I keep thinking about the old poster in Fox Mulder’s office from the show “The X-Files”, the one that said “I Want To Believe”. I suspect that the reason it fe

I keep thinking about the old poster in Fox Mulder’s office from the show “The X-Files”, the one that said “I Want To Believe”. I suspect that the reason it featured so prominently in that film set is because showrunner Chris Carter was making a statement about the mentality of conspiracy theorists. The phrasing of that poster is very specific. These people aren’t objectively and dispassionately weighing the evidence both in favor of and against a certain theory. No, that theory is their pet theory, and whether consciously or subconsciously, their thumb is on the scale in favor of proving it true. The reason being that an implication of most conspiracy theories is that there is a conspiracy of powerful people to keep the truth from being revealed. I’ve come to believe THAT is the important component of any conspiracy. The specific “truth” which is being hidden, whether it’s aliens or lizard people or pedophiles running a pizza shop, is almost a McGuffin. The reason people believe conspiracy theories, and backwards-rationalize their perceived truthfulness, is that it helps them believe in some all-powerful, malevolent cabal whose agenda includes keeping down the “little guy”. It’s a way for them to justify the failures in their lives without having to take responsibility for those failures. It’s the oldest story in the book. It doesn’t help that there are real-world examples of conspiracies that have been proven true, but I suspect it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for these people even if that weren’t the case.