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By Andrew Lee (he/him)
Last week, Trump stoked conspiracy theories that the January 6th death of Ashli Babbitt as she broke into a Capitol Building hallway had more to it than it seemed. “They know who shot Ashli Babbitt. They’re protecting that person,” said Trump. “I have heard also that it was the head of security of a certain high official, a Democrat” and not, as evidence suggests, a police officer (ABC).
Every death is a tragedy, but if you’re breaching your country’s seat of government by force, you should understand that your life may be at risk. It is unfortunate but unsurprising that Capitol Police shot an insurrectionist. No nefarious conspiracy is necessary to explain this tragedy.
Trump’s remarks are but one of a number of conspiracy theories in American political life. There’s a viral video making the rounds concerning a purported Muslim/Satanic child sex trafficking ring (Rolling Stone). This is related to the QAnon theory that President Trump is battling an international cabal of Satanic cannibalistic pedophiles. QAnon supporters were among those besides Babbitt on January 6th (ABC News). Others are now running in local elections around the country (Modesto Bee).
Conspiracy thinking is also entering traditionally left-leaning spaces. A significant group of yoga practitioners, reiki healers, and New Age psychics now loudly uphold anti-vaccine, COVID-denialist, and QAnon beliefs (L.A. Times). Illuminati theories about an all-powerful international secret society can appeal to both conservatives and those on the left skeptical of state and corporate power (Vox).
Conspiracy theories are corrosive. It cuts people off from their communities, leading them down internet rabbit holes accompanied only by other true believers. Conspiracy theories can lead their believers to do terrifying things, like bringing a gun into a D.C. pizza shop to free children in a non-existent child sex ring (Salon). Though conspiracy theories can appear outlandish, they’re dangerous enough that we should confront them head-on.
This is made more challenging by the fact that some of American history rivals the wackiest theories (The Guardian). The Central Intelligence Agency did in fact dose random American civilians with LSD, secretly observing their behavior to see if the drug could be used to brainwash prisoners (Time). A journalist at a major newspaper did report that the CIA started the crack epidemic by letting anticommunist paramilitaries fly crack cocaine into Los Angeles. That same journalist ultimately died by suicide (Sacramento Bee).
U.S. spy agencies actually financed everyone from abstract expressionist painters (BBC) to the Dalai Lama (NY Times). And oil executives did know about climate change in 1977, though they deceived the public for decades more (Scientific American).
Many of us have the sense that decisions are made outside our control. According to sociologist C. Wright Mills, a small, elite network from the same schools, churches, and fraternal organizations is able to almost exclusively “establish the governing policy agenda” in this country. “The public’s role in the policy making process in U.S. society is largely symbolic” (Psychology Today). A renowned social scientist’s analysis of American society doesn’t sound too far off from a conspiracy theory.
But real-life elite networks aren’t the Illuminati, because the powerful people in our society largely do not have to hide. C. Wright Mills didn’t have to sneak into secret underground lairs to compile his list of the American power elite: he analyzed publicly available data with academic rigor.
Though some criticism of billionaire George Soros is laden with repugnant antisemitism, it’s also true that his foundation funds pressure campaigns in 37 countries around the world (Inside Philanthropy), leading PBS to describe the philanthropist as “the only American citizen with his own foreign policy” (INCITE). Though the Pizzagate theory was 100% wrong, it is true that both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump were associates of child abuser Jeffrey Epstein (Daily Beast). And child sexual abuse is horrifyingly commonly, though most often committed not by some secret organization but by someone known to the child (U.S. DVA). Actual injustices become are harder to address when connected to nonsensical or bigoted false theories.
When we look at the real facts of unjustified concentrated power and wealth, we can build movements for social and economic justice to help undo them. But when we deceive ourselves into believing that it’s not garden-variety rich and powerful people but instead all-powerful, mystical secret societies of holographic alien reptiles who control our lives (MSN), coming together to actually make change seems futile. In the latter case, all we can do is dive deeper into learning about more and more conspiracies.
To actually make a better world, we have to reject conspiracy theories.
Key Takeaways
43% of white Americans say that they are “very confident” in their tap water, while only 24% of Black Americans and 19% of Hispanic Americans indicate the same degree of confidence.
Corporations are often allowed to bottle and resell municipal tap water at a high mark-up, skirting rules and regulations that disproportionately affect lower-income communities.
We need to mobilize around protecting the source of clean water, and center Indigenous communities who steward the land and waters.