by Henry Case

Created on: October 20, 2010

Some conspiracy theories are funny, some are scary and other are just plain wrong. When a conspiracy theory hold that a certain segment of the population is to blame for all of society's ills, it becomes dangerous. One needs to look no further for evidence than what happened in Germany in World War II.

The problem with conspiracy theories is that they always require a group of bad people. By definition, a conspiracy requires several people to conspire. Often, these bad people turn out to be either minorities or groups who are wrongly demonized and misunderstood. Take one of the oldest conspiracy theories around, the one that has the Freemasons secretly controlling the world and pulling the strings behind the scenes. That fact, however, is that in most cases Freemasons are just a group of old guys looking to get away from their wives one night a week.

Conspiracy theories never actually make sense, once you start picking them apart. Let's take the example of the Freemasons again. Many presidents and senators have belonged to the Freemason, including a number of our founding fathers. Conspiracy theorists point to that and say 'See, they are in control.' But if you actually think about it, there are more lawyers in political office than any other profession. Are lawyers conspiring to control the world? A majority of politicians are white men? Are white men conspiring to control the world? Maybe they are, but in that case somebody forgot to let me in on the secret.

Conspiracy theories become really dangerous when they get people to act irrationally out of a perceived fear. Consider the cases of Plano, Texas and Timothy McVeigh. Both believed the federal government was an evil institution and needed to be stopped. After the 2008 Wall Street fiasco and the Great Recession, similar theories are starting to emerge. The hatred directed at the federal government could like lead to similar situations.

People have already talked about the possibility of the government coming to confiscate their gun, and put their grandmothers on death panels. That kind of talk, based on nothing but political demagoguery, can incite violence. Once you start a conspiracy theory it is hard to make it go away. Any attempts to used reason and logic are dismissed as "propaganda." People who believe the federal government will soon burst into their home and take away their guns are not easily convinced that it is all just a big lie and that they have nothing to worry about.

Therefore, we need to be really careful with what kind of conspiracy theories we allow to blossom with fighting back hard with facts and logic. Once people believe it, they will do just about anything to justify why it is the "truth".

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