QUESTION: Now-a-days we are confronted with many conspiracy stories and it seems that people make some planed attacks on certain individuals with a pre-planned propaganda. How do we respond to it? – Agnes Maria

ANSWER : Saji Mathew Kanayankal CST

“Conspiracy” is widely used as a pejorative term to denote narratives constructed under conditions of informational uncertainty based on people’s unproven assumptions, imaginations and calculated ideas. Though conspiracies are an age-old phenomenon and was always problematic to society, it became aggressive today in the context of the widespread of the new-generation social media. Many innocent people become its victims. The term conspiracy theory prioritises certain conspiratorial hypotheses that is used to explain some events or imaginations that may be prima facie absurd. It occurs in politics, business, media, religion and in various public sphere. The corruption of the system and different kinds of manipulation are the root cause of it.
Conspiracy stories can be appeared in many ways; for example, when certain incidents occur, people make some false narrations either to save the people involved in it or to manipulate the whole event just for some personal benefits. With a concealed object to maintain and manage the reputation of a particular leader, his/her proponents make use all kinds of communication skills. New generation media gives much hype to it as well. When comes to a conspiracy, it becomes a collective and pre-planned effort to explain some event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who attempt to conceal their role in an accused event. The powerful perpetrator makes use his/her political, religious and financial power to turn the mater in favour of him/her. In order to save the real culprit, his/her admirers may create some idealistic stories to glorify the him/her, at the same time with the same intention they also may create some stories to put down the opponent. In this case, mostly people who stand for justice and truth will become the victims of the conspirers.
Conspiracy stories in general assume severe criminal behaviour on the part of the conspirers causing direct physical or financial harm and in most of the events, the good fame of the intended person is tarnished in a nasty way. Without any evidence people may accuse someone with certain assumptions. These assumptions can be based on a vast range of stimuli that may include factual or plausible information and one’s imagination and intuition. Perceivers encounter falsehood in personal conversations, on social media, and in the internet. Apart from it, conspiracy stories also include convicted beliefs in falsehoods and most of them are largely based on group allegiances.
Ingredients of     Conspiracy Theory
Though it is not easy to bring out the method of the articulation of conspiracy stories, it is clear that the stories are the result of a collective effort of a group of people. Most of the stories originate and spread with clear intention and a comprehensive plan. Sometimes such stories evolve spontaneously, appearing roughly simultaneously in different social networks. Whatever it be, conspiracy entrepreneurs profit directly or indirectly from propagating their stories. Sometimes people who are not shrewd enough may sincerely engage to create or spread such stories based on some rumours and speculations. It is easy to manipulate the emotions of people through rumours and speculations in a society where a vast majority do not have direct access to the true information. Similarly, many people may not be bothered about the actual fact as well. When some people start to create stories, some others may join with them for the sake of money, power or entertainment.
Jan Willem van Prooijen points out five critical ingredients of any conspiracy theories. First is pattern. Any conspiracy works within the frame of a particular pattern. It shows that there are assumptions of cause-and-effect relationships between stimuli. Accordingly, “while pattern perception is highly functional to identify truly existing patterns in one’s social environment, people sometimes also perceive illusory patterns.” In an evidence free conservational theory, illusory pattern perception is one of the key ingredients. This connects dots between the events, persons, and places, that might well be a coincidence.
Second is the role of agency. It means that the events that one seeks to explain were caused on purpose, by intentional and deliberate actors. Conspiracy theories often attribute extraordinary powers to certain agents – plan, to control others, to maintain secrets, and so forth. Agency detection is functional in social relationships, as recognizing other’s intentions may help people to distinguish friends from foes, or to infer important social norms in a given situation.
Third is the role of group polarization. By the very definition, conspiracies consist of multiple actors that form a coalition and coordinate their actions. Members of a deliberating group may come together in a common platform. Most of them will have a more extreme position which can be easily manipulated by the concerned leader. With a systemic attempt, the group may join with the same purpose and will act as per the direction of the leader. So, conspiracy theories assign moral responsibility to a group of actors for assumed malpractice, and hence include judgments of moral wrongness.
Fourth is threat. The assumed conspiracy intends to cause harm to the victim. Sometimes there may not be direct harm, but the stories and ‘events’ would be deceptive. It quite often displays the characteristic features of a “degenerating research program” in which contrary evidence is explained away by adding epicycles and resisting falsification of key tenets. Today, the internet provides a forum for conspiracy theorists to disseminate their theories without a support of traditional media.
