A new analysis suggests that debunking conspiracy theories with facts is ineffective. Geoff Dancy, an associate professor of political science, argues that taking an empathetic approach is more effective than debunking conspiracy theories with facts. He shares tips from experts and those who used to believe conspiracy theories on how to avoid rows this festive season.
Conspiration theories are common but can be harmful to physical and mental health. Understanding the psychological needs that drive conspiracy theories is crucial before confronting them with facts. A new review finds that only some methods to counteract conspiracy beliefs are effective.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the spread of misinformation, which is considered self-insulating beliefs in conspiracies. Conspiracy theories can impact public and personal health, democratic citizenship, and even political issues. Researchers have shown that artificial intelligence (AI) could be a valuable tool in the fight against conspiracy theories by designing chatbots that can identify holes in their logic.
A CMU philosophy professor specializes in conspiracy theories and offers advice on how to talk to relatives who traffic in them. By understanding the psychological needs that drive conspiracy theories and using empathy, critical thinking, and social norms, individuals can better understand and confront these beliefs.
📹 How to Argue with Conspiracy Theorists (And Win)
So you’ve gone home for Christmas, and as you’re sitting down to eat dinner, your “crazy” uncle starts talking about how …
📹 Why You Can Never Argue with Conspiracy Theorists | Argument Clinic | WIRED
Alex Jones is not the only guy making a career out of conspiracy theories. They are everywhere on the internet and here’s why …
I can get behind having sympathy for conspiracy theorists up until they are theorizing about tragedies being false flags and/or harassing victims’ loved ones. Like my fiancé’s brother was at the finish line of the Boston marathon and had (luckily) just started to walk off to find a friend when the bombs went off, one of his friends had to have a limb amputated. My fiancé and I were supposed to go with him but my fiancé was on leave and unexpectedly had to go back to his base early the day before. So I can’t even imagine what people like the parents of the Sandy Hook victims went through after being harassed and told their grief was acting. I don’t know, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m all about being compassionate and understanding especially to people who are clearly finding something in conspiracy theories that aren’t being fulfilled elsewhere in their life. I just think there’s a line being crossed in some instances that deserve more condemnation than compassion as a response.
I was hoping that this would help me with dealing with my mother, who believes mostly harmless conspiracy theories except for the ones around Covid and vaccines. Sadly, as I went through this I realized that I’ve tried all this. Same with my older brother. And as I thought about it more and more, I realized the issue for me personally is less about the conspiracy itself and more on my mother’s stubbornness. Some people are just too prideful to admit when they’re wrong.
Flat-earther- ‘Send me photos of space things, that I may claim them to be photo-shopped!’ I describe Eratosthenes’s experiment, I take into account your distrust of secondhand evidence and spell out how you can repeat this experiment and various other ways to get firsthand evidence of reality. Flat-earther- ‘I ignore everything you say, I repeat my demand that you send me photos of space things, that I may claim them to be photo-shopped!’ The problem with many conspiracy theorists is that they are intellectually dishonest, they expect and want you to treat them with ridicule so they can re-affirm their rightness and other’s unworthiness. If you don’t play into this they may try to force you into hostility by lying to you and ridiculing you and various similar sophistry games. I have spoken with an earnest conspiracy-believer before, who was receptive to polite conversation and willing to alter their positions upon receiving new information or insight that they lacked, but I warn against assuming that a conspiracy-theorist operates on good faith.
You wanna know why people start with compassion and end up angry at conspiracy theorists? Because it burns them out. Imagine hearing your friends/family talk about these things everyday, trying to convince them otherwise while resulting in little progress, and in the end, giving up because it is being taxing on you… It is difficult to convince a smart person that they are wrong, but almost impossible to convince an ignorant one
Minor correction: The Tuskegee Study didn’t infect the subjects with syphilis. They selected 600 poor black farmers in Alabama, of whom 399 had syphilis. They were never informed of their syphilis diagnosis and were not provided with treatment over the 40 years of the study, even though effective treatments had become available within 15 years. By the end of the study, 128 subjects had died from syphilis or its complications, and 60 or more family members and partners had been infected.
I appreciate that you mentioned that conspiracy theorists are often very intellectually curious. They’re not stupid, but they do have incomplete information a lot of the time, and the conclusions they draw are often fueled by an extremely justified suspicion of people in power. My brother, for example, did poorly in school and never really achieved a basic level of reading comprehension. He became a conspiracy theorist for a while, and the reason was because he was curious about the world. He would have been perfectly capable of understanding the more mainstream answers to his questions, but he didn’t have access to those sources most of the time, and even worse, he didn’t have the tools to understand them well. I managed to convince him the earth is round, but it took a long, long time, and unraveling a bunch of other ideas first. What ended up happening was when he brought me an argument I would meet with it on it’s merits, like soft-core debunking. He eventually learned how to critique these arguments on his own. The problem here was not my brother on his own, it was the myriad ways the education system failed him, and the fact that we actually do live in a dystopian hellscape.
Your article is kind, and there are conspiracy theories that are not a threat. I don’t care if someone believes the world is flat. But I do care about “Jewish space lasers” because that type of theory leads to solutions I don’t care for. You know, the Final kind of solutions. As leftists, I’d like to see us pick our battles carefully so we can focus on theory groups that can actually cause damage.
