Are Conspiracy Theorists Irrational?

This week on the NO Collective social media pages we will be looking at Critical thinking. Critical thinking can be defined as the analysis of available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to form a judgment. One form of thought which is often thought to oppose critical thinking is that of conspiracy theories. Conspiracies have been found within organised societies for centuries such as in case of the gunpowder plot against parliament. Conspiracy Theories, on the other hand, have become ever more prominent in our society, especially since the start of the Covid pandemic. Indeed,  a Conspiracy Theorist is someone who believes in a contemporary theory of a conspiracy which goes against official or expert accounts and the consensus of the general population. But the question is are they truly irrational or do their views simply differ from the norm? 

One key factor which indicates Conspiracy Theorists are irrational is their lack of definitive evidence as well as their refusal to accept any other plausible theories. The idea that Al Qaeda was responsible for the destruction of the twin towers is the widely accepted theory and the official account, it has been claimed by various experts that this is indeed the case as well as it being concluded as true by governmental officials. It is the most plausible option and the most evidenced. Whereas Conspiracy Theorists have been unable to provide substantial evidence to prove that George Bush orchestrated 9/11 and indeed their theories such as that bombs would have to have been located in the towers for them to collapse can be instantly disproven by expert analysis. Of course a Conspiracy Theorist may argue that any plausible evidence which proves their theory is hidden from the public eye and is banned from mainstream media by those who are part of the conspiracy and that experts have been paid off by conspirators to present false information. Indeed, a Conspiracy Theorist would claim that that their lack of sufficient evidence is part of the conspiracy itself. However this just proves the irrationality of the Conspiracy Theorists as they do not allow any space to be proven wrong or at least theoretically be proven wrong, if one does not allow space for opposition of opinion, everything one believes then instantly becomes true by default. As conspiracy theorists  do not allow for any form of evidence against their theory even if it is valid, they become irrational as if they were to apply such logic to everyday life, and not accept anything as true that that opposes their general opinion, they would likely lose the ability to function. Indeed, Conspiracy Theorists are irrational due to their refusal to accept their Conspiracy Theory as having the potentiality to be disproven.

The mistrust for which Conspiracy Theorists posses also indicates a deep irrationality. Indeed, Conspiracy theorists have an irrational degree of mistrust and cynicism towards organisations which leads to ultimately unfair judgements, as through their theorising against the government in certain cases such as 9/11 they essentially create a space where they cannot believe anything  which the government or authorities suggest, as if they were conspiring about a certain event then they could potentially be conspiring about other topics. Indeed, Conspiracy Theorists preconceive all government officials to be completely corrupt, for example,  which leads to a complete mistrust of any persons in power or any one with a certain authority over a subject. They put themselves in a position where their confidence in authorities is so eroded that they are no longer warranted in holding any beliefs that are socially produced. Indeed, this is completely irrational as they are restricting themselves from holding many evidence based preconceptions. We should not only dismiss this as irrational in and of itself but we should dismiss it as irrational due to its social implications. By validating conspiracy theorists and claiming their theories to be rational creates a dangerous space which allows for their mistrust to spread, with the potential to start campaigns not only against the government and leading experts but against ethnic groups. Indeed, due to conspiracy theorists and their irrational mistrust based on non-evidence based preconceptions, Jewish people have been wrongly accused of controlling the world. Not only is such a great mistrust of an ethnic group or towards all politicians highly irrational due to the lack of grounded evidence but we should further dismiss Conspiracy Theorists as irrational in order to stop the spreading of fake fact in order to prevent very serious acts of discrimination or hatred towards certain groups.

We should also consider the implications that psychology studies have on the debate as they too seem to confirm Conspiracy Theorists irrationality. There is a clear claim from psychologists that Conspiracy Theorists in fact do show a sense of irrationality this is through the idea of a mental condition called 'fundamental attribution error'  which essentially is believing something to be true through judgment on a person’s characteristics and whether they would perform a certain act rather than coming to a conclusion based on external facts. A Conspiracy Theorist essentially judges an organisation or individual based on their character or what they suppose their character to be. For example, they may judge that Greta Thunberg is just a puppet under manipulative parents, given her age. However, basing ones assessment of a situation entirely on the characteristics of the group involved whilst ignoring external factors is irrational. For example, if a man who is typically reckless dies in a car crash, but it is evidenced in the police report that the other driver who crashed was intoxicated and it was in no way the usually reckless drivers fault a Conspiracy Theorist metaphorically would still, irrationally, blame the reckless driver due to his characteristic of being reckless. Conspiracy Theorists are largely unable to adjust their beliefs and thoughts of a group in order to accept the external factors which may change their beliefs. Therefore, it can be stated that Conspiracy Theorists are irrational as they suffer from rational arbitration error which causes irrationality through resigned beliefs no matter the external facts they are presented with.

Indeed then we should dismiss Conspiracy theorists as irrational not simply because of their lack of evidence or deep rooted mistrust but also because of the negatives Conspiracy theorists have on out society as a whole