Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…welcome back to Part 2 of the How To Think About Conspiracy Theories. In the last episode, you heard from Connor Boyack where he talked about his book True Conspiracies. In this book, he covers about 20 differentthings that were once considered to be a conspiracy theory, but were later proven to be verifiabley true. It’s super interesting, and I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to that episode. Today, I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on Conspiracy Theories and will share how I have come to think about them.
This episode will be a little different than normal, so if you’re just now finding my podcast with this episode, welcome! I’m excited for you to listen, but then I really encourage you to go back & start at episode 1 to begin learning about logical fallacies & critical thinking. Most of my episodes are around 7 minutes long, but since this is a special episode, it’s going to be longer than that. Don’t worry, we’ll be back to short episodes after this, but I really wanted to do this topic justice, so I’m taking some extra time here.
I think a good place to start is by defining our terms. And, honestly, this is where things start getting dicey because I’ve discovered that different people define it different ways! One of the most important things to do in a conversation is to define your terms and agree on what certain words mean. When you can’t come to agreement on what words mean, it’s very hard to have a conversation. Dictionary.com defines Conspiracy Theory as “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as being the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators”. And it adds this second definition: “a theory asserting that a secret of great importance is being kept from the public”.
I just did a few really informal, totally not scientific polls on my social media asking people where they land when it comes to CT. It was really interesting, over half the people who responded described themselves as Conspiracy Curious, the next largest group were the ones who are CT believers and the smallest group were the people who said they think they’re all ridiculous and so are the people who fall for them. Interesting, right? But what that showed me is that people are paying attention. The vast majority of people who responded were either all in or at least curious about them. And even in this little poll that I did, not everyone had the same definitions for CT. Some people thought that anyone who questioned the explanations we are given for things on the news should be considered a CT, while others felt like it’s just common sense & wisdom to question the official narrative, but that CT are different than just not totally trusting the nightly news & political talking points. And some people call anyone with any remotely fringe views a CT. Often, the term is meant to be condescending, a way of calling someone crazy or irrational. Super interesting, huh? Oh, and then there’s the name-calling that happens on social media: “You’re a Crazy Conspiracy Theoriest! Yeah, well you’re just a Normie Sheeple!” Good grief! So, just know that if you’re talking with someone about CT, you may want to ask them how they define the term first.
Now, I think it’s interesting to not that, while the term CT may be fairly new, CT themselves are not something new or made up. Did you know the Bible even talks about it? Check this out: Psalm 2 says this: “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed…” It’s interesting, I won’t read the whole chapter, but I’d encourage you to check it out yourself. One of the people who had commented in my little unscientific poll had said that he’s not a CT because he doesn’t believe any government could come up with a sneaky plan and then execute it, basically due to incompetence, but this chapter of Scripture tells us that they absolutely do, and have been for a very long time. But the past 4 years, I think, has seen a surge in CT becoming mainstream. More & more people are becoming aware of them, interested in them…they are a whole THING right now, and there’s no shortage of them out there! From events surrounding the pandemic, to certain lists of politicians & celebrities, to aliens, to chemicals in our food & sky, to flat earth vs globe earth etc, etc, etc. The list is LONG. And I’ll just tell you this, I’m not going to be talking about any specific CT in this podcast. That’s not the purpose. I’m going to give you thoughts and principles you can apply to ANY CT you may come across, so you can do the work for yourself to discover what you think may be true or not true.
Let me just start off by telling you where I’m at with Conspiracy Theories: I find them fascinating. Now, notice, I didn’t say I believe them all, but I enjoy hearing, learning & thinking about conspiracy theories, and I’ll tell you why. Two reasons: 1. I really enjoyed mystery novels as a kid. I read every single Nancy Drew book I could get my hands on, I read Encyclopedia Brown books and I just really enjoyed hearing about & trying to put pieces together to solve a mystery. Well, CT fall into that category for me. They present a mystery to be solved, clues to be found, and so I think there’s just this part of me that enjoys a potential real-life mystery. 2. CT are a GREAT opportunity to practice critical thinking skills! When looking at CT, at least to do it well, you have to use good critical thinking. You can’t just rely on emotionalism or sensationalism, you have to actually think about what you’re hearing or seeing with an open mind, with curiosity, and be able to recognize your own biases & see past them, which quite frankly, is very hard for a lot of people to do. So, because I enjoy hearing about them, I’ve gotten some practice at looking into them. Have I looked into ALL of them? Oh no, there’s way too many of them, and I just don’t have the time or inclination to go down all the rabbit holes. But I’ve looked into some of them. And there have been some that I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re actually true. There have been some that I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re just ridiculous, and there are some that I’ve put in the “I don’t know” box, and I’m fine with them being there. I don’t HAVE to know every single little thing about all these theories, and I’ll talk a little more about that at the end.
I tell you all that so that I can share 6 principles I have used to help me think about the CT that I hear.
