Conspiracy theory

A conspiracy theory is a story that says that a group of people (called "conspirators") have agreed ("conspired") to engage in illegal or malicious actions and  intentionally hid them from the public. 

Overview

Conspiracy theories usually have little or no credible evidence. Distorted history based on conspiracy theories is sometimes called pseudohistory (pseudo- : from Greek ψευδής, "false"). People who promote pseudohistory are called historical revisionists, 

  or simply revisionists. Some claim that historical events like the Holocaust or the Moon landing were faked by "conspirators".* 

Examples

There are many conspiracy theories, including:

9/11 conspiracy theories
UFO conspiracy theories
Chemtrail conspiracy theory
Moon landing conspiracy theories
Assassination of John F. Kennedy conspiracy theories
Illuminati and Freemasonry-conspiracy theories
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales conspiracy theories
Flat Earth

Some of these theories - like the idea that the Earth is flat - are irrational because there is so much evidence proving that they are wrong.

Proliferation

Digital age

Conspiracy emerged as a cultural phenomenon in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.<ref>
 Barkun, Michael 2003. A culture of conspiracy: apocalyptic visions in contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press


 </ref> In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of conspiracy theories discussed on the Internet. Theories that once had few followers can become well-known through the mass media.

Conspiracy theorists get paid by websites according to how many viewers they attract. Websites that seem free to the user are paid for by adverts, usually quite harmless, though they may be annoying. The people who post individual articles get paid once the number of viewers exceeds a certain qualifying number.

Critique

David Grimes has calculated that it takes at least three years to expose a conspiracy theory on the internet, 
  depending on the number of people involved. Many conspiracy theories are exposed in three to four years.

Related pages

 Antisemitism
 Cognitive bias
 Disinformation
 Social psychology
 Sociocultural theory
 The Protocols of the Elders of Zion''

References