This website is a gem. Glad I stumbled upon it. I feel almost offended that such a well produced article has only 5000 views. Anyways, this article really helped me realise that I’m a bit of a jerk. I do struggle with being condescending towards people I disagree with. I assume that my position is the most rational and have a hard time understanding other people’s views. It’s really hard to get rid of this habit. I’ll try my best in the future to be more understanding and compassionate
I find this really interesting, as some one who had an undiagnosed personality disorder for the majority of their life. One where I could be considered delusional on a regular basis. Truly believing that people were out to get me. But, like a conspiracy theorist, the delusion is really just how I incorrectly adapted to specific stressors. Uncertainty, feeling like I wasn’t being listened to, etc. Someone just telling me that I was wrong and that I needed to snap out of it only made the situation worse. It made me feel that my feelings were wrong and that I was bad for having them. It made me more distrustful of people and I doubled down my maladaptive behaviors. Finally having someone validate my emotions and thoughts in the form of Dialectic Behavior Therapy was life changing. And honestly, very similar to what you are recommending here. DBT is about acknowledging that the feeling is valid and real – and working on ways to manage them more effectively. Here, you are acknowledging that their belief is valid and (secretly) guiding them to more effective beliefs (science). I am in no way comparing conspiracy theorists to those with personality disorders. I just wanted to highlight how validation and compassion are better ways to help people than simply telling them that they are wrong.
This is a tough one. I agree that a bit of compassion can go a long way towards making things better, but also many of us have been hurt by friends and family members who believe in conspiracy theories. I don’t know if getting someone to understand that real human beings built the pyramids is worth exposing myself to potential further abuse.
A year too late, but my good friend, arguably at one point best friend, has fallen down the rabbit hole to the point where I am contemplating, wether I should stop being friends with them. They are incredibly smart, graduating with a 1,0 Masters degree (it’s the best possible mark that one can get in our college system) and did so while juggling multiple jobs at once. I have massive respect for them and they have been at one point my motivation to push further. However, ever since the demic started they have been going nuts. It started with gradual side remarks like being unhappy with the government, but this was a very common occurrence and not really surprising. They did a shoddy job on doing what they are paid for. Suddenly they started with talking about a worldwide conspiracy, that governments are trying to poison us, and everything in between. They shy away (at least right now) from more radical stuff, but I do think that they are susceptive to it as well. They call themselves System critic, have defended Putin and now declare that Aluminum is poising our brains and the government has their hands in as well. I have been understanding for the duration of the demic and so forth, but they have dived to so far into it that they are incapable of talking about any other topic. Even their dating life has turned into a selection process and focuses mostly on who can fit their specific mold of conspiracy. I would have been okay with it, if it wasn’t for the unbearable amount of arrogance they are showing nowadays.
Sorry, I’m sure someone has probably already mentioned this in the comments, but it’s my understanding that the government did not give the Tuskegee participants syphilis, but rather did a whole host of (still incredibly unethical and abusive) things like not informing them of their diagnosis and/or lying to them that they were treating their syphilis when they weren’t (?)
I really appreciate this article, thank you. This is shameful to admit because I like to think of myself as a pretty smart person but it’s so easy to fall into these theories when there’s something pulling you in. I’ve struggled with an eating disorder for most of my life and at its worst, I saw a lot of “breatharian” content online and it caught my interest. To most people, the whole idea would sound absolutely coconuts, but for me, when I watch stories of people who fell prey to that cult, it’s “there but for the grace of God” because that honestly could have been me so easily. I’m not saying this to excuse anyone, especially people who push straight-up hateful conspiracy theories and hurt people, but we’re all susceptible to conspiracy thinking.
I was listening to this at work while cleaning bathrooms and got to the end of it and. i got an ad for a miracle cure sound frequency, and i didnt realize it was an ad bc i didn’t pull out my phone. I kept thinking “this is a really good joke to tack onto the end of a article about conspiracies” and then i pulled out my phone and saw it was an actual ad. oh my god
Sometimes when I notice that big amount of people have a worldview opposed to mine and that I found them obviously wrong, I feel very tempted in thinking they were manipulated by a conspiracy that is moving the strings. … but then I remember they tend to believe something similar about people like myself. It’s easy to just make up a conspiracy to invalidate other people’s opinions.
Excellent work! I very much like your thoughtfulness in presentation. Conspiracy Theories are born of a triad of fear, doubt, and curiosity. Fear and doubt are obvious, whereas curiosity is often forgotten as many see theorists as seeking easy answers to complicated or rather chaotic things. Skepticism of any system is fine, it’s when you become blind to the possibility that those presenting the common thread may be right that it becomes a problem. The common story is not always right, but assuming it is always wrong is also deeply flawed.
You did a good job of offering helpful advice without pretending that somehow this is an easy or simple problem to deal with, especially when so many people are literally dying as a result of conspiracy theories about Covid and geopolitical realities. We want to be compassionate and give people time but there are also lives at stake, so there is a tension between best practices and what seems morally acceptable. Most of the experts who address this issue seem to ignore that.
A few years back, I was falling into that rabbit hole and honestly, the thing that yanked me out of there, was shame. Shame, when I saw what ppl say and asking myself if I really want to be part of this group. I had to do the painful work of introspection on my own. Now I have to constantly remind myself that I’m not so different and fight hard to not slip into condescending realms when talking to or about conspiracy theorists. Thank you for this heartwarming article!
Over the past six-ish years, I’ve been perusal my family fall deeper and deeper into different conspiracies, and it……**hurts**. My oldest sister has always LOVED thinking about all of that, and i do have to mention that she believed in simulation theory (before it was even called that) like……20+ years ago as a kid, just because she thought like that. She’s gone REALLY far down some holes, though, and while she hasn’t said anything outright hateful–she’s ALWAYS prioritized curiosity over hate and understanding that everyone is different–she’s….. She’s not even butting up against flat-out Nazi shit, she’s sitting on it. She’s got her hands on the latch. She refuses all vaccines and pulled her kids from school because of mask mandates; she believes in the illuminati; she believes in the whole adrenachrome (sp?) thing; AND she’s pulling the rest of my family down into it. They talk about the Mandela effect as if it’s a real thing; I’ve noticed they’re WAY faster to believe hateful ideas pushed by conservative platforms (transness is a mental illness and all trans women are predators are two of the worst); they’ve also just become…..so much less sympathetic to other humans. I understand how they got there, though, so I’ll spend four to five hours AT A STRETCH arguing to try and make them understand why those beliefs are legitimately dangerous. They nod and say they get it, and then the next week they’re saying all the same things again, like we never even talked. And while my oldest sister hasn’t, some of the rest of my family has said some unbelievably hateful, dangerous shit–“don’t align yourself with the outsider,” “AIDS didn’t happen,” “i want to personally kill every person who tries to get an abortion,” “you need to conserve your cultural legacy (talking about mixed couples”.
