Conspiracy theories function as attention displacement devices for billionaires

Evidence

This is surely why the Bannons of the world, bankrolled by a rotating cast of billionaires, love conspiracy theories, whether they personally believe them or not: they reliably shift attention away from the scandals we know about and that many have already painstakingly proved, and focus us, perennially, on something more explosive, something that is just on the verge of being proved (The election really was stolen! The vaccines really are killing babies! And doctors!), but never quite yet. — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 743

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘never quite yet’ perpetual-future quality echoes Klein’s earlier point about how manufactured scandals run out the clock on real ones. — connects to: Billionaires seek unchallenged power over who knows, deciding, and behavior modification — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 877; Conspiracy entrepreneurs manufacture charges for money, celebrity, and influence. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 134