1. Intellectual Honesty. Starting with Intellectual Honesty allows for the possibility that I don’t know everything. And neither do you. Nobody does. After learning that even just a few of the theories I looked into turned out to be true, like all the ones Connor Boyack wrote about in his book, I realized it’s only intellectually honest to admit that there’s a possibility that there’s more to the story than I know. That there’s likely more to the story than is being reported. That somebody might have an ulterior motive, that somebody might even have nefarious motives, that somebody might be lying. I think it’s naive to think that nobody out there lies ever, or that nobody from “your side” would ever do anything less than honorable. We have to allow for evil & corruption in the world - we’ve seen it proven through history. Now, on the flip side, we don’t want to be totally gullible either. I’ve seen some people who will believe just about anything if it’s prefaced with a headline like “Here’s the secret truth about XYZ”. They’re turning over rocks trying to find new CT rabbit holes to go down. Sensationalism sells, and we want to be able to see past the sensational headlines and really ask if what’s being said is true. Which brings me to Principle #2:
2. Identify the Kernel of Truth. I have found that there’s almost always a kernel of truth in most stories, both the official narrative and the CT that goes along with it. Now, how big that kernel of truth is may vary based on the theory being presented, but there’s often a kernel of truth. This, to me, needs to be acknowledged, because the truth matters. We don’t want to just reject the whole idea as ridiculous, because there’s very likely some truth in there, but we also don’t want to fall for nonsense just because there’s a little bit of truth in it. We’re going to have to do some mental sifting. Aristotle is credited with saying, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." I am amazed at how many people are completely unable to even listen to an opposing theory or idea without becoming agitated or angry. Just because you hear about something doesn’t mean you have to agree or accept it! And that brings me to Principle #3:
3. Acknowledge your own biases. A bias is simply a limitation in how you view the world. And here’s the thing, we ALL have them. Some are stronger than others, but we all have them. One question that helps us overcome our biases is this: Could I be missing something? For instance, here’s what that could sound like: someone could say, ‘I work in healthcare, so I realize that I’m very hesitant to believe that anyone in healthcare could ever have malicious intent or that we could be doing something that’s harming people, but maybe I’m missing something here’. That’s an example of acknowledging your own bias. Now, once you’ve acknowledged your bias, you can move to Principle #4:
4. Search vs. Research. If you’re truly interested in learning about a particular CT, you’re going to have to do some work. Probably a lot of it. You’re going to have to learn the difference between search & research. So many people start with a theory and then try to find anything that will back that theory up. But that’s not real research. Real research takes effort, an open mind, and the willingness to learn both sides of the argument. For example, one of the theories that’s gaining momentum right now is Flat Earth. I’ve seen several versions of memes going around making fun of the Flat Earth theory by showing all the sun, the moon and the planets in our solar system as being round, but showing earth as being a flat disc in the solar system. It looks ridiculous & it’s meant to make fun of the Flat Earth theory. But the problem is, that’s not actuall what Flat Earthers believe at all. So it just shows that the people poking fun at the theory haven’t done enough research to even know what they actually believe. It’s always easier to build a strawman or an ad hominem than to put the effort into really understanding. But, do you really need to put the effort & the work into learning about EVERY CT out there? Good question, that brings me to Principle #5:
5. So what? Not every CT matters to you or your life, but there may be some that do. This is where it’s helpful to have some discernment. Some theories out there, if true, have very real implications for our health, our children’s health, for our finances and possibly even for our spiritual faith. Well, those are important things that intimately affect our daily lives. But there are some theories out there that don’t have the least bit of impact on your daily life whatsoever, and discovering the ‘truth’ won’t change your life at all. To me, that’s an important distinction. Are you caught up in CT because you have an insatiable desire to know everything? Or are you looking into some of them because it’s really something that could have a direct impact on your life? Which brings me to # 6:
6. Have boundaries. You don’t have to care or know about every single CT out there, regardless of how much someone is insisting that you should! You only have so much time, energy & attention that you can give in any 24-hour period. Each of us is responsible for how we spend our time, energy & attention. I have had times where I found myself spending way too much time listening to CT and thinking about them, studying to see if they’re true or not, and God has convicted me on that. As you guys know, I’m a Christian, so I look to Scripture and there, I see the need for a wise balance. On one hand, Prov 16:16 says - “How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!” But we are also warned of the downside of seeking too much knowledge in Eccl 1:17-18 - “Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness & folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” Are these verses contradictory? No, not at all. They’re teaching us a balance. Look, I don’t think humans are meant or even able to know everything - it’s too big of a burden to bear, but we are living in a world where we can know just about everything due to the internet and the cell phones in our hand. This amount of access to unlimited knowledge comes with a price & King Solomon, regarded as the wisest man to ever live tells us that he went down that road and the price that came with it is sorrow & grief. Something for us to pay attention to for sure.
Alright guys, there’s so much more that could be said on this topic, but this has been long enough. I really just wanted to give you some principles for thinking well about this topic. I’m curious, what principles would you add to this list? Talk about it with your family…ask them where they fall on the spectrum of interest or belief in CT and see if you can at least have a fun, curious conversation about it, with the goal of pushing in toward truth. That’s it for today…
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
