Tickled by the Phenomenon of Conspiracy Theories

A supposed government program to control the minds of its citizens is a conspiracy theory recently growing in popularity due to the advancement of hi-tech gadgets. Almost every individual on earth is now a proud possessor of a smart-phone. The evident advantages of the use of a touch-screen phone are many. It is an amalgamation of diverse data, starting from a calendar to official notices in one little handheld electronic gadget.

My concern today is not regarding the uses and misuses of the smart-phone. Its advantages supersede the misuse and therefore no one can be discouraged from using it in our times.

I am rather tickled by the curious phenomenon of conspiracy theories related to medicine, politics and warfare. Recently, I came across a view that a ‘microchip’ can be implanted in your body when you go for a test or vaccination. This microchip would then function as a tracker, a surveillance device that robs you of your independence. This made me study the phenomenon in relative detail.

Conspiracy theories are nothing new for the human world. Although races have considerably combined and spread over the entire earth, the beginning of human civilization is seen as small clusters of settlements. Each cluster is therefore a clan. Anthropologically speaking, we are all descendants of one tribal leader each at one corner of the earth respectively. Now we call ourselves belonging to a particular race. Therefore, conflicts between clans/races are almost like the clashes between two prides of lions, routs of wolves or knots of snakes. So, credit goes to the humans for disengaging themselves from such territorial disputes after learning that we share almost the entire length and breadth of the earth as one piece of land.

Death and disappearances are probably the most common subjects of conspiracy theories. I wonder why. Probably, the human mind is incapable of accepting natural disasters for the good individuals. At least there is room for doubting if the most well known public figure had so defencelessly succumbed to a natural accident. Publicly acclaimed individuals are raised to a larger than life size portraiture invested with super powers therefore any trivial form of death for them is unbelievable. It is more because ordinary life is so full of struggle and strife that it is hard to believe how an individual can rise above the personal constraints and work for a public unless one were bestowed with super powers. In the same vein, it is also easy to assume that jealous people would want to trap and dislocate the public figure. Hence, the theory of death by conspiracy acts as a soothing balm for such shocks.

Genocidal denials and historical revisioning are also part of conspiracy theories. The aim of historians is to get to the facts of history, find out and compile an accurate narration of incidents in human history. But there are groups, politically or socially inclined, who do not want people to remember how wicked their forefathers have been towards another clan. This leads to an attempt at the erasure of histories. Many scholars have written about these theories. I feel that much of the hatred that is spread on earth is due to the increase in academic learning. All the ‘awareness’ campaigns lead to rage. More than smothering the spark of distrust, awareness ignites the fire of revenge. It is immaterial how after imparting a huge data on injustices first, speeches tend to conclude with an appeal to forget and forgive.