Conspiracy theories can cause great harm to society – Rocky Mount Telegram
Most conspiracy theories never come true and go down in history as evidence of human foolishness.
Remember the Y2K conspiracy of the year 2000? People predicted the banking system, stock market and society’s computers in general would be flung into chaos. That never happened.
Many other conspiracies were never proven. Some people believe that the moon landing was faked or that more than one gunman shot JFK. Several preachers have predicted the world would end by such and such date, but those days have come and gone, and we are still here.
The internet makes it easy to find information that supports any belief, no matter how ridiculous. Spreading this false information hurts our society because it often targets vulnerable groups and leads to a decreased trust in government, decreased civil participation and can damage public health, as it has done in the case of vaccine hesitancy.
The people who believe in conspiracy theories about the COVID vaccine are reluctant to get their shots. As a result, the Delta variant is spreading more rapidly among them.
Psychology Today reported that conspiracy theories give people a sense of control or superiority. The people who believe them think they have superior knowledge or inside information, which is usually not the case. They often suffer from low self esteem and are generally miserable people.
Psychology Today reported findings of researchers in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science that the reasons for believing in conspiracy theories include the need for certainty, the need for control over one’s life, the need for a positive self-image as well as the desire to feel unique.
Most conspiracy theories are never proven to be true, but people believe them because they never listen to evidence that goes contrary to their beliefs. In other words, they are close-minded.
Republicans are now using conspiracy theories to deprive citizens of their voting rights, as states in Texas, Georgia and other red states pass laws to make it harder for poor, disabled, elderly and people of color to vote. They believe the election was stolen and that voter fraud was widespread. Republicans in Arizona launched their own audit of voting, but no widespread voter fraud was discovered.
Soon the conspiracy theories that the election was stolen will fade into history along with all the other silly conspiracy theories you find on Fox, the internet and the alternative media.
Judith Mesko
Rocky Mount
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