Conspiracy theories feel true because genuine surveillance abuses make them plausible

Evidence

The words she was saying were essentially fantasy. But emotionally, to the many people now listening to her, they clearly felt true. And the reason they felt true is that we are indeed living through a revolution in surveillance tech, and state and corporate actors have indeed seized outrageous powers to monitor us, often in collaboration and coordination with one another. Moreover, as a culture, we have barely begun to reckon with the transformational nature of this shift. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 267

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the diagonalism thesis from earlier chapters and to Zuboff’s surveillance capitalism referenced in the next paragraph. — connects to: Real democratic vulnerabilities gave fertile ground to conspiratorial theories — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 900; Conspiracy worldviews build their plausibility on real, verified forms of abuse — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 248
• QUESTION: Klein asserts the theories ‘felt true’ because of real surveillance overreach — worth tracking whether she maintains this diagnostic stance or slides into equivalence.