On Conspiracy Theories
Published on June 2, 2015 (⻠February 5, 2024), filed under Everything Else (RSS feed for all categories).
This post is partially outdated.
These days, many a serious inquiry into significant events leads to something marked a âconspiracy theory.â The most popular one, perhaps, 9/11âan inside job? Conspiracy theory.
Use of the expression âconspiracy theoryâ has gone as far as to be used as a blanket dismissal of anything that matches neither the mediaâs nor the individual disagreerâs views. One is critical of Five Eyes countries because of their engaging in global dragnet surveillance? Conspiracy theory.
How much further this has gone becomes more clear when conspiracy theorists begin to form conspiracy theories over this all too liberal labeling of conspiracy theories. (We must go deeper.) John Coleman, in The Conspiratorsâ Hierarchy, wrote: âNor must those who are determined to get at the truth be intimidated [to be called] âconspiracy nuts,â âassassination buffs,â âparanoid theorists,â and worse. The efforts in this direction are meant to cut off intelligent debate or at the very least, stifle it with ridicule.â
Putting something off as a conspiracy theory is not an argument, and it can serve neither private nor public debate. We might not only stop pulling this rhetoric trick, or accepting it being pulled, but instead do what we need to do as reasonable, thinking beings: take theories seriously, especially when the accusations are grave, and treat them like any hypothesis in need of verification or falsification. Skepticism is fair, but how much does it serve anyone when everythingâs discarded as cheaply as through shouting, âconspiracy theory!â
The German economist and activist Andreas Popp, then, had released a formidable video (in German) elaborating what he thinks about conspiracy theories. Defining first conspiracyâtwo or more people having a private agreement of sortâand then theoryâan idea of the state of some affairsâhe points out how much in our lives makes for conspiracy theories. You and your spouse talk about a birthday present for a friend? Youâre conspiring. The friend suspects you invite them for dinner? Conspiracy theory.
When I first ran into the issue, I jotted down how âa conspiracy theory, like all theories, is a theory that is not proven yet. That doesnât already prove it wrong. In general, just discarding a conspiracy theory seems naive, as doing so only helps conspirators, never the truth.â
Therefore I wouldnât be surprised if this charge of the expression âconspiracy theoryâ was not accidental. (A conspiracy theory!) It helps keeping public debate, and with that public opinion, on a pre-determined track. But pulling this expression is poor argumentation and rhetoric; by definition we all conspire, probably all the time; and it doesnât serve anyone, especially not the truth in serious matters, if we are so easy.
And so, from my view, it should absolutely be justified to state conspiracy theories; it behooves to listen to them; and if the stakes are high, to take them seriously, and investigate thoroughly. We need conspiracy theories.
Wikipedia has this all filed under âacquired derogatory meaning,â by the way.
About Me
Iâm Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and Iâm a frontend engineering leader and tech author/publisher. Iâve worked as a technical lead for companies like Google and as an engineering manager for companies like Miro, Iâm a contributor to several web standards, and I write and review books for OâReilly and Frontend Dogma.
I love trying things, not only in web development (and engineering management), but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (Be critical, interpret charitably, and give feedback.)
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Is it possible to find fault with everything? Try The Problems With All the Good Things (2023). In a little philosophical experiment, Iâm making use of AI to look into this questionâand what it means. Available at Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, and Leanpub.