Fear of invisible government manipulation drives false flag conspiracy theories.

Evidence

One of the most intense and immovable American fears is of subliminal, hidden government control. We’re also worried about the other, more overt kind—armies marching down the street, doors kicked in, guns in our faces—but the murky circumstances behind several major military conflicts, combined with revelations of various secret FBI and CIA programs, have helped foster the suspicion that we might be controlled and manipulated through more subtle means, ones beyond our recognition. That’s one reason for paranoia about such threats as mind-controlling fluoride in the water supply, subliminal messages in advertising and Disney movies, and brainwashing in schools through the Common Core curriculum. But the fear of invisible government manipulation is also largely accountable for the prevalence of theories of false flags: the idea that mass casualty events have been orchestrated or carried out by the government to consolidate its power. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 351

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: COINTELPRO’s tactics seeded paranoia across later conspiracy communities. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 856; Conspiracy theories convert vague existential dread into manageable concrete fear — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 702; Unofficial social admission barriers breed outsider belief in hidden conspiracies. (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy theories convert vague existential dread into manageable concrete fear #expands (0.80) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 702
• Unofficial social admission barriers breed outsider belief in hidden conspiracies. #expands (0.75)
• Political exclusion drives the mob toward conspiratorial readings of power #expands (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 311