There are so many ludicrous conspiracy theories. Moon Landing Hoax. Covid Denial. 9/11 was an inside job. The Royals are Lizards. The earth is flat etc.

Conspiracy theorists are less likely to have had the kind of education or have the critical thinking skills necessary to help them see the glaring holes in their wild theories. That said, you can get really quite clever people believing in total nonsense. We only have to look at religion to demonstrate that.

Believers in conspiracies often have an inflated sense of their own intellectual competence. They like to think that they’re a part of a special group of people that have a real insight into the workings of the world. Ignorance combined with overconfidence creates a fertile ground for unsubstantiated beliefs to take hold.

People are drawn to conspiracy theories because of a need to “know the truth” and have clarity and certainty. Having implausible, impractical theories is more comforting than having none, uncertainty or understanding or learning the the nuances of reality. By having their own fringe explanations for things they feel that even if they don’t have control over situations that are happening around us, there could be some control if it weren’t for the conspirators. Conspiracy theories are often taken up by disenfranchised people on the fringes of society. Adhering to conspiracies also gives some people a sense of higher self-esteem and they also get a sense of belonging to an “enlightened” group of people.

I feel despair that there are people that are simply not concerned over serious issues like climate change or pandemics because they believe they’re fake problems and so on. So much of this came out to play during Covid-19. Morons gleefully announcing and demonstrating their ignorance as far as the eye could see.

Of course as far as conspiracy theorists are concerned, any evidence or person that goes against a conspiracy must be PART of the conspiracy. By their usual way of thinking, they can never be proven wrong.