“The marketing of conspiracy theories,” Seth Godin. Here’s an interesting if (too-?) short post that explores the “stickiness” of conspiracy theories. “The facts don’t fascinate us, the theories do… People don’t embrace them because they’re true, they embrace them because they are more satisfying, they show agency and intent, and they provide a level of solace by implying external causes to significant events.”
I have, in the past, been by turns annoyed and fascinated by conspiracy theories. On the one hand, it’s irritating how easy we fall for urban legends and conspiracies. I can still remember the number of urban legends told to me when I was younger, and how I believed every single one of them—only to discover, with the advent of Google, that none of them were true. Ever.
On the one hand, we can explore a conspiracy theory and learn a lot about marketing and stickiness. How a theory satisfies a need or desire in the person who has it. Why someone who believes a theory—even on the flimsiest of evidence—would turn into a “sneezer” or propagator of a lie.
On the other hand, we can remember that in the end, Truth will triumph. That is God’s way. So whether it is through the creation of some technology or source which more easily propagates truth, destroying lies, or in the final day, all urban legends and conspiracy theories will be burnt to ash.
Better to be on the side of Truth, eh?