Fifth is secrecy. The assumed conspiracy acts in the shadows, making conspiracy theories difficult to invalidate. The link with judgments of injustice is underscored particularly by the notions that the assumed conspirators are deliberate agency and harmful or deceptive threat.
The question, why do people accept conspiracy stories that turn out to be false and for which the evidence is weak or even non-existent, is important. Some say that the conspiracy stories are the product of mental illness such as paranoia or narcissism, or of similar conditions. Though it is true that some people who accept conspiracy stories are mentally ill and subject to delusions, it is not logical to argue that all or most members of those communities are afflicted by mental illness. For many domains people lack proper information about the reality and unknowingly people rely on what other people say or narrate. In some cases, people suffer from a “crippled epistemology,” which means, they know very few things, and what they know is wrong. In such situation, it is easy to mislead people. People may have few information and their extremist view supports it. Vague and incomplete findings provide the audience with a possibility to discuss them and they may infer many false conclusions. The conspirers can intrude in this gap with some seemingly ‘objective’ and ‘truthful’ narrations and the common people can be easily misled.
Impact of Conspiracy
The false, harmful, and unjustified conspiracy stories harm the innocent people in many ways. It is a planned attack against some particular individuals and in most cases, they fail to defend it properly. Similarly, many ordinary people, with some false knowledge, may be misled and will be in false belief. The truth and fact will be ignored or hidden due to the effective and powerful presentation of the conspires. The perpetrators will have a well organised system and a clear and calculated planning for the execution of a project. Mostly, the victims may not be aware about what is happening and they may come to now it after a few days. By the time, the fabricated stories might have spread widely. It is also interesting to note that even the fictional narratives turn into the part of the true faith of the people. For example, some people now believe that what is described in the novel “the Da Vinci Code” is a real incident.
The conspiracy stories can become the part of false believes. For instance, many children believe “Santa Claus” distributes presents around the world on Christmas Eve. As we know, when some stories or narrations are well rooted in the society it may become the part of their faith! Mostly it transmits from mouth to mouth. Similarly, when someone spreads a fake story about one by oral propaganda, it may turn as something really occurred. While some of the stories are benign; most of such stories are both false and harmful. Conspiracy theories, like rumours, may simultaneously relieve “a primary emotional urge” and offer an explanation, to those who accept the theory, of why they feel as they do.
Now a days conspiracy stories and fake news become very popular because of the uncritical attitude of the people. While pointing out the challenges of contemporary world in ‘Fratelli Tutti,’ Pope Francis warns about the absence of historical consciousness in the present age. As he argues, when the historical consciousness and critical thinking are weakened, it is easy to manipulate the people with empty words. People are not able to ask questions about the reality of what they receive through social media. It is true that through competent investigation hypotheses of conspiracy can be verified, but many people may not go for it.
In the formulation and spread of conspiracy, truth is fabricated, facts are hidden and justice is denied to the victims. Some conspiracy theories include libels or slurs. Since in most cases the conspiracies are unproven, and evidence-free, it is not easy to verify the truth. People do experience a true sense of injustice based on imaginary events and may not open to the realistic events. The reputation of the person concerned is tarnished and sometimes for years they have to be under dubious situations. Though the conspirers knew what they have done is wrong, the vast public believe that what they heard, read or seen is true. In a way, it is a public deception as well.
It is true that doubts, cautious hypotheses, uncertain convictions, imaginative stories and fake news are related to the human history. However, as an authentic person, one should not gamble one’s fate away with the dice of hypothesis and imaginations. As it is told, one cannot build the house upon the sand, but he has to search for the rock. Scepticism and imaginations are not fundamental, they are like sand, just moves from one place to another. Life should be rooted in truth. When one stand for truth and justice she/he will be open to see the realities, that stands beyond all calculated and fabricated stories. This is not a question of “our” truth against “their” truth. Rather, it is a question of the ‘one truth.’ So, we have to be critique while receiving any stories, especially though the social media. To be uncritical, harms the authenticity of one’s personhood. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, but a genuine person should open to accept the truth and reality irrespective of its consequences. When it is uncomfortable, it calls for the conversion and transformation. We need the old Christian conviction that the truth can be known, not created, usurped, expropriated, or used against other; instead, it is there and must be accepted with full humility and wisdom.