num_pages: 376
description: Best-selling author Michael Shermer presents an overarching review of conspiracy theorieswho believes them and why which ones are real and what we should do about them.Nothing happens by accident; everything is connected and there are no coincidences: that is the essence of conspiratorial thinking. Long a fringe part of the American political landscape conspiracy theories are now mainstream: 147 members of Congress voted in favor of objections to the 2020 presidential election based on an unproven theory about a rigged electoral process promoted by the mysterious group Q-Anon. But this is only the latest example in a long history of ideas that include the Satanic Panic of the 1980s the New World Order and Vatican conspiracy theories fears about fluoridated water speculations about President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the notions that the Sandy Hook massacre was a false-flag operation and that 9/11 was an inside job.Trust in conspiracy theories Shermer writes cuts across gender age race income education level occupational statusand even political affiliation. One reason people believe conspiracies Shermer argues is that enough of them are real that we should be constructively conspiratorial: elections have been rigged (LBJ's 1948 Senate race); medical professionals have intentionally harmed patients in their care (Tuskegee); your government does lie to you (Watergate Iran-Contra and Afghanistan); and tragically some adults do conspire to sexually abuse children. But Shermer reveals that other factors contribute: anxiety and a sense of loss of control play a role in conspiratorial cognition patterns as do certain personality traits.This engaging book will be an important read for anyone concerned about the future direction of American politics as well as anyone who's watched friends or family fall into patterns of conspiratorial thinking.
language: English
title: Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational
publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press