It’s the Wrong Question for our Current Moment…

What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable?

By Andrew R. Duckworth

We live in a world of conspiracy theories. What really needs to be asked here is why are there so many “conspiracy theories”? The answer is surprisingly extremely simple. Trust has been broken. That is a very big statement, one that is intentionally vague. It implies the question of “trust in what has been broken by what?” And the answer to that question is another vague answer but the most honest answer: trust in many things has been broken by many things. Most notably, however, is that trust in institutions has been broken by those who lead them.

Trust is a non-binding unwritten contract. In other words, someone isn’t obliged to just “trust” in something. Trust has to be built. And just as it has to be built, it is often smashed to smithereens. When trust is built, we’re subconsciously saying, “okay, this is something that I can get behind,” or “you have earned a certain amount of my allegiance,” or perhaps, “you have earned a certain bond.”

Trust doesn’t just “end.” The “end” of trust has to be initiated by one of two parties. And it normally doesn’t just “end.” It is usually broken little by little, at least if we’re discussing reasonable parties. After all, there are always mistakes, errors, etc. which can be reasonably excused. However, it is the big mistakes that are costly concerning trust.

And then, of course, there is the situation where “trust” is never established, in which case we can, from the beginning, state “I do not trust —fill in the blank—.” “I do not trust the evidence,” for example is the more concise way of saying “the evidence has been presented and I find it insufficient to establish —fill in the blank—.”

However you view “trust,” it is clear that so many “conspiracy theories” exist because trust has either been broken OR was never established to begin with. Generally, when we’re discussing conspiracy theories, we are actually talking about displeasure with a current appeal to control. Let’s take the data center situation for example. These data centers are often built or negotiated under the cover of complete silence. No one gets a vote on them, although it’s now known that hyperscale data centers are terribly environmentally destructive. So, when politicians and CEOs come to their defense, naturally, people then become skeptical of those politicians and CEOs.

This is a different type of relationship than the previous two: where no level of trust has been established and yet one party actively works against the establishment of trust. It is the sort of relationship that has been established by governments around the world and, in a large way, the United States sees themselves dealing with today. How are we to trust our representatives when they no longer represent us, but rather the interest of corporate overlords?

Whenever a trust relationship like this is established, it should be no wonder that people will speculate given that type of relationship. Some conspiracy theories are just that, conspiracy theories. Other ideas that are labeled “conspiracy theories” are genuine speculation that comes from such a state of trust. Some of that speculation does devolve into baseless claims, but others are genuine speculation that gets shot down by the same corporate overlords that insist or even demand we trust them after giving us every reason not to trust them.

If representation no longer represents the people who elected them, then who do they represent? If they represent corporate overlords, who do they represent them and not the people who they should rightly represent? And what are these corporate overlords wanting to have implemented?

So, the question of what conspiracy theory I personally believe in is, at least for the moment, a question that should sit on the back burner. Rather, the question of why such conspiracy theories rise to popularity should be examined. It is an issue of trust, one that has been fractured over time, little by little, and the people are right to be, pardon the phrase, pissed to no end.