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[[File:White-Genocide paper..png|thumb|391x391px|A person promoting the "[[ | [[File:White-Genocide paper..png|thumb|391x391px|A person promoting the "[[White genocide|Great Replacement"]] conspiracy theory.]] | ||
A '''conspiracy theory''' is an attempted rationalization of an event or pattern of events through which a small yet powerful group of people coordinate to propagate a lie or act maliciously, often for the purpose of keeping their power. Conspiracy theories often reject commonly held knowledge or empirical data and rely on a number of cognitive biases to be believed in. Technically, whether or not something is a "conspiracy theory" has little bearing on whether or not it is true, as actual conspiracies can and do happen; however, the methodology of conspiracy theories is still flawed by their nature.<ref>{{Citation|author=Harambam, J., & Aupers, S.|year=2021|title=From the unbelievable to the undeniable: Epistemological pluralism, or how conspiracy theorists legitimate their extraordinary truth claims.|title-url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549419886045|pdf=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1367549419886045|doi=10.1177/1367549419886045|trans-lang=English}}</ref> | A '''conspiracy theory''' is an attempted rationalization of an event or pattern of events through which a small yet powerful group of people coordinate to propagate a lie or act maliciously, often for the purpose of keeping their power. Conspiracy theories often reject commonly held knowledge or empirical data and rely on a number of cognitive biases to be believed in. Technically, whether or not something is a "conspiracy theory" has little bearing on whether or not it is true, as actual conspiracies can and do happen; however, the methodology of conspiracy theories is still flawed by their nature.<ref>{{Citation|author=Harambam, J., & Aupers, S.|year=2021|title=From the unbelievable to the undeniable: Epistemological pluralism, or how conspiracy theorists legitimate their extraordinary truth claims.|title-url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549419886045|pdf=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/1367549419886045|doi=10.1177/1367549419886045|trans-lang=English}}</ref> | ||
Conspiracy theory often attempts to give the government/state an independent character, divorced from [[class struggle]]. As noted by [[Lenin]] in his seminal work, [[Library:Vladimir Lenin/The state and revolution|The State and Revolution]]<ref>{{Citation|author=Lenin|title=The State and Revolution|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Vladimir_Lenin/The_state_and_revolution|quote=On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty-bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, “correct” Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes. According to Marx, the state could neither have arisen nor maintained itself had it been possible to reconcile classes. From what the petty-bourgeois and philistine professors and publicists say, with quite frequent and benevolent references to Marx, it appears that the state does reconcile classes. According to Marx, the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation of “order”, which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the conflict between classes. In the opinion of the petty-bourgeois politicians, however, order means the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another; to alleviate the conflict means reconciling classes and not depriving the oppressed classes of definite means and methods of struggle to overthrow the oppressors.}}</ref> | Conspiracy theory often attempts to give the government/state an independent character, divorced from [[class struggle]].<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Lorenzo|newspaper=Popaganda|title=Chomsky vs. Parenti, part 2: "Conspiracy Theorism"|date=2016-05-31|url=https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/part-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531193908/https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/part-2/|archive-date=2016-05-31|retrieved=2025-11-12|quote=[I]t’s possible for investigations rooting out “conspiracies” to go wildly wrong. This is what happened in the case of Marcel Lehel, the Romanian better known as the hacker “Guccifer.” Guccifer gained illicit access to the private online accounts of Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, and George W. Bush, amongst many others. As he was reading then-Secretary of State Clinton’s personal emails, many exchanged with the CIA on the subject of Libya, Guccifer was looking for evidence of Illuminati connections. In Guccifer’s case, the bad conspiracism was blinding him to the valid conspiracism—he was watching the regime change-sausage get made, and all he could see was a non-existent cabal. This is an object lesson in the dangers of attributing blame to one set of actors in contravention of existing evidence. The most insidious such theory in history is likely anti-Semitism: an idea that attributes the predatory behavior of a capitalist ruling class to a group that has been victimized throughout history, namely Jews. The perversion of class-based analysis earned anti-Semitism the nickname “the socialism of fools,” and similar tropes pop up in many instances. Any time that blame is taken off the ruling class and diverted onto a set of bad apples is an example of bad theorizing[.]