Tbh the main reason I fell into conspiracies (back in 2012) was drugs and mental illness lol. I’m not discounting the other reasons at all though, this is a super interesting topic! I like your positive outlook and I strongly believe in respect as well I think conspiracy theories stop being okay when they hurt others or come from hatred/prejudice.
To explain how Conspiracy Theorists are intelligent I would generally compare with Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius Look at everything Wile E. Coyote has ever done. That shit required a LOT of thought to do that stupid stuff–well, sans his awesome Mat Paintings of Tunnels. I’m so glad that more people are able to recognise how great of a skilled painter Wile E. Coyote really is… I mean, not only making a Mat Painting–but a REALLY REALLY good one… and on the side of a cliff Everything Wile E. Coyote has a fatal flaw–but he spends so much time figuring out if he could do something, that he never asked if he “SHOULD do it”. To paraphrase Jeff Goldbloom a little bit there It essentially is a form of Intelligence trap, where the person’s own intelligence KEEPS them stuck. It is a common method Cults use to get members stuck in them. Rather than having an outside force keep them stuck in… they make it so their own mind is spinning its wheels and doing donuts. Which looks impressive–and damned feels good when you are doing it–but it isn’t particularly good for your car… brain… car-brain A good example of the Wile E. Coyote Supergenius effect would be Terry Davis. Dood is super freaking smart–and super capable… but he believes a lot of really dumb stuff. It isn’t because he is dumb… it is because he is intelligent enough to justify these dumb ideas. At least to himself. Creating all kinds of weird tales–all of which are to convince himself But… more people need to comprehend the Wile E.
Great article. Really covers a lot of the bases that seem to get missed in “how to combat conspiracism” articles. From personal experience, I’d argue that it’s pointless to even entertain the conspiracy arguments until you’ve built up a rapport. Conspiracy theories are built on a foundation of fear and mistrust. Until the person feels like they can not only trust but rely on you, their shields are up and they will pivot. The insidious part is seeing someone you are close to fall into these things. It makes it very difficult to step back and be somewhat objective. In some respects it’s easier to build a rapport with an acquaintance to argue them out of a conspiracy theory than it is with a close loved one. There’s less investment and fewer preconceptions about who a person “really is”. That said, given that the forces of capital have a vested interest in maintaining the systems which encourage conspiracism, I’m worried that things are only going to get worse for a while.
I believed in the Sandy Hook conspiracy theory. I had seen The Life of Adam, I was in high school, and I had just not wanted to believe that the event happened. It scared me that someone could just go and do that, and the excuse, that it didn’t happen, that it was just a plot by the left to try and push through gun control legislation, that made me able to dismiss my initial fears, and I very much hoped that the conspiracy was true, and for it to succeed, I was and still am in favor of heavily restrictive gun ownership legislation. I didn’t go and try to spread the belief, I didn’t harass the families into coming out with it, after all, if it came out the plot would be less likely to succeed, and I thought that if the conspiracy was not real, then the harassment was unforgivable. What finally brought me out of it, was when the 2017 Las Vegas shooting happened, and I heard the exact same arguments about this new shooting, and still no gun control legislation was pushed through. The plot just wasn’t happening, the cabal of crisis actors, false flag planners, all these people working hard to stage incidents to push through protective legislation, it wasn’t real. When I had believed Sandy Hook never happened, I don’t think anything someone said could have convinced me otherwise, but now I just look back and think “How was I so stupid and insensitive to believe that was fake?”, and it was down to my fear of random death caused by someone just deciding one day that was the day they were going to shoot someone.
A normal person may accept the possibility of a conspiracy because they recognize flaws in the official record of events and acknowledge that there could exist other explanations. The normal person accepts that “they don’t know” the true facts and are not definitive about the event. The conspiracy theorist outright rejects the official record of the events and is totally convinced, without factual evidence, that the official record is a lie. They have fully accepted that one of the other possible explanations for the event is true and beyond question. It is the conspiracy theorists insistence that they are right and they have the true answer is what pisses off normal people.
Couple sort of points: 1) I appreciate the fact you cite sources. Very good on you for that, so many of us can not be bothered. 2) Nice point that so many science education outlets are condescending, too often I need to include myself. If you want to terrify yourself, feel free to check out so many textbooks: the number of factual errors is horrifying – and exhausting to counter. 3) Currently not able to work as adjunct science instructor (intro Chemistry & Environmental Science), so I have run into this far too often. As a nominal scientist – I’ve got 50+ years of being a magnet for young earth creationists, chemtrail enthusiasts, flat earthers/moon landing denialists insisting that their model is “scientific” and therefor correct. Sorry – I get really tired of facing such or a regular basis when I have a classroom. 4) I wonder if you consider doing a piece on presentations something. One school I enjoyed working at emphasized presentations – which turned into a nightmare many times. Best example was a presentation on Tsunamis, which turned super convincing on a clip from a End Times movie, little child looking out the back car window at a 1km wave front about to drown the family. Sorry – that isn’t science, it was not useful information about a tsunami, it was just marketing saying tsunamis are bad (as in Satan bad, not destructive of human affairs bad) Anyway – basically excellent content in a very professional presentation – thankyou
For me, the biggest problem was how much the involvement of parents in conspiracy theories reflected on me. And I can’t just stop talking to them. And I can’t stop hearing what they have been forcibly pouring into my ears for several years. Believing in their theories they eventually began to embody them on us, on their children and with the current restrictions they have placed on us, I feel like my life is a bit ruined.
