Internet conspiracies: innocent fun or insidious?

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

by Kate Hedrick

Arts, Style, & Beauty Editor

The Eye of Providence is a symbol often associated with the Illuminati, a 16th century secret society and popular subject of digital age conspiracies. Photo by Unsplash.

From the mystery of Area 51 to FBI mind control operation MKUltra, the public’s desire to know what really happened was commonplace long before the advent of the internet. However, they are especially easy to come by in the digital age, especially on largely unregulated social media platforms. Conspiracies range from small-scale to world-shattering in their alleged consequences, and from benign entertainment to sources of insidious misinformation and active harm.

Many enduring conspiracies arise from a lack of trust in the powers that be. A perennial theory is the idea of Lizard People or reptilians, a malevolent alien race that secretly controls the affairs of human society and government. Several prominent celebrities have been accused of belonging to this alien race. This accusation was so bizarre that former conspiracy junkie Anna Kellar (12) states “the most memorable conspiracy I heard was that Justin Bieber was a lizard and that Lizard People exist.” The Lizard People theories often go hand in hand with the idea of the Illuminati or the New World Order, supposed evil organizations controlling the world from the shadows.

Other theories are born from a vacuum of knowledge and a lack of concrete answers. Incidents such as the mysterious deaths of Soviet hikers in the Dyatlov Pass and the complete disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have left us with nothing but questions. Why were there traces of radioactive material among the remains of the hikers’ camp? How does a commercial airliner disappear out of the sky? Simon Conway’s (11) favorite conspiracy is in much the same vein. For them, the most memorable conspiracy they’ve seen is “the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi. It involves the Vatican and the details surrounding it are very mysterious.” Unsolved mysteries provide ample fuel for the fire of conspiracy theories.

Conspiracies are often all in good fun, encouraging us to think outside the box and challenge established authority. According to Kellar, “I love conspiracy theories because it’s always fun to think about things that seem impossible or see a different perspective on what’s happening around us.” However, these theories are also contributing to the growing epidemic of internet misinformation. On social media, it is incredibly easy to propagate false claims just by hitting the post button. An inaccurate graph, fact, or statistic is likely to be taken at face value by the majority of those who read it, failing to warrant any further critical thought or research. Kellar corroborates this, stating “I think once it gets posted around the internet enough, people start to believe it because it’s hard to fact check something like an Instagram post or a tweet on Twitter.” These ‘alternative facts’, as some have termed them, are often used as the ‘evidence’ for even the most outlandish of conspiracy theories.

Aside from spreading false information, which is bad enough already, the more insidious theories have a variety of real-world negative effects. Conway states that conspiracies make misinformation worse, and that “It’s worse when a lot of these more outlandish theories tend to come from a place of bigotry and paranoia.” The reptilian conspiracy is antisemitic in origin, using the evil alien race as a dog whistle (coded language that only the intended audience is meant to understand) for the Jewish people. Conspiracies about a stolen presidential election prompted a group of insurrectionists to storm the US capitol on January 6th, 2021.

In many true crime cases, self-appointed internet sleuths will come forward with all manner of off-the-wall explanations for what took place. These can muddy the waters in criminal investigations, something Ms. Baker is qualified to comment on as a true crime aficionado and forensics teacher. She says that these sleuths often do more harm than good, and that “people involved with it who still need to be interviewed by the cops now have a misperception of what happened.” It’s okay to theorize, but leave the investigation to the police and detectives.

All things considered, conspiracy theories have their place. They can serve as an exercise in creative thinking, as conversation fodder for friends and acquaintances, and are a great time-waster. However, we should remember that they are all only theories, and that they do not (and should not) replace concrete facts and credible research. Have fun, but stay alert and aware. The truth is out there—from reputable sources.