}}</ref> As noted by [[Lenin]] in his seminal work, [[Library:Vladimir Lenin/The state and revolution|The State and Revolution]], governments do not have independent character or agency. They are byproducts of the conflict in-between and [[Contradiction|inability]] to [[Harmony(chinese philosophy)|harmonize]] the differences of the [[Class|classes]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Lenin|title=The State and Revolution|title-url=https://en.prolewiki.org/wiki/Library:Vladimir_Lenin/The_state_and_revolution|quote=On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty-bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, “correct” Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes. According to Marx, the state could neither have arisen nor maintained itself had it been possible to reconcile classes. From what the petty-bourgeois and philistine professors and publicists say, with quite frequent and benevolent references to Marx, it appears that the state does reconcile classes. According to Marx, the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation of “order”, which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the conflict between classes. In the opinion of the petty-bourgeois politicians, however, order means the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another; to alleviate the conflict means reconciling classes and not depriving the oppressed classes of definite means and methods of struggle to overthrow the oppressors.}}</ref> | ||
[[Fascism|Fascists]] and [[reactionaries]] are the biggest believers in conspiracy theories (of any kind) which is a way of blaming the difficulties of [[capitalism]] on other causes, usually minority groups. In the past, conspiracy theories have been used to justify large atrocities, such as [[genocide]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Douglas, Karen M.; Uscinski, Joseph E.; Sutton, Robbie M.; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Nefes, Turkay; Ang, Chee Siang; Deravi, Farzin|year=2019|title=Understanding Conspiracy Theories|title-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12568|pdf=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pops.12568|isbn=0162-895X|doi=10.1111/pops.12568|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Indeed, there is a link between conspiracy theories and fascist rhetoric, best exemplified by the "reptilians" conspiracy theory. One reason why right-wingers are prone to conspiracy theories is because they have an [[Elite theory|elitist]] view of history, where events are caused by autonomous human agents with power, and therefore write off mass movements as having some kind of secret elite origin.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Michael E. Acuña|newspaper=Common Ruin|title=The Origins and Ideological Function of Cultural Marxism|date=2015-01-13|url=https://commonruin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/the-origins-and-ideological-function-of-cultural-marxism-revised.pdf|quote=As a consequence of the right’s elitist conception of history, conspiracy theories abound in conservative historiography and social analyses when events develop in a manner contrary to their economic and/or cultural preferences. This is especially so on the fringes of the right, among its various fascistic and religious fundamentalist sects. Whether it be a cabal of malicious Zionists seeking to subvert gentile societies in order to achieve racial hegemony, or secular humanists unwittingly fulfilling the antichrist’s unholy objectives through the promotion of nonreligious educational curricula, conservative sociology is fundamentally based upon autonomous human agents directing the course of history. This applies equally to when society happens to be in accord with the values conservatives espouse: the institutional hierarchy is thought to be occupied by men of principle in these instances.}}</ref> | [[Fascism|Fascists]] and [[reactionaries]] are the biggest believers in conspiracy theories (of any kind) which is a way of blaming the difficulties of [[capitalism]] on other causes, usually minority groups. In the past, conspiracy theories have been used to justify large atrocities, such as [[genocide]].