I’ve found that many people don’t really have like hard fast, identity creating relationships to the consipracies they believe. Like I’ve met people that believe there was a lot of government involvement on 911, but they don’t really care that much, so when I try to ask them about it, they admit they don’t really know much, but they’re always like “I mean, do you REALLY believe this, this and this is just a coincidence?” and I’m like “yeah…” and they look at me like I’m gullible. But they don’t really care enough to defend it, they don’t have strong opinions about what actually IS there, but about what ISN’T the case. It seems to be more about not accepting the more random and unexplainable aspects of society and considering there HAS to be some kind of malicious intent behind it. That’s my experience, at least.
I’m coming to the party late, and don’t know if this has been mentioned yet, but I have seen an extremely effective method called “Street Epistemology,” where you respectfully challenge how someone comes to believe what they believe and you don’t even address what it is or why, but how reliable their method is of determining what they believe to be true.
“…in the age of the internet, good ideas often get drowned out by theatrics. Memes that sound good will always be more convincing than well-reasoned but boring or heavy-handed arguments.” Maybe that’s why people like DeGrasse Tyson or groups like IFLS act the way they do, employing theatrics and memes to make their points.
Back when I was 12-13, my history class had to engage in a little bit of conspiracy theory. We were studying the JFK assassination and basically trying to figure out possible explanations that weren’t the official one. Some of them were pretty outlandish too. I enjoyed it too, mostly with the aspect of what was basically creative deduction from information that attempts to push you towards a specific answer.
While I do sympathize with conspiracy theorists, it hurts to hear some people think the Boston Marathon Bombing wasn’t real. One of my classmates was the cousin of the little boy who died, and I remember perusal the family mourn and him being absent from school for the funeral. It was a genuinely formative moment for me, and I also feel so much for my friend who lost a relative.
Actually the belief that the interests of the bourgeois are in direct contradiction to the interests of the proletariat is neither a conspiracy (since the rich are not conspiring among themselves, there are cliques but overall there are many factions even within their own class) nor a theory (it is literally a material observable fact) so I feel like considering it as such to make the argument is not a good call.
14:38 minor point, but a recent unredacted section of, I think I was his grand jury material, says that Steve Bannon did infact give internal polling data from the trump campaign to a contact for a Russian oligarch. Meaning this is no longer theory, it’s just fact. I still take your point. Just wanted to leave this minor note. Mostly to make myself feel better.
Amazing article. I work in construction so there’s a lot to try to sift through. I loved your pro-tip. A couple things I have found help in beyond what you’ve been doing is to always start on anything I can agree with. And I agree that you can’t abide stuff that is harmful, but you can agree upfront to disagree. It doesn’t shut down discourse but it also doesn’t roll over and allow them to have the default notion that they are right. Another thing is to acknowledge that we are being made to be divided intentionally and joke that the last thing ‘they’ want is for us to have a real conversation.
Great points. One nuance I’d like to add though is if we are being intellectually honest, we cannot automatically assume all “conspiracy theories” are bunk. However, starting with a null hypothesis of “all conspiracy theories are bunk” and testing this hypothesis with evidence, we can come to a more accurate view of the world (as most of the conspiracies would fail when examined with evidence).
From what I’ve seen, most conspiracy theorists suffer from a combination of a victim complex and lack of scientific literacy. If you explain why you believe that, say, vaccines don’t cause Autism, and then ask them why they do believe it, you might get somewhere. But also keep in mind that even when explaining your points clearly and respectfully, you might still get treated like a naïve child by the conspiracy theorist. Some of them are like that. Some of them may resort to petty insults (I’ve seen this from both conspiracy theorists and from the people arguing with them). You’ve got a 50-50, maybe 60-40 shot of them actually listening to your point of view (assuming that you fairly listened to their point of view). I’m stuck with ones who assume they know better than me just because they’re older and don’t really listen when I try to explain scientific phenomena that they don’t understand. But I think there’s hope for other people to see that maybe the Earth is round, and vaccines don’t cause Autism, covid is real, and the covid vaccine isn’t a mind control device.
I talk to a few conspiracy theorists on the internet to find out how they think. One of the main difficulties i experienced is that i have to adapt my language and not mention certain concepts as they would out me as the opposition or an enemy. I find it hard to get through to people when i cant use concepts that accurately describe reality or concepts with which to look at reality. The next problem i have is that those individuals cant describe their beliefs in a commonly accepted language either. The reasons for that are probably of a tribalistic nature.
I do agree that whoever believes in a conspiracy theory that’s not doing any harm, they should be treated with respect, but if not and they do harm others i think they should be called out, everyone has their own answers and ‘truths’ when It comes to the realm of the ideas, problem is when those ideas go against a group of people and can directly or indirectly put others in danger, that’s where i draw the line at least
I’ve made a habit of talking to conspiracy theorists. I start out just by being receptive and asking questions to try and figure out the weirdest stuff they believe, then once I think I have a good idea I start to speak with total confidence of shit i just made up to try to make their beliefs even more cursed.
I’m currently casually dating a flat earther & he’s a trip and a half. We’re hilarious because I brought a shirt to change into on our first meeting that says “you don’t get to be offended by science”. He didn’t tell me about the depth of his conspiracy theories until we were months in. But I have a degree in Neurobiology & Physiology, I attended medical school. I’ve become uncomfortable with the whole Jewish Cabal angle. Plus he fully flat out denies that numbers are real but also, in the same breath, will tell you how many things round to 666. Seriously? yeah, that’s 2/3 of something, let me introduce you to a really actually cool number like the natural log function. He has cute dogs and he taught me a thing my degree in Physiology somehow missed about my functioning nether regions. Anyhow, thanks for validating my old college try at getting through to him. My family have been less than understanding of the draw. He’s so smart! As you said. Production values are spectacular but I’m no YouTube critic. I’m here from the solidarity corner & halfway through your content. Best of luck, I’ll be perusal. In a not creepy way.
