We can forget about denial-of-service attacks. Conspiracies are denial of sentience. QAnon is gone, but any babble is faithfully turned into a fact by publication.
It’s taken this many years since 2016, but the conspiracy cretins have got distribution at last. The banal financially incentivized TikTok conspiracy theories are just appetizers.
If you search “conspiracy” on Google, there is literally no end to the stories. There doesn’t seem to be a bottom to the page.
The long-term effects of conspiracy theories are becoming apparent. It’s been normalized. You can accuse anyone of anything, and some fool will believe it. A couple of years ago a butterfly sanctuary was shut down for staff safety by far-right conspiracy theories. There is no possibility of innocence in conspiracy theories. Even the butterflies were guilty.
According to TIME magazine, conspiracy theories are useful for feeling good about yourself. During American election years, they’re worse. Since 2008, it’s got much worse.
Typically, the media are playing up how effective this utter drivel is in political terms. According to The New York Times claims of censorship have prevented stopping lies about election rigging, etc. Elon Musk’s X has added fuel by allowing previously blocked posts. X is now lower than Snapchat in user numbers, but it contributes to the fluff online.
The other fountain of reason, FOX News, has surprisingly few viewers, (according to Statista viewership is 1,899,000 out of a population of 340 million presumably not including subsidiaries) but a very high profile. FOX, despite losing most of its right-wing luminaries, maintains its flagship status for the right.
Fortunately for every moron on the planet, AI and bots have taken up the slack in the sacred cause of useless spam posts. Politics as we know it can continue in the knowledge that AI trolls can do the hard work.
Conspiracy theories have a basic structure:
They must relate to a person or subject in the public eye.
They must contain simply targeted accusations of illegality, immorality, etc.
They must have attention-getting value to whoever pays for them, preferably political and related to other conspiracy theories.
They must include baseless information and more nouns and adjectives than verbs.
The distribution network must include a targeted population of information skanks who like getting sued.
Expressions of horror and outrage by people with pseudo-religious affiliations should fill the comments threads.
Therefore:
Alien Corrupt Democrat Pervert Necrophiliacs in Sexual Orgy at Congress church service
“They stole my solid gold picture of Saint Donald, says heartbroken white middle-aged statistic.”
It has everything. It has credibility. It has recognizable trigger words. It even has the ridiculous bot-style capitalizations. The format alone will get instant acceptance from publishers who refuse to admit that words might have meanings.
Wanna buy some ignorance? You’re in luck.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
