It feels like topics I used to only see on r/conspiracy—like Epstein and the deep state—are now all over mainstream subreddits.
The US is doing what it always has done, only now the pretexts are weaker than ever. Did things really have to get this obvious before people finally realized that western governments only care about what’s best for the oligarchy?
There were and are so many dumb and incorrect conspiracy theories that I think it’s understandable that people would outright dismiss them, even if there was a real conspiracy.
Take the deep state. Sure, you can say that there absolutely is a deep state of oligarchs influencing/controlling governments. But if you read about that topic on conspiracy forums, you’ll quickly find it getting entangled in bullshit like Pizzagate or QAnon. They said Donald Trump would be the one to finally “expose the deep state”, which is just laughable. On the same forums you’ll find stuff like “flat earth”. So why would anyone use those places as sources of trustworthy information?
A network of rich and powerful people influencing the state isn’t “the deep state” it’s “the state”
Like what makes anyone think they are hiding it?
Words I have heard in real life is that there are people we aren’t powerful enough or wealthy enough to know about. Having a boogey man keeps the fear and powerlessness strong.
It’s gotten to the point where a lot of people very clearly think even the word conspiracy means “a crazy nonsense theory”. They’ll say “it’s not a conspiracy…” and then proceed to describe a textbook conspiracy.
there’s a conspiracy theory that the term “conspiracy theory” was intentionally manipulated in the cultural lexicon to include both realistically plausible things and pseudoscientific nonsense. this creates an equivalence in perception between people who say “the FBI killed MLK” and people who say “aliens abducted me and took me to the other side of the flat earth where I met Bigfoot,” so that any accusation against the government is immediately dismissed
Apparently owner of /pol/ on 4chan the day after meeting with Epstein. They called it a “great means of manipulation” IIRC. So I think there may be some truth to this. The whole Pizzagate thing may have been a way to make it seem like anyone who thinks the ultra-wealthy are child predators seem crazy