I was a 9/11 Truther for almost a decade, and the social group theory resonates with me as an explanation for my belief. The first time I saw a article supporting the conspiracy theory, it was shown to me by a teacher and mentor I loved. The more I got into it, the more special and enlightened I felt and the more I felt like part of a group of intellectuals willing to confront hard truths and ask uncomfortable questions in pursuit of the real facts. I felt like I was walking around with my eyes wide open and trying to get everyone else to open theirs before it was too late and something worse happened. I know it’s bunk now, but back then it felt like I had a moral imperative to help people see the truth that was hidden in plain sight.
This is a great article, but it occurred to me when you said (paraphrasing) “these are curious critical thinkers who run experiments” that none of the conspiracy theorists I know fit that description. None of them are flat earthers, all political, but they all just latch on to memes and regurgitate the rhetoric of others. None of what they say or do was earned through their own research or facts. They seemingly latched onto it because it simply supported their world view. How do you deal with these kinds of conspiracy theorists?
The frustrating thing I ran into was the merging of conspiracy theory with religion. Like, when the answer to “do you really think this many people could be this coordinated in this way for this long” is “yes, because they’re being commanded by the devil” then… I don’t really know where to go from there. My parents are evangelical Christians with a lot of conspiratorial beliefs and unfortunately there’s pretty widespread beliefs in their circles that yes, whole swaths of humanity are under the control of demons.
I love your presentation style. You are so kind and honest and well, easy to trust. I really hope that YouTube becomes something that really grows for you. You remind me a lot of PhilosophyTube and My Little Thought Tree. I absolutely adore your content. Also, your acting is fun. Alternate Timeline You was an awesome idea!
27:51 Thank you for this. Too many times I’ve had people I know who try to argue with conspiracy theorists with…completely wrong information. To them they thought they “knew” the truth but then they would repeat stuff that’s completely untrue or at the very least only half-true and suddenly get surprised when the conspiracy theorist in question calls them out on it. To them, having knowledge was more akin to a sport where some people were just BETTER than others at having information. That would lead them down their own rabbit holes that, while they had more truth to them than “the other side,” still falls under the same umbrella as being desperate for answers and not fully understanding or realizing the truth. At least, the closest we can come to a truth.
conspiracy theorists are so frustrating coz like Yeah there is a band of rich people who are against the interest of the poor and there is a system that lets them exploit you and your friends and then they stumble on the final step and say it’s the jews and not the billionares and corporation that lobby governments who exploit all the working class
in high school i was talking about the electoral college the way it sways power in elections, and that the politicians in control have some power over what’s passed and who’s chosen for leadership roles and a gym teacher (just happened to be in the room) asked me “do you identify as a conspiracy theorist?” as a jab at a 16 year old trying to have a discussion with him.
Loved the article personally. Kinda new to the website, the only other one I watched being the Grammarly one, but I love the content. The skit on this one was particularly entertaining to watch. 🙂 But back to the topic at hand. I feel that you hit the nail right on the head. Most conspiracy theorists are not silly or stupid at all. I confess, in my low times, I have been somewhat rude to them (all of this is with respect to the Flat Earth Society), but on second thought, it is true that they do have some of the qualities which make the best scientists, but are unfortunately misguided. Let’s just take the Flat Earth (abbreviating it to FE :P) people. How many of us “Round Earthers” actually believe in the roundness on the Earth not because we read it somewhere, but because we actually thought hard about it? FE people, on the other hand actually try to come to another conclusion (albeit a wrong one) based on thought experiments, or trusting their eyes, or so on. If anything, FErs have the ability to be curious, which many of us have taken for granted. And I also have been through the FE forums myself out of curiosity. Turns out, they did go through huge lengths to build their models. It’s not jargon; you would notice things amiss if you really scrutinize, but on the surface, it reads like plausible literature if you do not go in with a bias in the first place. Which is exactly why it is more important to engage them than rebuke them. If they went this far to establish their theory, they would (usually) be also willing to listen to criticism.
For people who can’t accept that their life is meaningless. Think of it this way. Imagine an ant. Not an ant colony, a single, solitary ant. She’s sitting on a railing, while you enjoy your lunch. You watch her. She’s not doing anything, really. She’s wandering around, aimlessly, without a real goal. You think it’s a little silly, but you ignore her. A few moments later, you’ve completely forgotten about her. Whether she bit you, stole a crumb of your food, or did absolutely nothing, it doesn’t matter. The same applies to you. Nobody remembers that embarrassing thing from seven years ago. Nobody will remember you some 70 years from now. Whether you leave an impact or not, it’s not gonna matter. Nobody will remember, one day. It doesn’t matter how you live your life. So live it however the fuck you want to.
I tried using these techniques to change the mind of my MLM aunt, but then she said I was a bourgeois counterrevolutionary revisionist, and that liberals get the bullet too. I haven’t given up, though – I’ve indulged her request that I partake in self-criticism and am studying the dialectical science of historical materialism.
The background music in the first couple of minutes, with the kinda overdriven sound, and the plucky archtop guitar, and the saw, all reminds me a whole lot of a band from like 15ish years ago called “Sketches of an Amorous Window” and it’s making me very nostalgic. It’s a good vibe. Did you just randomly find it on a royalty free music library, or did you record it or commission it yourself?
I really agree about your strategy of focusing on the bigger picture, as narrowing your focus and debunking individual aspects of their belief often from their point of view feels like they are being attacked, and they often spiral further into more extreme theories to defend themselves. A lot of times, just by asking, “Why would the big conspiring group do that?” you can really make them think and self-reflect. In particular, it seems that with the flat earth theory, there would be no justifiable reason to keep such a large group of people organized and constantly lying to the populous, and that asking about the broader cause would really help you without attacking them directly, since you’re planting a seed of doubt but still respectfully inquiring. Also to anyone that read this whole thing and is now going to keep on scrolling through the comments, have a nice day.
