"Conspiracy theories as dangerous as the Coronavirus itself..."

Check out this piece in the New York Times that perfectly hits the nail on the head about why people believe in the most patently ludicrous conspiracy theories, especially in times of crisis. As I had written here before, it’s one thing to let the imagination run away on occasion and indulge in oddball speculation about global cabals and secret societies orchestrating all of the world’s major events. Sure, the Illuminati communing with aliens from secret lairs underneath Denver International Airport sounds like harmless X-Files fun. And then the world is facing a once-in-a-century crisis and people are dying. And then the conspiracy theorists turn their talents for spinning creative fantasies to telling the fearful, the insecure, the unsophisticated to put their lives in danger by ignoring the advice of medical professionals and scientists.

The virus being caused by 5G cell towers, anyone? Had a novelist come up with a plot where conspiracists are able to make people believe such an idiotic theory, he would be told that such a story could never be published because no readers would ever believe it.

As the article details, there are enough scared people out there that they are willing to believe in the most absurd theories in an attempt to give them some sense of control over the unknown.

And there are enough unconscionable, sociopathic monsters out there willing to tell those scared people exactly what they want to hear. That, as the article concludes, is as dangerous as the Coronavirus itself.