Why do so many people believe Conspiracy Theories nowdays?

A president who actively promotes it and his followers slurp it up.

Back in the day, some conspiracy theories were just fun, like all the aliens/Roswell stuff, Paul is dead and so on...now they're downright dangerous.

Because our institutions have lost legitimacy and nobody believes them anymore.

That leaves a space open for conspiracy theories to enter into.

Depends on the definition of "conspiracy theory." A lot of people throw that term around when they don't want to dig, and would rather just be spoon-fed whatever CNN or Fox tells them.

There are certainly WACKO conspiracy theories, but other stuff that, at the time, was labeled as "conspiracy theory" turned out to be not so much.

People have always believed in conspiracy theories and things unfounded in science.

People feel powerless and conspiracy theories gives these people a sense of control. Someone with low self-esteem and trust issues cling hard to conspiracy theories as it would make them feel important and they would delude themselves into thinking they are "saving the world". Most of the people I know who are into this conspiracy stuff have shitty lives and serious self-loathing issues.

R6, yes but they didn’t always have a smart phone that they can use to visit reputable websites and to gain real knowledge.

It’s much easier to share a FB meme than to do some research on your own.

I wouldn't even consider aliens and supernatural stuff as a conspiracy theory since that's a common folklore around the world and can be mostly harmless and fun.

Conspiracy theories that do damage are ones like Jews running the world, the Lizard people, the Illuminati, Pizzagate and that stuff.

I had a friend who believed in so many different things; it was too much for me to even feign interest. She had so many concrete, personal problems that she could have been dealing with. Maybe conspiracy theories, etc., are a way of avoiding one's problems.

Because people need to believe in something being out there just out of reach. The holy grail that cracks the code of every mystery there is.

Because at our core we are explorers who love a good mystery.

Because they want to.

It suits their agenda.

I remember my sister telling me that the whole "John Lennon is being watched by the FBI" was a big conspiracy theory - turns out they really were heavily monitoring him and it was true, after all.

Because people are no longer getting their news from the 3 networks/newspapers; they're getting it off Facebook & other social media crap that tells them whatever crazy shit they want to hear that reinforces their own beliefs

Q Anon is just recycled antisemitism. Traces right back to The Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf. Just doesn’t use the word Jews.

It’s always found fertile soil in the US.

Some people look for permission slips to express their hate. For example in some cases, QAnon / social media conspiracy theory replaced the Bible.

A lot of these conspiracy theorists are anti-Semitic. They have this idea that there's a plot for Jewish world supremacy. I find a lot of it is due to ignorance and projecting their Christian colonial mentality onto other groups. They are mentally lazy. Whenever a minority group that is historically marginalized and considered inferior manages to find an area to excel in, the majority group has to attribute some evil/demonic force behind it.

Jewish culture values taking control one's own destiny and that only God has the domain over others, there is no proselytizing and no judgment towards gentiles. Hard work and education will be rewarded and that it's important to value the family and community. So wealth and resources are collectively shared which creates generational wealth and inheritance. Jews do not have any interest in controlling the world and their success has to do with their work ethic, high education obtainment and valuing community.

This is dangerous shit. The Republican Party is allowing more of this lunacy in and legitimizing it. How do you govern a country when the opposition party is made of the KKK, Nazis, Jesus Freaks and loons?

[quote]I remember my sister telling me that the whole "John Lennon is being watched by the FBI" was a big conspiracy theory

WADRT your sister, that was an rather specific (and plausible) allegation about relatively routine action by a single police agency, not a conspiracy theory. By definition, conspiracy theories require coordinated and secret plots by many different actors.

-Because the population has been dumbed down

-Because public institutions are no longer respectable with asshats like Trump and BoJo in office

-Because everyone wants to feel special like they have some secret, special information that very few others know

Because they are actively promoted in the media. I'm not even going to talk about online shit. Have you seen those History and Discovery channels lately? It's packed with all kinds of crackpots pushing all kinds of conspiracy crap. I mean, there's a show called "Doomsday Preppers", for fuck's sake... 9/11 truthers, UFOlogists, Nazi secret history nuts, survivalists, you name it...

R7. I was into that conspiracy BS during the great recession of 2009. I was out of a job for almost 14 months. I made about 400 contacts in that period of time and no luck finding any work. So, I had plenty of time to go down the rabbit holes and check out out that stuff. It just made me more paranoid and nervous. Why would I want to feel that way? And none of the stuff being promoted on those sites ever materialized and the narrative is still the same after 11 years: the Illuminati, the Jews, the Rockefeller's, freemasons, and on and on.

Actually, R22's experience parallels much of what I was able to surmise listening to podcasts, reading magazine articles, etc, that talk about this increase in conspiracy theory followers. I highly recommend the podcast "Rabbit Hole" by NYT. Also, The Atlantic has an interesting cluster of articles on this very topic (linked below)

The death of news print media hasn't helped.

They had such a high standard when it came to journalistic integrity, and being the primary news source for Americans, they could be trusted.

Now, it's anything goes. And when the liar-in-chief is the main source of the conspiracy theory, well you do the math.

[quote]Because our institutions have lost legitimacy and nobody believes them anymore.

everysingel institution?

Lack of education.

for the same reason people blame the other driver.

Lack of any critical thinking skills and 24/7 access to a smartphone. Unfortunately one these idiots got himself “elected President”.

[quote] Why do so many people believe Conspiracy Theories nowdays?

Duh. Because Hillary Clinton, powered by the tears of small children, beams them directly into people's brains.

Everyone is indoctrinated from birth to believe an imaginary being controls them. Why would any other bizarre notion sound weird?