Expert: Even with the internet, conspiracy theories aren’t more prevalent now than they were in the past

Joe Usinski teaches political science at the University of Miami. He’s also an expert on conspiracy theories.

“That’s what my email inbox tells me,” he said, laughing.

He’s been featured on various media outlets, discussing his expertise.

“If you go back 10 years, journalists very seldomly covered conspiracy theories. Now, there’s hundreds of stories coming out every day,” Usinski said.

Especially with the never-ending pit of information, and false information, on the internet. It may seem like there are more conspiracies out there.

“Interestingly, it doesn’t mean people believe conspiracy theories more now than they ever did in the past,” Usinski said.

He says back in the 1970s 80 percent of Americans thought JFK’s assassination was part of a conspiracy, instead of a lone gunman. That’s decreased over time. That’s atypical. People don’t usually abandon conspiracies.

The rule is that people hold on to them, and sometimes, rather tightly.

“They will change the goal post, change their theory to match whatever facts are on the ground. Q’anon is a great example of this. I mean Q has made numerous predictions, none of which have come through, but followers keep changing the meaning of them so they never prove false,” Usinski said.

It’s not clear why some people seem to buy into conspiracies and others don’t.

He says for some it may be a psychological comfort to reduce uncertainty.

In general, though, most people who believe conspiracies believe in only one or a few, and most conspiracies have small followings.

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