Your approach to this reminds me of That Dang Dad’s article about “The Dangers of Being Half Right.” Like yes, pharmaceutical companies are evil and terrible, and the medical community is full of dangerous paternalism and bigotry; however vaccines (and other evidence based things) still work. But one side sees the first part, which is true, but they throw out every conclusion based on this. It is difficult because these conversations often require nuances that are complicated to grapple with especially when two disparate ideas can be true. Drug companies are evil, but they produce vaccines et al which can be used for good.
I was in a bit of a weird situation. It technically wasn’t a conspiracy theory, but it functioned similarly. I grew up in Utah, in a city where nearly 90% of the population was part of the LDS church (Mormons). Funnily enough, I was the conspiracy theorist there, as I started to lose faith and want to leave the church. Having basically everyone I was close to being part of the church meant that I might lose many of the relationships I cherished if I went public about leaving the church. Still, as I got more exposed to the internet and scientific sources that don’t try to back up the church, I slowly started believing less and less in a god. Ever since I left, I’ve found it hard to think of the members as anything but scientifically illiterate zealots, just as many people treat conspiracy theorists. I’ve gotten better at it, and it’s been easier with people I see in person rather than online, but I really appreciate a article on how to be kind to those you don’t agree with.
I really liked this article and can see the merit in this approach – it’s how I’d want to be talked to if someone thought I was a conspiracy nut, after all. But I feel like it wasn’t discussed enough how many of these theories end up being antisemitic at their roots, or a gateway to it. Racism as well, but wow in my reading/viewing the antisemitism was pervasive. So I think it would also be useful for people to learn better how to recognize and combat that, if they want to get through to those sorts of people.
All we need to do is teach kids critical thinking skills and specifically how to avoid confirmation bias and easily half of these people would see the light. Most people will never get to the truth when their brains are wired in a way that isn’t effective at determining what is accurate or not and just look to constantly confirm their own biases.
This article is spot on. As a former conspiracy theorist who talks to their conspiracy theorist grandmother frequently about her beliefs, I’ve used these techniques and take her views seriously. There was one time she said electric vehicles were the devil and I laughed but that’s only bc I thought she was joking
I loved the format of this article, even with it being a bit of a departure from your “normal” style or the styles of your past few articles. Your character acting felt maybe a little rough around the edges, but it really got across the main point of honesty and establishing a human connection, which was essential to the thesis of the article. Honestly, I’m loving you jumping around in styles a bit as you approach different topics. More variety is more fun for me as I get a little something different with each article of yours. Hopefully, it also keeps things fresh for you and helps you find out what you most enjoy about making articles. Unfortunately, I’d guess the Almighty Algorithm would rather you stick to a particular style and cultivate a consistent audience. And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that – I figure eventually you’ll probably find a style or few styles that work best for you, or that you enjoy the most, and with that you’ll spend less time experimenting. But I’ve enjoyed all your articles so far, so I’m excited to see where you go next.
I’ve done this successfully like this twice. But have tried a bunch more. It can be difficult to keep your cool when someone is making a bunch of wild inflammatory statements, which makes it hard to ignore those statements and not argue the little points. But the times I’ve succeeded, it has been the way this article says. So, thanks for the reminder. It’s one thing to know and another to do in practice, so hopefully the next time I get into a debate about a conspiracy theory, I’ll be able to keep this article in mind.
I watched this article when it came out and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I had a couple issues with it as my previous comments would suggest, but I wanted to say that I’m coming back to this article to use as a source in a presentation I’m doing on the B.I.T.E. model for a college class. I think that the skits show a great illustration on how deprogramming cult survivors works, and as a cult survivor myself they really stuck with me. I appreciate this website a lot, and I hope that I haven’t been too negative in my criticisms.
Unfortunately plenty of the more popular conspiracies making the rounds on the internet today have an underlying religious current driving them – especially among evangelicals. Some flat earthers and most Qanon believers are an example. It’s so hard to get through to these people because as you peel away the layers of their world view, at the center is basically the question of God’s existence and unfortunately discussions on that have spanned millennia.
I enjoyed this article and thought it was a good in-depth analysis. However, I take issue with one part: the example you used in the “sour grapes” section on politics. I understand that certain liberals fell strongly into the so-called “Russiagate” narrative and, partly because of the sour grapes, many started acting as if all bad problems in the world were caused by Russia. However, I think there is enough evidence right now to conclude that even if Donald Trump didn’t personally collude with the Russian government, 1) many of his inner circle contacts had improper contacts with Russian govt-aligned actors, 2) the Russian govt had leverage on him in the form of information on his planned Moscow tower which he was publicly denying (as well as unconfirmed rumors about them financing some of his debts), 3) the actions of the GRU are confirmed to have hacked both parties’ emails but only release info on one. This is all in alignment with the Russian gov’s usual strategy of destabilizing countries by amplifying preexisting internal divisions. I don’t think it’s proper to blame Russia for 100% of the result of the 2016 election, but in an extremely close race where the tipping point was by a hair’s margin, it’s not out of the question that the Russian gov’s efforts to influence the election did in fact swing the outcome; they were also active in 2020 (esp with COVID misinformation) but the race wasn’t nearly as close and as a result they were unsuccessful. I think that indictments of Trump-aligned actors by Trump’s own DOJ indicate that there was at least some improper behavior going on, even though Barr interfered to prematurely stop Mueller from investigating any possible financial connections.
Sometimes, I’d say arguing with a conspiracy theorist is to show the public how irrational their belief is. You should be respectful, but sometimes there is nothing you can do to help them, and at that point, I feel you need to humiliate them if it’s in public. Privately you should just end the convo, but online you have to show everyone why their beliefs are wrong so that they don’t fall down the hole too.
