Conspiracy believers abandon specific claims while retaining a core that something must be wrong
Evidence
When challenged, conspiracy theorists have no problem abandoning specific aspects of their theory – yet Something must be wrong (which fits with the possibility of an even larger conspiracy that could explain the inconsistency). For example, when the Plandemic filmmaker Mikki Willis was asked if he honestly believed that Covid-19 was engineered for profit he replied: ‘I have no idea.’ All he knows is that something is not right. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 214
Categorization
- QUESTION: The ‘something must be wrong’ core is effectively unfalsifiable — worth probing how this interacts with the book’s claim that almost nobody is immune to evidence.
- XREF: connects to: Conspiracy believers suspect fellow believers closest to them of being state plants — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 252; Misread art semiotics confirmed believers’ demonic conspiracy regardless of rebuttals — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 279; Conspiracy research should track idea migration, not belief truth — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 50 (+9 more)
Broader Connections
- Specific claims are subordinate to a superordinate conspiracy narrative
#expands(0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 195 - Conspiracy claims can float unattached to any settled belief system
#expands(0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 93