We Americans love a good story, and nowhere is this more evident than in how we accept and cling to a juicy conspiracy theory. The more important and newsworthy the event, the more grand and abundant are the conspiracy theories that emerge and grab people’s attention. Perhaps the granddaddy of all conspiracy-generating events was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Those promulgating one wild theory after another went hog wild.
Why these theories get started is not hard to discern. Those peddling them usually have a financial and/or political interest in doing so. But why do we Americans fall for them?
There are a number of reasons why we suspend our common sense, buy in to some of these conspiracy theories and even take to spreading them ourselves. For one thing, they almost always have a modicum of “truthiness” surrounding them so as to confer at least a possibility of being true. Also, it is like gossip. Passing these theories on to our friends, and to those with whom we argue politics, is provocative and for some, just plain fun. When the most widely accepted reason or account of something does not align with our gut instincts of what happened, we look for something that does.
When the source of the conspiracy theory is none other than the president of the United States, the notion quickly takes on a life of it own. Case in point is Donald Trump’s so-called “deep state” conspiracy that he says exists to take him down, now encapsulated in his new mantra, “Obamagate." It is meme-worthy, attention-grabbing, sensational and untrue. Some segments of the public lap it up and pass it on to others. Those of us among the intellectual elite, some say intellectual snobs, can laugh it off as being absurd. But these conspiracy theories have the power, on the margins of society, to impact people’s beliefs and hence their behavior. That’s why they really do matter, and that is exactly what Trump is counting on.
— Ken Derow, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Note from KBJ: Ken Derow, a certified loon and Trump hater, hopes the Obamagate theory is untrue, but he doesn't know that it's untrue. We're going to find out whether it's true; the investigation is in the early stages. What we do know is that the Left's conspiracy theory, namely, that Donald Trump colluded with Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 election, is false. Why don't you write a letter about that one, Ken? And by the way, there really are conspiracies. Therefore, some conspiracy theories are true. Remember the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln? What happened to the conspirators? If I were Barack Obama, Joe Biden, James Comey, John Brennan, or James Clapper, I'd be sweating bullets right now.
