Conspiracy theories are a group of wandering stories ideas claiming a plot hidden from people is made by secret powerful elites.
In the conspiracy theory, alleged secret plots by secret elites seek political, economical or or other types of power without legitimacy and to the detriment of everyone else. The ones claimed to be affected by such “conspiracies” are often unsuspecting and, therefore defenceless. The “conspiracy” can go on because the broad masses are unaware.
Although conspiracy theories seem capable of convincing a broader audience, they might even be more important as the ideology of the violent hard core supporters of right wing extremism. The alleged plots and the elites behind the plots are claimed to be secret. Therefore there are no open sources. Conspiracy theories do not meet the standards of reality control and falsifiability as described by Karl Popper, that claims promoted in debate in a democracy should be open to be checked, and potentially be disproven.
Conspiracy theories lack sources. If a story of a conspiracy referred to a real source, it could possibly be telling of a real conspiracy. Conspiracy theories provide a closed belief systems because of this lack of sources, because they can not be falsified. Any counter-evidence can in addition be dismissed as part of the cover up. This reduces it to a question of wether you believe in it or not. Since the narratives also claim to be about alleged amoral conspirators doing dangerous acts, they lay the ideological foundation for violent actions and authoritarianism.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a conspiracy theory used as a ideological basis for used in ideological training of the SS Scutzstaffel in Nazi Germany. Although the Nazi leadership knew it was false, the conspiracy theory was used because they thought it represented “inner truth”
The Protocols were used in SS pamphlets and training materials from SS Schulungsamt (SS Education Office responsible for ideological training for SS elite schools, even after the 1935 Bern Trial (where a Swiss court confirmed it was a hoax). Also in the SS-Leithefte (SS ideological bulletins) recycled its themes, such as the claim of a “Jewish world conspiracy” controlling finance and revolutions.
Modern conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories, and especially the “Stop the steal” conspiracy theory played an important role as motivation for the 6. January 2021 insurrection for the hard core MAGA activists like Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters. The conspiracy theory narratives surfaced in QAnons discourse, and were used by Trump and his allies in the insurrection.
Conspiracy theories are also motivation for the lone wolf rights extremist terrorists like Anders Behring Breivik, Philip Manshaus and Brenton Tarrant.
The “black helicopter” conspiracy theory is the belief that unmarked black helicopters are used by the government for secret missions to take away people’s freedoms and create a global dictatorship, called the New World Order (NWO). This idea became popular in the U.S. during the 1990s, especially among far-right groups who didn’t trust the government. The helicopters are seen as a sign of secret spying and military control.
The NWO conspiracy theory suggests that a powerful, secret group of elites is trying to create a one-world government. People who believe in this think the group works behind the scenes through international organizations like the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They fear that this world government would take away freedoms and rights, making everyone controlled and monitored.
Such helicopters have strangely enough almost exclusively been seen in USA.
Illustration from ArtStation.com
“Pizza gate”
In the span of a few weeks, a false rumour that Hillary Clinton and her top aides were involved in various crimes snowballed into a wild conspiracy theory that they were running a child-trafficking ring out of a Washington pizza parlor, the New York Times reports.
The “Pizza gate” conspiracy theory claims that the United States and the world are run by a secret elite of paedophile power figures in the Democratic Party. In the story, these are said to hold children captive underground, sexually abuse them and drink their blood. This has led to demonstrations at which supporters carried posters such as “#Save the children” and “Stop child trafficking”.
Newsweek reported that American mothers were led to believe they were supporting the fight against child abuse by supporting Q-anon under the hashtag “#SaveTheChildren.”
This false story seems to have triggered a misplaced protection instinct. This wandering story has also directed attention away from the organisation Save the Children, and its important and tireless work against real abuse of children and for children’s rights, for over a hundred years.
This conspiracy theory also led to man, armed with an assault rifle, to enter a pizza restaurant firing shots, but he soon found out that there was no basement and no children in the restaurant.
He surrendered after the episode and almost immediately apologised, saying he had made an “incredibly ill-advised decision” to try to save endangered children. The attacker said in the court that “The intel on this wasn’t 100 percent”, reported the New York Times.
BBC describes how the story was spread from the social media platform 4chan to the alt-right Reddit and from there into the mainstream Internet.
As shown in chapter 5, a similar conspiracy theory with anti-Semitic content about Jews allegedly practicing ritual murder to secure the blood of christian children was launched in the Nazi-controlled weekly Der Stürmer in 1939.
Q-anon and “The deep state”
Conspiracy theories affect people that are unaware that they are exposed to manipulation, and therefore are easily misled. But the “Q-anon” conspiracy theory says predicts that the “truth” will be known. The Great Norwegian Encyclopaedia explains that the conspiracy theory Q-anon supposedly comes from an anonymous online profile, “Q”, which is claimed to have high security clearance. “Q” reveals a criminal conspiracy, mainly by Democrats, in the state apparatus: “the deep state”. This conspiracy will, it is suggested, be revealed through “The Storm”. “The Storm” is when Donald Trump will come forward with what he knew, arrest the guilty and overthrow “The deep state”.