What must be ignored for everything to remain intact?

A recent article published in the British Psychological Society tried to carefully float an idea like silk on a summer breeze, but it landed like a donkey on a sandcastle. It explored why people believe in “conspiracy theories” without properly interrogating what “conspiracy theories” even are. The key assumption, never questioned, is that conspiracy is just….silly. No need to look for any data underpinning them, no need to interrogate the documented examples of them happening, instead just examine why people are stupid enough to believe them.

By recasting inconvenient data as conspiracy theory, its apparently possible to create the illusion that such data doesn’t exist. Parallel to this runs the force of social shame; these silly ideas damage your credibility, don’t investigate them, no matter how obvious the error in the reasonable position.

In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, this dynamic has never been more obvious. The elephant is in the room, blowing its trunk, flapping its ears and stomping its feet, but still, the social cues are so powerful, so total, that to even acknowledge the elephant is considered delusional enough to warrant scientific study. What remarkable times we live in.