July 1, 2022 / Jeff's Writing

On The Virtues Of Conspiracy Theory

At the time of this writing, many people believe that “conspiracy theories” are inherently crackpot ideas–worthless at best, dangerous at worst.

This is patently untrue. Some of the most insane, implausible, complex, far-fetchedc conspiracy theories turned out to be absolutely, verifiably true. MK-Ultra, for example.

Conspiracy theories of earlier times might attribute today’s war on conspiracy theories to a very simple cause and effect: those running conspiracies don’t want you to believe that they might be real, because it would wreck the secrecy, and thus the core structure, of that system.

But I’d like to propose a simpler answer.

Consider a world which is run, or massively affected and changed, by one or more massive conspiracies.

This would mean that SOMEBODY KNOWS WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON, AND WHY.

Now consider that the reason so many people have abandoned rational thought in favor of emotional pain (on all subjects, across all political and social spectra and spaces); the reason so many people feel so particularly lost; the reason people are demoralized, anxious, attention-deficient and unhappy is because

THERE ARE QUITE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO BENEFIT FROM A POPULATION WHICH IS PERPETUALLY WOUNDED.

Now, if people were able to believe that some of this was INTENTIONAL, they’d know they might fight it. They’d know they SHOULD fight it. They’d know it was some kind of organized attempt to make them demoralized.

So they need to teach us that there IS no conspiracy, because that would just be TOO DAMN COMFORTING.

Can you prove this? I doubt it. Any conspiracy or set of conspiracies able to do this much damage won’t let its existence be visible. At least not easily.

So I propose the following conspiracy:

CONSPIRE TO BELIEVE THAT A LARGE FORCE IS OUT TO GET YOU, AND YOU CAN THWART IT.

It’s much more comforting than assuming all this is happening by accident.

And also, it happens to be true.

We’re not a species divided against itself. We’re a species capable of unity and thought, being ambushed by those who desire neither.

CategoriesJeff's Writing

Jeff Mach Written by:

Jeff Mach is an author, playwright, event creator, and certified Villain. You can always pick up his bestselling first novel, "There and NEVER, EVER BACK AGAIN"—or, indeed, his increasingly large selection of other peculiar books. If you'd like to talk more to Jeff, or if you're simply a Monstrous Creature yourself, stop by @darklordjournal on Twitter, or The Dark Lord Journal on Facebook.