Thank you for covering this very hard topic. I`ve never really considered why people start believing conspiracy theories, so after you detailed why some people fall prey to them it really helped to understand their situation more. If I ever have to try to help a person out of conspiracy mindset – I`ll remember the advice you`ve offered here. Awesome and very educational article
I had a friend who went flat-earth. She asked me once in a vulnerable moment how, if the universe is as big as I was saying, could I live with feeling so small. I said it made me feel substantially more important & gave her the “pale blue dot” speech followed by the “we are all stardust” as an epilogue. Then she… Asked Me What Sign I Was I just got up & left. You can’t rationalize with someone who can’t see that level of irony
I think the biggest problem that leads to conspiracy theorists is also a huge problem with society at large. Most people are willing to question the views of anyone but themselves. And I get it, it’s really hard to admit when you are wrong and acting like a fool, or worse, acting selfishly. I know. But questioning ourselves and leaving ourselves vulnerable during discussion by actually listening to the other side are the two most important thing to having reasonable and productive discourse.
Paranoia in a moderate degree has survival value–your example of the cave man hearing rustling in the bushes is on point. The costs of being wrong are very different. If the rustling is just the wind, Urk the caveman is frightened unnecessarily, if he ignores it and it’s a saber tooth tiger, he’s dinner. Paranoia in a severe degree is dysfunctional. Conspiracy theory is a manifestation of this dysfunction paranoia. Degree is important, you don’t have to think COVID is fake to not take every word Dr. Faucci says as gospel.
“Mocking people will literally never get them to change their minds.” And yet, there are some people that report that that was what provided the necessary impetus to change their minds. Of course, mocking alone will not be enough. But it might be the motivation to change their minds. (This is something that works better for the general public, where the laws of large numbers help you.) But the important points, I think, are: all people are different (and need different methods), and it takes time. Sometimes a lot.
@6:14, the US Public Health Service did NOT give anyone syphilis. Men who were already infected went untreated to study the progression of the disease, even after an effective treatment was found 15 years into the study. But there WAS another study, this one in Guatemala, where uninfected people were unknowingly given the disease.
I have SO much respect for the people who have the tact, decorum, patience and compassion for others to approach those people in this way. I CANNOT. This pervasive culture of willfull ignorance and agression towards science is actively setting back society and sometimes genuinely harming people. I somehow knew this article was gonna end up being a “respect and compassion” article but that’s not an approach I think we as a society can tolerate for very much longer. Most of the people who are involved in these things have family members and friends that have tried to “respect” and “care about them” out of their beliefs and it hasn’t been enough so they get exhausted and too frustrated to continue trying. I think we need to focus on teaching our children and the future generations well enough and thuroughly enough that they won’t fall for these things in the first place instead of desperately trying to reign people back in who have already jumped off the cliff. It’s wasted effort that we could be putting to better and more effective use elsewhere.
I really enjoyed the interaction between you and alternate-you. Alternate-you clearly really wanted to talk to you; it seemed to me that it was a version of hoping one’s old family will take one back. I’m going to need to watch this article a second time in a few days — there’s more in it than I can recall from one perusal, though I do remember you emphasizing that it’s important to respect and care about, and not shame, the conspiracy theorist.
We’re condescending and mean to people like flat earthers because there is soooo much evidence and experiments you can conduct first hand. In fact some flat earthers have conducted experiments that confirmed a spherical earth yet they still hold to their view of a flat earth. So I have to disagree, some of these people are not smart and I refuse to respect such people.
The one caveat with giving people time especially when they are interacting with other conspiracy theorists on a daily basis is while you may have the respect to give that person space, the conspiracy theorists will not give that person an inch of space of time to reflect and will simply take that persons vulnerability to hammer in more harmful ideas and create more double think. More cognitive dissonance.
This advice assumes the conspiracy theorist follows any kind of logic or reason and as someone who has a sister and dad in Q I would never ‘win’ an argument with them this way. The only way to ‘win’ is to act crazier than them, exaggerate their conspiracies or make stronger ones and get them to defend the objective reality. If they say ‘unvaccinated people don’t die of Covid’ you say: ‘you think Covid is real? you haven’t done enough research’, then, they will start to say no Covid is real but…., and then you have the door open at least. A lot of Q Anon people are in their 40’s and are overly confident about it, remind them that most people get into conspiracy theories at 15 and 16 and to stay humble.
The thing about rhe las vegas shooting is that there’s all kinds of weird details that appear inexplicable (by the official narrative) at first glance. I don’t have answers to things like “why was there bullet casings that appeared to be sitting on top of the blood as though they landed after”, mostly because I’m not looking at photos of the room after he shot himself, thanks, but the lack of a clear answer leads people to question the order of events. What if there was a second shooter, who kept firing after the first shot himself, and used his friend(?)’s death to get off scot free? And then on top of that you have the chaotic reports from the ground of bullets coming from multiple directions (could some of it been people getting hit by ricochets or shrapnel? Maybe! But I don’t know and neither do you), and the preparations he went into seemed… Excessive. It was like he thought he was arming a militia. Combine that with how many mass shooters are pegged by the fbi but ignored, qnd you get fertile ground for any mass shooting to be considered glowey, nevermind one that seems so different from the official stories
You make some good suggestions. But about making fun of them: Isn’t it true that peer pressure is one of the strongest influences on our behaviour? When people see that a group is being ruthlessly mocked by the large majority of people, that tells them that you probably don’t want to be part of that mocked group. And since the type of mind that falls for a conspiracy is much more likely to build their world view based on feelings, rather than on some abstract scientific concepts, peer pressure (sadly) might just the thing to keep them from associating with conspiracy theorists.
You really don’t understand why people believe in conspiracy theories. Everything you said was a theory of your own. More and more of these “conspiracy theories” are coming true. Many have proof supporting these theories. There are government websites with the information supporting many of these theories. People jump on the “conspiracy theory” bandwagon because the mainstream narrative doesn’t add up. Mainstream media is owned and paid for by some pretty powerful entities. Some of these theories are far out there, but there is evidence for many.
