The System is Rigged: Conspiracy theories and the revenge of the losers

And Jason's personal multilayered and Maimonidean theory of conspiracy theories

Hello Hello Mega-Orderers,

Why does the world seem so disordered these days? Well one of the reasons is clearly connected to fake news, conspiracy theories, and junk information. These phenomenon cause much of the media and the policymaking establishment to spend time dealing with problems that are not real or having to craft policies to deal with conspiratorial concerns rather than real concerns. But how exactly do conspiracy theories cause disorder? One analysis is that Conspiracy Theories are calls to actions by the powerless to ‘take back control’ from the powerful. Whether they rely on pure fantasy is not important, it is the implicit call to action that to my mind makes them a conspiracy theory. And hence, to my mind, all conspiracy theories actually encode some sort of revolutionary call to action. Yet for others, they disorder for different reasons.

From immigrants eating pets, to Jewish space lasers starting wildfires, to 9/11 ‘trutherism’, our disordered world – and particularly the rhetoric surrounding the 2024 US Election – is awash with conspiracy theories. Are these theories: wonspiracy Theories are calls to actions by the powerless to ‘take back control’ from the powerful. Whether they rely on pure fantasy is not important, it is the implicit call to action that to my mind makes them a conspiracy theory. And hence, to my mind, all conspiracy theories actually encode some sort of revolutionary call to action.

To explore this complex world, Jason Pack is joined by Joseph Uscinski. He is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Miami, author of ‘Conspiracy Theories: A Primer’, and editor of Conspiracy ‘Theories and the People Who Believe Them’.

Throughout the episode (Listen Here), Jasononspiracy Theories are calls to actions by the powerless to ‘take back control’ from the powerful. Whether they rely on pure fantasy is not important, it is the implicit call to action that to my mind makes them a conspiracy theory. And hence, to my mind, all conspiracy theories actually encode some sort of revolutionary call to action. Jason and Joe discuss how conspiracy theories have become intertwined with certain types of modern political movements (especially disordering neo-populist ones), the psychological and social factors that motivate belief in conspiracy theories, the role of antisemitism throughout much conspiratorial thinking, and how these theories often target marginalised groups. The show closes with various sharp debates like over whether entertainment value or calls to political action have key roles to play in the spread of conspiracy theories. Lastly, when they Order the Disorder, Jason and Joe disagree vehemently over the role of global institutions should play in curtailing the spread of conspiracy theories.

(Listen Here)

Lastly, To get the special substack-only second episode on Backgammon and Politics with former World Champion of Backgammon Sander Lylloff which drops tomorrow October 23rd remember to be subscribed to the substack.

Now for a Bit of the Jason Theory of Conspiracy Theories as multi-layered messaging with imbedded call to actions (We get into it slightly during the episode but will get into in more with some scholars of Medieval philosophy in 2025 on the pod):

I dragged Jon on Disorder with a bit a surreptitious conspiratorial agenda..  I have a conspiracy to conspire with Joe to formulate a unified field theory of how to unlock the meaning of conspiracy theories….. sadly Joe didn’t really play ball with my theory that Conspiracy theories are symbolic and  multi layered… that is that they are carefully crafted and Maimonidean in that they encode critical so-called truths and platforms of political action that cannot be articulated in direct language… I believe this theory is critical to explain why the wealthiest and most sophisticated people on earth from elon musk to trump and vance and farage articulate conspiracy theories that they must know to be factually false… and sometimes agree that they know to be false… I argue that these sophisticated actors know the given conspiracy theory is factually false but metaphorically true or symbolically true or articulate true political programmes.

 i.e. the 2020 election was stolen is symbolically ‘true’ for some believers because if you are a white Christian nationalist and you fundamentally don’t believe that blacks and jews or newly naturalized foreigners should get equal representation with ‘god fearing American born white Christians’ hence although you can’t state that this is your reason for feeling the election was stolen… so you ‘believe’ that there were irregularities at polling stations and you evince to fundamentally agree with the idea that it was stolen… and then if we investigate great replacement theory that jews are secretly bringing in immigrants from the middle east into Europe and latin American into the US to dilute the white race and weaken it… to the believer this theory contains a certain truth… if you believe that the character of your town in Ohio has changed too much and you don’t like that people can’t speak English at your local diner and you want it to be changed… And you may also believe that Jews have too much power over the media and hence whammo the conspiracy theory speaks to some multi-layered perception that attracts the believer as true on multiple levels beyond the literal level.

So the point here is that what is going on is a form of double truth theorem of the kind attributed to Averroës (as Ibn Rushid was known in medieval Europe) where the literal meaning can be said to be true for the masses and the inner meaning to be true for the philosophers or that the whole theories are Maimonidean— meaning they say things in coded language WHICH CANNOT BE SAID OPENLY. I.e. the idea that Blacks, Hispanics, and Jews should not be able to vote equally with white christians cannot be articulated by a major political candidate.. but the idea that the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ by immigrants stuff ballot boxes can, but it is decoded by ‘awoken’ hearer as meaning the former thing… well This is just a loose sketching of this idea…

That was a teaser of Jason’s grand unified theory of conspiracy theories and we will have more content on this in 2025.

For More Background on Conspiracy Theories

For various experts who think Conspiracy Theories entail and motivate actions:

Get Joseph’s book, Conspiracy Theories: A Primer: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/conspiracy-theories-joseph-e-uscinski/1133459048

Listen to Joseph explain conspiracy theories and the people who believe them:

Listen to Joseph on confronting conspiracy theories:

https://www.podcastone.com/episode/Episode-8---Confronting-Conspiracy-Theories-with-Joseph-Uscinski

Read how conspiracy theories have taken hold in far right communities: https://www.thejc.com/lets-talk/i-went-undercover-among-the-fascists-and-this-is-what-i-found-rd5o5whq

Read the definition Jason uses for popular conspiracy theories: https://allthatsinteresting.com/popular-conspiracy-theories

Read definition of the 6 types of conspiracy theories: https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2024/02/25/a-psychologist-explains-6-types-of-conspiracy-theories/

Now Just for our paid subscribers a bit about how the Republican Crypto Bros are ‘conspiratorially’ manipulating the betting markets to make it look like Trump has momentum:

A Mystery $30 Million Wave of Pro-Trump Bets Has Moved a Popular Prediction Market - The Wall Street Journal