I came across QAnon quite a while ago, while wandering on Twitter, one tweet leading to another, revealing the entrance of this rabbit hole. I was a bit curious about it, as I find conspiracy theories quite fascinating, and for multiple reasons.
First of all, I shall say that I really want to avoid using the phrase “conspiracy theory” as a way to discredit an opinion, which unfortunately is the main use of these words at the moment.
Conspiring means to plot in secret to achieve a goal. There have always been conspiracies throughout history, and therefore many conspiracy theories. We should formulate an opinion on them only after a rational analysis, allowing us to say “Right” or “Wrong”. It shouldn’t be a matter of gut feeling.
I also want to add that I believe conspiracy theories are interesting in the sense that they often reveal worldviews and highlight the obsessions of their promoters, thus constituting a social phenomenon worth to be analyzed.
Furthermore, I consider there is a purely intellectual challenge behind: if you promote a conspiracy theory, how do you back it? What is the intellectual construction leading you to promote it? And the crazier the theory, the most it’s interesting to see how far can people go to try to prove their point (of course, there are also countless nuts claiming crazy conspiracy theories without being able to articulate any king of processed thought to back it, for sure). Let’s say you claim there was no plane hitting the Twin Towers on 9/11…
