Hey all, it's been a while. Life has been hectic, and I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few months back and I have been busy trying to deal with that.
I really like reading about people's conspiracy theory pasts because I like to see if there are any patterns between everyone's story and my own personal story. I agree with some of the things mentioned in this thread, it seems that some "risk factors" for becoming a conspiracy theorist are things like:
1. Lack of education in the area of the conspiracy theory (lots of people are smart, but no one is educated in everything)
2. Greater distrust of authority, government, the official story...etc.
3. Not enough introspection
- This was big for me, personally. I never went fully down the rabbit hole because I was always concerned about good reasoning, logical fallacies, and cognitive dissonance. However, I did explain away/dismiss things that didn't quite add up with things like "Oh, this area is not well researched" or "Not many people know about this, so it is difficult to disprove it" etc. I also wasn't totally aware of when I was using logical fallacies.
4. Belief that most things in the world are black and white, inability to see shades of grey and complexities...randomness.
5. Possibly wanting to protect a belief in the metaphysical, spiritual
- In my own experience, and in posts I've read, it seems possible that people can protect their belief in conspiracy because it fuels their belief that the unknown is special/crazy/extraordinary instead of possibly bland. You can see this when people say things like "Oh well, there are so many things science doesn't know or understand so how can you just discount *insert conspiracy theory*". To me, that signifies a sort of protection in the belief of the extraordinary, which helps protect spiritual/religious beliefs. I don't have anything against the spiritual or religious, I identify as agnostic when it comes down to it, but this is something I've noticed that happened to me when I was into CTs.
6. Needing a convenient explanation for things that neatly ties up the unexplainable in the context of a worldview
- The world is a scary and unpredictable place. Getting ulcerative colitis, a disease in which there is no cure and so few people get it, has made me come to terms with randomness in the world. A few years ago, it may have been much easier to deal with the idea that big pharma or the FDA suppresses cures, wants to make people sick to make money, are all composed of a group of homogenous, evil people who never get sick, know of all the cures already, and just want to keep us all sick and on drugs. This would have at least made me feel some control over the situation because the cure may be out there, the cure may be really simple, and the only reason I got it was because big pharma created an environment in which everyone gets sick. Comforting at first, but to keep that belief going requires a lot of time and energy in seedier parts of the internet, and instead of dealing with my disease, I can see myself spiraling into unhappiness and depression because big pharma doesn't want me to feel better. However, in the long term, coming to terms with the seeming randomness of terrible life events is much healthier, and I think an approach rooted much more in personal resilience and strength. That's another topic, though.
These are just some of the things I've noticed, and hopefully the points are condensed down. Lots of good insight in this thread. To reach the most people, it is very important to know what you're dealing with. Ultimately I think it's not about "winning" a conversation, but helping loved ones and also those who are open to see them out of potentially dangerous and debilitating views. However, if the belief doesn't seem to be harmful to them or others around them, then when it comes to family, I think leaving it alone can often times be better.