<ref>{{Citation|author=Douglas, Karen M.; Uscinski, Joseph E.; Sutton, Robbie M.; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Nefes, Turkay; Ang, Chee Siang; Deravi, Farzin|year=2019|title=Understanding Conspiracy Theories|title-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pops.12568|pdf=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pops.12568|isbn=0162-895X|doi=10.1111/pops.12568|trans-lang=English}}</ref> Indeed, there is a link between conspiracy theories and fascist rhetoric, best exemplified by the "reptilians" conspiracy theory. One reason why right-wingers are prone to conspiracy theories is because they have an [[Elite theory|elitist]] view of history, where events are caused by autonomous human agents with power, and therefore write off mass movements as having some kind of secret elite origin.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Michael E. Acuña|newspaper=Common Ruin|title=The Origins and Ideological Function of Cultural Marxism|date=2015-01-13|url=https://commonruin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/the-origins-and-ideological-function-of-cultural-marxism-revised.pdf|quote=As a consequence of the right’s elitist conception of history, conspiracy theories abound in conservative historiography and social analyses when events develop in a manner contrary to their economic and/or cultural preferences. This is especially so on the fringes of the right, among its various fascistic and religious fundamentalist sects. Whether it be a cabal of malicious Zionists seeking to subvert gentile societies in order to achieve racial hegemony, or secular humanists unwittingly fulfilling the antichrist’s unholy objectives through the promotion of nonreligious educational curricula, conservative sociology is fundamentally based upon autonomous human agents directing the course of history. This applies equally to when society happens to be in accord with the values conservatives espouse: the institutional hierarchy is thought to be occupied by men of principle in these instances.}}</ref> On the other hand, accusations of conspiracy theorism may be used against those on the left and/or outside the [[imperial core]] who use inductive reasoning to discuss [[covert action]] or make systemic critiques, which cannot be done without the use of some induction, categorically excluding them from "reasonable" and "moderate" discussion.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Web citation|author=Lorenzo|newspaper=Popaganda|title=Conspiracy Facts|date=2014-12-26|url=https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/conspiracy-facts/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919191033/https://lorenzoae.wordpress.com/2014/12/26/conspiracy-facts/|archive-date=2015-09-19|retrieved=2025-11-12}}</ref> | ||
== History == | == History == | ||
Revision as of 05:44, 13 November 2025
A conspiracy theory is an attempted rationalization of an event or pattern of events through which a small yet powerful group of people coordinate to propagate a lie or act maliciously, often for the purpose of keeping their power. Conspiracy theories often reject commonly held knowledge or empirical data and rely on a number of cognitive biases to be believed in. Technically, whether or not something is a "conspiracy theory" has little bearing on whether or not it is true, as actual conspiracies can and do happen; however, the methodology of conspiracy theories is still flawed by their nature.[1]
Conspiracy theory often attempts to give the government/state an independent character, divorced from class struggle.[2] As noted by Lenin in his seminal work, The State and Revolution, governments do not have independent character or agency. They are byproducts of the conflict in-between and inability to harmonize the differences of the classes.[3]
Fascists and reactionaries are the biggest believers in conspiracy theories (of any kind) which is a way of blaming the difficulties of capitalism on other causes, usually minority groups. In the past, conspiracy theories have been used to justify large atrocities, such as genocide.[4] Indeed, there is a link between conspiracy theories and fascist rhetoric, best exemplified by the "reptilians" conspiracy theory. One reason why right-wingers are prone to conspiracy theories is because they have an elitist view of history, where events are caused by autonomous human agents with power, and therefore write off mass movements as having some kind of secret elite origin.[5] On the other hand, accusations of conspiracy theorism may be used against those on the left and/or outside the imperial core who use inductive reasoning to discuss covert action or make systemic critiques, which cannot be done without the use of some induction, categorically excluding them from "reasonable" and "moderate" discussion.[2][6]
History
The term "conspiracy theory" has been in use since the 1860s but was largely revived after Statesian President John F. Kennedy's assasination.[7] Conspiracies have existed throughout history, e.g. when the tobacco industry conspired to downplay or even cover the effects of their products on health.[8] The difference between a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory is that the latter requires someone to spread the rumor. As such, a conspiracy theory may very well turn out to be true eventually.
