The Growth of Conspiracism in Society

By: Abby Percy

With the 2020 presidential and Congressional Elections approaching, it is important to make sure that voters are educated on candidates and proposals prior to voting. With media varying depending on the source, it becomes very difficult to separate the factual and nonfactual information. The most intense use of misinformation is through the use of Conspiracism. Conspiracy theories come in many forms, including videos and films. Twitter and other platforms constantly restrict conspiracies, but they are very difficult to control. Conspiracies are a threat to our sanctity of media, and we must call on social media platforms to restrict the further spread of disinformation. With many apps such as Facebook refusing to make these consequential decisions, we must demand oversight from our government and other independent agencies.

Conspiracy theories are all around you especially in a time of a global pandemic and an intense election season between President Trump and Vice President Biden. You’ve probably heard someone speak of one or you’ve been exposed to many without even knowing. A conspiracy theory is made of misinformation and construed facts to make the theory sound probable. They make people believe completely false scenarios in order to change their view on a situation, like politics. A study has shown that people exposed to anti-government conspiracies are less likely to vote. The goal of a conspiracy is to make people feel powerless and play on people's fears or to produce false information that supports a specific group and targets another. “It is a powerful force, with the capacity to animate popular fury, to delegitimize political opposition, and to hijack government institutions.” This is a quote from “A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy” written by Nancy L. Rosenblum of Harvard University and Russell Muirhead of Dartmouth College.

Many popular conspiracies have become completely normalized on social media. Many skeptics and believers will make crazy accusations and to fit a political narrative. For example, a very popular conspiracy known as Pizzagate accuses former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and ex-President Bill Clinton of running a child sex trafficking ring out of hidden tunnels below Comet Ping Pong, a neighborhood pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. People have run with this idea and I have personally seen people on Tik Tok saying to look up “Save The Children”, a popular hashtag used by Pizzagate believers, in the app’s stickers feature and a picture of cartoon shrimp children eating pizza would appear in the corner. The “Save The Children” movement is prominent among the Qanon movement, a far-right conspiracy movement that believes “Satan-worshipping pedophiles” are running a global child trafficking ring and plotting against President Trump. Qanon is so dangerous that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has labeled the theories a domestic terrorist threat. When about the theory, President Trump refused to admit that the theory lacked any type of veracity. There are estimated millions of Qanon members active in the United States. A vehement believer of this certain theory went into the restaurant Comet Ping Pong to “rescue” children, only to find that there were no trafficked minors in the establishment. Theories like this that have been previously debunked are still believed to be true among many people. Hillary Clinton’s emails, Obama’s birth certificate, Trump and Ukraine, Deep State, Spygate, and Trump Tower Wiretapping are all very popular conspiracies that have supporters even though they have been proven preposterous.

Conspiracies have been able to grow in flourish in our new tech-filled environment. People, now more than ever, are paranoid and will act upon anything that seems emotion-provoking. Conspiracies are shared and reposted like a spreading wildfire. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement and a call to defund the police a video, regarding a black child dressed in a police uniform talking with local officers about how he wants to be them when he grows up, was shared by many locals in my town that had been restricted on Instagram. They were asking why it was restricted. I later learned that the post was created by Qanon to spread disinformation about the Black Lives Matter Movement. Many social media platforms have begun restricting content from Qanon linked accounts or started fact-checking certain posts containing misleading information. At this point you might be thinking, well if this misuse of information and use of misinformation causes so much chaos in society and daily life..why isn’t the government trying to prevent this? They can not currently do anything about it because it plays as an infringement on the public’s freedom of speech. Many colleges are researching the effects that this may have on society and how to better prevent it. For now, my best advice to you is to use your reliable sources wisely, it is best to stay in between left and right; if anything seems suspicious to you or isn’t factually backed up, do your own research before believing what you see.

Here is an interactive chart to help find a neutral source.