I find it odd that equal amounts of hate are thrown at both: 1. politicians and big companies for being untrustworthy/corrupt and 2. conspiracy theorists who claim those politicians and companies are just a little more corrupt than most people believe I would also like to point out that being correct does not grant you a free pass to be a prick.
Can you also do an episode on how to convince conspiracy theory deniers. Some conspiracy theories are backed with very compelling evidence, but as soon as a conspiracy theorist has been labelled a ‘conspiracy theorist’, everyone laughs at the theory even though the conspiracy is real and the evidence is there. Last year people who argued the covid lab leak theory was labelled ‘conspiracy theorists’ and ridiculed. That could be dangerous too. Not being able to identify the real reason a pandemic is caused, could kill millions, unnecessary.
I have been a physicist for over 50 years, and to be successful, you have to challenge and analyze all your ideas in a serious way. You have all sorts of great ideas, and almost all of them are wrong in one way or another, so you have to keep thinking and correcting your world view to get to a successful model. The critical part of this is that you have to give up unsuccessful ideas quickly and move on. When I see people who get some ideas and stick with it forever in the face of all challenges, I see a sort of mental weakness and dysfunction. One of the most charming things about Nature is that she does not care what you think or believe. It is your job to adjust you world view to conform to reality.
one of the most upsetting things is seeing a friend fall into wild conspiracy theories and become so paranoid that they think everyone is out to get them. I had a friend fall down this pipeline and slowly become a neo nazi and by the time i figured out what was happening it was far too late to change her mind
There are some problems with this. Like, sometimes I don’t love the theorist. Sometimes it’s just a disruptive person I want to lead a school board meeting or not cough on all the fruit in the store to “trigger the vaxxers” It’s all well and good when it’s something that’s a moot point anyway – it doesn’t matter if we walked on the moon, I can give someone all the time in the world on that, but things like Covid policy, elections, etc happen on a clock. I’m also not REALLY having respect if say something I patently don’t believe. I would have real trouble doing what Zoe 616 did when she praised Mark Sargent, who is not really very charismatic or intriguing IMO. I think the “give them time” point is huge, though, when you have the luxury.
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but a skyscraper imploding perfectly straight down after it was struck by a plane seems kinda…..you know, not that plausible to me. i have dabbled in demolition and material sciences myself and I know that it is tough to get a structure to fall in a certain direction, but straight down is kind of the crowning achievment you would generally avoid
So I don’t know if you ever look at comments on your older articles, but in case you do… So I’ve seen this and I’ve seen your article on Andrew Tate and it seems like you seem like a really decent person. Maybe one of those people who could be described as “kind to a fault” You’ve said a lot of things I disagree with, and I’m going to consume more of your content because I’m kind of an asshole and it’s probably good for me to occasionally be influenced by the ideas and feelings of someone who isn’t. So basically… Conspiracy theorists are not, as a group, intellectually curious. My experience in speaking to them has not been that they are driven by a desire to examine every fact as see where it leads. You said as much in the article. For a good example of this, take Dan Olson’s account of trying to describe an experiment he performed to Flat Earthers. Now, there’s a lot of people in the comments here who have said something along the lines of “I used to be a Flat Earther (or involved in some other conspiracy theory) but I got out” and the either deliberately lay out the intellectual curiosity credentials, or incidentally do it in telling their story. And they’re good credentials. But in this kind of scenario there’s a bias being introduced: They are, each of them, describing the mindset of a person who eventually rejected the conspiracy theory. And if you want to convince me they’re not stupid… you’re going to have to account for what is sometimes (unkindly, yes) called “Crank Magnetism”.
Thank you for a really helpful article. Your approach and attitude acknowledges the humanity of the person with whom you are debating, as well as acknowledging ones own fallibility. It is both intellectually honest and – as importantly – compassionate. You have a talent for thinking and teaching and I’m very glad I found your website.
I like the angle you try to put out, to meet them with compassion, but I’ve given up on even trying as they never meet you with the same compassion. I’ve tried approaching with conspiracy theorists with respect, and I get called names (get called a sheep, get called delusional, stupid, naive and far worse things). I’ve done literal experiments growing up proving the earth is round, and they still tell me not to believe scientists and do research myself, despite me doing experiments. When I ask them for proof so I can understand what exactly they believe, I get told to “look it up” and then they ask for proof from me (that’s not how it works hun, you made the statement that the earth is flat, its on you to give me the proof). There is literally nothing you can do when all they do is cite the bible (even getting the verses wrong sometimes, others just change the words to make a section appear to say the earth is flat), or they site an article from a wellness guru’s blog where they mentioned the flat earth. You can’t reason with them, as regardless of how polite you come across, since your opinion differs, they get super defensive and result to “no u” arguments. Heck, I even had one lady call me the F slur because she brought the LBGTQIQ+ into it and I told her off (respectfully) lets just say I reported her and her account no longer exists. Just walk away, It’s much easier
It’s hard having to defend the existence of my own humanity as a regular chore. And it pretty much never works. For many of such people, I’d have to uproot their entire belief system in order to achieve that. It’s impossible to build any form of rapport or common ground when they keep being aggressive and calling me names, and are very proficiently hitting all of my vulnerable points too
It’s impossible for me to ignore Moon deniers. My grandfather worked at Area 51 and he hand-wrote the wiring schematic for Apollo Rockets. The same rockets that got the moon lander to the Moon. He had Patches from the astronauts that actually went on the lunar missions that were given to him when they got back safely. Those patches were above his Lazy Boy recliner until the day he died. I was able to get photos of them before the family pillaged his belongings after he died. He told me many stories about working at Area 51 from working with blinders on to not knowing what the guy next to you is doing all the name National Security.