List of false conspiracy theories
Flat Earth
Flat earth is the disproved idea that the Earth is in the shape of a flat disk with a ring of ice on its exterior. Furthermore, they believe that gravity is merely caused by the earth constantly accelerating upwards. Those who believe in this idea often also believe other conspiracy theories such as the idea of the Moon landing hoax due to the fact that should the Earth be flat, the pictures of the Earth from the Moon would have to have been falsified.[citation needed]
Fluoridation
Fluoridation refers to the conspiracy theory that the addition of fluoride to the public water supply is intended for mind control purposes or for the benefit of pharmaceutical companies as fluoride makes people sick.[citation needed] The reason some cities add fluoride to their water is because of its health benefits on teeth,[9] though some countries have stopped adding fluoride as the delivery mechanism (ingestion in the body) may not provide the desired effects as revealed by later studies.[10]
Great Replacement
See main article: Great Replacement
The Great Replacement is a conspiracy theory claiming that immigrants from Latin America and Africa will replace white people as the majority of the population in the imperial core. Fox News host Tucker Carlson has promoted this conspiracy theory.[11]
New World Order
The New World Order is an umbrella term for many conspiracy theories which surround a 'secret powerful government'. This correlates with the term 'deep state'. A popular conspiracy theory is the Illuminati, which was the name of a real secret society in the 18th century, but which conspiracy theorists wrongly claim still exists.[12]
QAnon
QAnon is a 4chan-based conspiracy theory claiming that Statesian billionaire Donald Trump is saving the USA from a cabal of Satanic pedophiles led by the Democratic Party.[13]
Russiagate
See main article: Russiagate
Russiagate is a conspiracy theory that the Russian Federation was responsible for Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election when it was actually caused by the slavery-based electoral college.[14]
Reptilians
Antisemite and fascist David Icke in his book Children of the Matrix was the first to promote the theory that some of the world's leaders and celebrities are actually shape-shifting reptilians, or lizard people, taking the shape of humans so as to embed themselves in society and direct it from these positions of power. His theory has parallels with older antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as that Jewish people control banks, entertainment etc. forming a shadowy cabal, or that they were depicted in propaganda posters as having lizard-like features (likely itself originating from the original sin in the Bible).
Staged moon landing
List of conspiracy theories that may be true
JFK assassination
See main article: John F. Kennedy#Assassination
According to the documentary JFK: Destiny Betrayed, the CIA assassinated John F. Kennedy as part of a coup to reassert the rule of the imperialist ruling class.[15]
9/11
See main article: September 11 attacks#Alleged U.S. government involvement
References
- ↑ Harambam, J., & Aupers, S. (2021). From the unbelievable to the undeniable: Epistemological pluralism, or how conspiracy theorists legitimate their extraordinary truth claims.. [PDF] doi: 10.1177/1367549419886045 [HUB]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 “[I]t’s possible for investigations rooting out “conspiracies” to go wildly wrong. This is what happened in the case of Marcel Lehel, the Romanian better known as the hacker “Guccifer.” Guccifer gained illicit access to the private online accounts of Hillary Clinton, Colin Powell, and George W. Bush, amongst many others. As he was reading then-Secretary of State Clinton’s personal emails, many exchanged with the CIA on the subject of Libya, Guccifer was looking for evidence of Illuminati connections. In Guccifer’s case, the bad conspiracism was blinding him to the valid conspiracism—he was watching the regime change-sausage get made, and all he could see was a non-existent cabal. This is an object lesson in the dangers of attributing blame to one set of actors in contravention of existing evidence. The most insidious such theory in history is likely anti-Semitism: an idea that attributes the predatory behavior of a capitalist ruling class to a group that has been victimized throughout history, namely Jews. The perversion of class-based analysis earned anti-Semitism the nickname “the socialism of fools,” and similar tropes pop up in many instances. Any time that blame is taken off the ruling class and diverted onto a set of bad apples is an example of bad theorizing[.]”
