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How to Spot a Conspiracy Theory
“To know that you do not know is best. To think you know when you do not is a disease. Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it.”
~ Lao Tzu
Conspiracy theories have been getting a lot of attention recently, as new ones seem to crop up all the time. There may be more conspiracy theories floating around right now, but they have been part of human history since Roman times. The rise of conspiracy theories on social media allows them to spread more easily now. In addition, conspiracy theories are more common in times of societal crisis, social change, or uncertainty, which helps explain why we are seeing them more now.
The QAnon cult gained attention in the past few years for its extreme conspiracy theories that were promulgated by the mysterious “Q” on the extremist 4chan website. A whole mythology was created based on the messages of Q, who claimed to be a government insider. The group espouses extremist conspiracies about Democrats and celebrities being secret Satan worshipping, baby eating pedophiles. In the aftermath of the election, they seem to have moved on to conspiracy theories about the election being stolen and Donald Trump being reinstated as president.
Conspiracy theories abound in the time of COVID-19. There are fringe theories about everything from the origin of the virus and how to…
