Conspiracy believers accept claims that the larger narrative morally requires, whatever the specifics
Evidence
Conspiracist claims conform to what Jerome Bruner calls “narrative necessity.” They are required by the flow and consistency of the larger story; they are “subsumed to what is claimed to be the larger truth.” The Pizzagate conspiracy that charges Hillary Clinton and her campaign chairman, John Podesta, with running an international child sex-trafficking ring, for example, sustains the moral judgment of those who think the Clintons are so evil that nothing—not even sex trafficking in children—is beyond them. “Lock her up” and “Killary” signal a conviction that Hillary Clinton does unthinkably bad things and lies about them—the specifics are beside the point of the larger narrative. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 130
Categorization
- DEFINE: Introduces Bruner’s coined term ‘narrative necessity’ as the mechanism by which conspiracist claims gain force.
- XREF: connects to: Conspiracy theorists can endorse the very evil they oppose as a grim necessity — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 332; Specific claims are subordinate to a superordinate conspiracy narrative — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 195; Conspiracist claims must fit the larger story regardless of specifics. (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Conspiracist claims must fit the larger story regardless of specifics.
#corroborates(0.98) - Specific claims are subordinate to a superordinate conspiracy narrative
#corroborates(0.95) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 195 - Conspiracy believers abandon specific claims while retaining a core that something must be wrong
#expands(0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 214