Lorenzo (2016-05-31). "Chomsky vs. Parenti, part 2: "Conspiracy Theorism"" Popaganda. Archived from the original on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2025-11-12. - ↑ “On the one hand, the bourgeois, and particularly the petty-bourgeois, ideologists, compelled under the weight of indisputable historical facts to admit that the state only exists where there are class antagonisms and a class struggle, “correct” Marx in such a way as to make it appear that the state is an organ for the reconciliation of classes. According to Marx, the state could neither have arisen nor maintained itself had it been possible to reconcile classes. From what the petty-bourgeois and philistine professors and publicists say, with quite frequent and benevolent references to Marx, it appears that the state does reconcile classes. According to Marx, the state is an organ of class rule, an organ for the oppression of one class by another; it is the creation of “order”, which legalizes and perpetuates this oppression by moderating the conflict between classes. In the opinion of the petty-bourgeois politicians, however, order means the reconciliation of classes, and not the oppression of one class by another; to alleviate the conflict means reconciling classes and not depriving the oppressed classes of definite means and methods of struggle to overthrow the oppressors.”
Lenin. The State and Revolution. - ↑ Douglas, Karen M.; Uscinski, Joseph E.; Sutton, Robbie M.; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Nefes, Turkay; Ang, Chee Siang; Deravi, Farzin (2019). Understanding Conspiracy Theories. [PDF] ISBN 0162-895X doi: 10.1111/pops.12568 [HUB]
- ↑ “As a consequence of the right’s elitist conception of history, conspiracy theories abound in conservative historiography and social analyses when events develop in a manner contrary to their economic and/or cultural preferences. This is especially so on the fringes of the right, among its various fascistic and religious fundamentalist sects. Whether it be a cabal of malicious Zionists seeking to subvert gentile societies in order to achieve racial hegemony, or secular humanists unwittingly fulfilling the antichrist’s unholy objectives through the promotion of nonreligious educational curricula, conservative sociology is fundamentally based upon autonomous human agents directing the course of history. This applies equally to when society happens to be in accord with the values conservatives espouse: the institutional hierarchy is thought to be occupied by men of principle in these instances.”
Michael E. Acuña (2015-01-13). "The Origins and Ideological Function of Cultural Marxism" Common Ruin. - ↑ Lorenzo (2014-12-26). "Conspiracy Facts" Popaganda. Archived from the original on 2015-09-19. Retrieved 2025-11-12.
- ↑ GRAPH MASSARA (2023-01-06). "‘Conspiracy theory’ coined long before JFK assassination" Associated Press.
- ↑ Neil Francey, Simon Chapman (2000-08-05). "“Operation Berkshire”: the international tobacco companies' conspiracy" National Library of Medicine.
- ↑ "Water Fluoridation and Cancer Risk". American Cancer Society.
- ↑ Maitreyee P. Unde, Raju Umaji Patil, Persis P. Dastoor (2018-12-22). "The Untold Story of Fluoridation: Revisiting the Changing Perspectives" National Library of Medicine.
- ↑ Brian Becker (2022-05-20). "Buffalo Massacre Aftermath: Mainstream Media Still Validating Racist 'Replacement Theory'" BreakThrough News. Archived from the original on 2022-09-30. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
- ↑ Fred Kelly (2024-09-26). "What is the Illuminati conspiracy theory?" The Week. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
- ↑ Raul Diego (2020-10-06). "From British Israelism to the Miami Model: What’s Behind QAnon’s 2020 Resurgence?" MintPress News. Archived from the original on 2021-10-16. Retrieved 2022-08-08.
- ↑ Brian Becker (2018-04-07). "Past a point of no return: “Russiagate” and the reorientation of U.S. imperialism" Liberation News. Archived from the original on 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
- ↑ John Potash (2022-07-26). "New Four-Part Documentary “JFK: Destiny Betrayed” Leaves No Doubt That JFK Was Assassinated as Part of CIA Coup" CovertAction Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-06-23.