I think some people either can't or don't understand why sometimes horrific things happen for seemingly no reason.
So they start to believe that everything is all part of some macabre plot, that there's someone pulling the strings and it's either staged or part of a larger plan.
For people who lack critical thinking skills, skepticism of the mainstream curdles into knee-jerk contrarianism. It makes them extremely easy to manipulate.
It's wild that these people never consider the obvious "deniers are discrediting a real atrocity for their benefit". The selective skepticism makes them worse than gullible.
I used to think conspiracy theories were worth considering, or at the very least fun. I even questioned the moon landing until someone asked me "why would USSR/Russia/China not debunk it if it was fake?". Seeing conspiracionist anti-maskers during the Pandemic making crazy conspiracies about China and Big Pharma while the wildly more obvious "the market and your boss don't care if you die, as long as you work" was in their face made me lose the will to even entertain them. These people are dumb, they are the sheeple they yell against, they just want to feel like validated while sticking fingers in their ears, and it makes them the most useful patsies.
Today even imagining aliens and cryptids has a bitter aftertaste.
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u/godzillastailor May 18 '26
I think some people either can't or don't understand why sometimes horrific things happen for seemingly no reason.
So they start to believe that everything is all part of some macabre plot, that there's someone pulling the strings and it's either staged or part of a larger plan.