October 4, 2024
Conspiracy Thinking as Impermeability to Experience
A conspiracy is a simplistic explanation: it’s not easy to understand why
Islamists would kill themselves by attacking the Twin Towers. One would need to
grasp a culture so different from ours, something not within everyone's reach.
But more importantly, conspiracy theories allow people to hold onto their
beliefs even when contradicted by facts: Americans are the evil ones, so the
attack on the Twin Towers couldn't have been carried out by America's enemies,
but by America itself.
For October 7: the villains are the Zionists, and the heroes are the
Palestinians. Such an evil act could not have been committed by the "good"
Palestinians but, in some way, must be blamed on the "bad" Zionists (unbelievably,
some still hold this view).
It can be described as an impermeability to experience.