The way I read it, Op was suggesting a flirt with conspiratorial thinking ("someone is doing this") and I wanted to turn to something more rational. I don't re

The way I read it, Op was suggesting a flirt with conspiratorial thinking ("someone is doing this") and I wanted to turn to something more rational. I don't really know how trends and fashions form and haven't thought so much about it. Some aspect of it might look like research into the ising model and phase transitions - small changes in "temperature" everywhere in the mass of people might look like a phase transition in the overall mood.