I enjoyed listening to this podcast about the underlying beliefs and motivations behind conspiracy theories.
Has the 1 percent really rigged the economy? Why do Argentinians believe the Vatican is hiding aliens? And finally, what’s the deal with Bigfoot (and the associated erotica therein)? University of Miami political scientist and conspiracy theory expert Joseph Uscinski joins Jonah to answer these questions, explain who believes such things, and why. We suggest you listen to this truly bizarre episode before the Lizard People take it off the air.
The Vast Mermaid Conspiracy
I’m generally very skeptical of conspiracy theories, mostly because I’ve spent so much time around the world of policy and online poker. Both worlds are filled with conspiracy theories created by people who have little direct interaction with them – people who think that politicians are evil, and people who think that the cards are manipulated to make them lose in poker.
In both worlds, however, I continue to be convinced that malice is a far smaller force than ignorance. In that sense, then, I agree with podcast host Jonah Goldberg when he makes the point that it is difficult to imagine thousands of people conniving to do something horrific like the 9/11 attacks in the USA – and then maintain a secret conspiracy for 20 years afterwards. Similar modern ideas that 5G towers were created to spread Coronavirus to cull populations or destroy Western economies are similarly nutty to me.
