Real past government conspiracies make continued belief in secret plots rational
Evidence
But all those plots were, in the end, exposed, as were Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the NSA’s spying on Americans. Antigovernment conspiracy theorists tend to overestimate the ability of bureaucrats to scheme in secret. Grand conspiracies are hard to conceal. Yet it’s not unreasonable—at all, even a little bit—to believe that the government is still engaged in nefarious and secretive behavior, because we know that it has done so in the past. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 80
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to vault claim that conspiracy beliefs are grounded in actual historical abuses, and to theories of grounded vs ungrounded paranoia from prejudice-psychology sources. — connects to: Documented historical injustices make group conspiracy suspicion a rational default — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 172; Real historical atrocities render parallel conspiracy claims plausible. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 179; Real conspiracies exist and cannot always be cleanly separated from false ones. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 50 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Real governmental conspiracies make dismissing all conspiracy theories irrational
#corroborates(1.00) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 35 - Real democratic vulnerabilities gave fertile ground to conspiratorial theories
#corroborates(0.80) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 900 - Real conspiracies by capital are routine while conspiracy theory distorts them
#complicates(0.72) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 772 - Conspiracy theories stay viable by anchoring to real events people care about
#expands(0.70) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 747