed by some secret police force.
Other half-baked theories maintain that a secret sect of scientists randomly carry out experiments on humans without our knowledge.
Another particularly cruel theory revolves around an all-in-one cure for cancer; that a proven outright cure exists, but it’s being withheld from general distribution until other treatments prove ineffective, and the cure they have under lock and key will yield a fortune in profits for its investors. Considering the millions who struggle with this hideous disease every day, this is the stuff of sad minds.
Perhaps the most widely-believed conspiracy theory which continues to attract an ever-growing number of people — and that’s why these theories grow legs, despite their disbelief — is the Replacement Theory.
According to this myth proclaimed by far-right supporters, the once mostly white population of the United States, and other Western countries including Ireland, is being replaced in a plan directed by a top-secret left-leaning hierarchy under instruction by Jewish co-conspirators, who are attempting to replace white people with non-white immigrants, including Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Arab.
According to the theory, which has gained more traction in recent times as a result of the immigration crisis, the higher birth rates among immigrants compared to those of whites, will slowly evolve into a future non-white majority, allowing these migrants to assume control of a country’s political direction and its economy.
As the theory expands, the host country’s once-unique culture and societal structure will eventually be destroyed. The overall aim is the elimination of its white population. The ultimate objective, according to its defenders, is — what they call — “white genocide”.
It becomes even more farcical — or credible, depending on who you believe to be telling the truth — when you consider that the theory maintains that national governments of mostly white populations are protecting an undercover elite who are secretly directing this replacement of populations.
This theory is at the heart of fringe groups that have existed since the late 19th century, who have now found a new platform with the recent increase of far-right sentiment, with its strong leanings towards racism, white supremacy, and anti-Semitism, and that is extremely worrying.
The internet is a sinister place. It’s even more sinister when you consider, according to a recent British poll, that one in seven people believe that violence is both acceptable and a fair response to some conspiracies, which are completely fiction-based.
Many recent conspiracy theories have sprung to life as a result of the general anxiety and anger around, for example, the cost of living and inflation. Many believe that the Government is trying to control people more by reducing their access to financial support and better wages. Even reading it here makes no sense.
One theorist said to me recently that politicians learned from the Celtic Tiger that reduced affluence and deliberately inflicted poverty was the best way to control society.
“If we’ve no money, they think, then we can’t lose the run of ourselves. We’re prisoners of the State,” he said. When I asked him to explain how he reached that conclusion, he replied: “You only have to look around!”
When you turn to conspiracy theories to understand what’s going on in the world, you’re walking a risky line, and talking a dangerous language. Almost one-fifth of the UK’s population in a survey last year said it was definitely or probably true that “the 2017 Manchester Arena attack involved ‘crisis actors’ who pretended to be injured or killed, people weren’t really killed or injured”.
Almost 60% of respondents in a recent Irish poll believe that most politicians only care about the interests of the rich and powerful. Considering we’re less than five weeks away from local and European elections, this finding could add to the confusion out there as to which individuals we should vote for.
We’re not told who the rich and powerful are, or who the “most politicians” are, or why they decide to make rich people their priority.
A conspiracy theory is a risky mutation of information. Depending on your life circumstances, these unwarranted narratives can quickly take hold. It’s fantasy, not fact. It’s speculation that becomes rife, and because enough people are talking about it, then “it must be true”. The more people who believe it, the more believable it becomes; and as a result, we’re now witnessing how people are choosing what and what not to believe.
There’s a sense of achievement, of “I told you so”, in linking real-life incidents to conspiracy theories that claim to be their cause. It becomes difficult to ignore the fact that it’s just a theory supported by spurious guesswork; that’s because common sense is largely ignored, especially when sensationalism overshadows reality.
Probably one of the greatest conspiracy theories revolves around the killing of John F Kennedy, played out in the 1991 Oliver Stone movie, . It was a brilliant depiction of how the president might have died. However, the plot endorsed the long-held theory that Kennedy’s death was a conspiracy, that Oswald was not acting alone, deriding the official account that he was the only assassin.
An even more interesting outcome was that many people who watched the movie were less inclined to have faith in the political system they once trusted.
Exposure to media that endorses any form of unproved theory increases the belief that a conspiracy is behind it. A belief in a government conspiracy will create a greater distrust of those in power. This has been a fact for hundreds of years, not just since covid.
Richard Hofstadter, the American historian, believed that people who can’t channel their political values into a singular elected party will quickly become alienated from the political system, even to the point where the mere notion of an elitist system will drive them further towards right-wing populism.
Their beliefs, he wrote, is that opposition parties don’t oppose strongly enough, and therefore all politicians should be regarded with suspicion. Their beliefs are grounded by the fear of conspiracy, while they seek out a more charismatic style of leadership, usually one that is dangerously unbalanced. Sound familiar?
Life repeats itself, mindlessly; or is that just another conspiracy theory?