What is a conspiracy?

The Wiki definition of a conspiracy theory is: an explanatory or speculative hypothesis suggesting that two or more persons or an organization have conspired to cause or to cover up, through secretive planning and deliberate action, an event or situation typically regarded as illegal or harmful.
Wow! It took that many words!

My definition is that a conspiracy theory is pejorative belief in the unmitigated corruption of mankind. In other words it's the result of people's loss of faith in the innocence and forthrightness of human organizations and institutions. It means that people believe that governments and political organizations have gone awry and are engaging in egregious self-serving activities. And, they believe this without any verifiable proof. It's a kneejerk reaction to the death of a political figure, or a celebrity, or some natural disaster or new disease. Much of it is tied up in the idea of ancient aliens or UFO's. It's almost a religious reaction to many natural events.

I can understand why people adhere to conspiracy theories. It's easy to blame the government and other powerful organizations because they hold the power and dictate how we should live our lives. They confiscate our hard-earned money and leave us in the dark about the dangers that lurk around every corner. Fear breeds distrust and suspicion. Politicians lie to us, telling us what we want to hear, and they deliberately hold back information that we should know. Absence of information leads to suspicions of wrongdoing. It follows naturally.

Some conspiracy theories cause negative reactions against them, which only fans the flames of faith in these theories. It has become a popular culture feature, so much so that web sites have cropped up with all of the latest theories, and there seems to be no end to them. Just check out the tabloids. They thrive on conspiracy and exaggerated information and altered photos from paparazzi driven cults.

Many of these conspiracy theories feed fuel to people who suffer from paranoia. They see falsehood and mischief in darn near everything. Most people tend to fear something, especially things that they can't personally control, and this fear leads to easy persuasion.

Most conspiracy theories follow Jesse Walker's five types: Enemy Outside; Enemy Within; Enemy Above; Enemy Below; and the Benevolent Conspiracies.

The enemy-outside threats are devilish people from outside. The enemy-inside threats come from insiders lurking within. The enemy-above threats come from powerful people manipulating the system. The enemy-below threats arise from the lower classes. The last type of threat represents angelic forces or aliens that come to help mankind.

Conspiracy theories have become very popular and will never go away as long as paranoia exists.

Thanks for reading.