Why conspiracy theories are booming

A conversation about the Epstein files, convened by The Drift

Why is conspiracy theorizing on the rise?

The other day, I, along with a group of other panelists, discussed this question and others in a conversation about the Epstein files, hosted by The Drift, a literary magazine that I highly recommend to you.

Some of what I said in reply:

Conspiratorial thinking rises and falls at different moments in history, depending on what’s going on in a society. When inequality rises — there’s a lot of research supporting this — conspiracy thinking goes up. When life doesn’t feel fair to a lot of people, conspiracy thinking goes up. The public may be wrong about the names, wrong about the players, wrong about the mechanisms. But are they right that the way their health care works is essentially a high-functioning conspiracy? If Washington works the way it does, is that a conspiracy? People are grappling in the dark for explanations about why cause doesn’t equal effect anymore, why effort doesn’t lead to reward anymore, why nothing seems linear, why all the things they’re supposed to do don’t work. And into that space, conspiracies enter.

For the rest of this very interesting, wide-ranging conversation, check out The Drift.

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