My Life As Don

There is no “as a whole” when it comes to conspiracy theories. They’re nuanced.

Take, for example, the conspiracy theory that “the elite” are taking over the world and have been conspiring to do so for at least a hundred years. Setting aside the fact that billionaires are actually doing this, “the elite” is an antisemitic dogwhistle based on the insular and closed nature of Judaism and a (highly racist and incorrect) belief that Jews are all wealthy and attempting to control the world economy. This is a bad conspiracy theory - it’s racist, it’s wrong, and it’s rooted in isolationism. Look up the American Jewish Committee for more information on that.

But then look at the “conspiracy theory” that Reagan purposely placed drugs in predominately Black communities in order to destabilize community organization efforts. Additionally, Hoover gave FBI agents free reign to assassinate Black Panther leaders and members indiscriminately. This isn’t a conspiracy theory - look up COINTELPRO. But before this information was released to the public, people who claimed it to be true were seen as conspiracy theorists, that the US government would never attack its own citizens that way. And yet, it did.

So I can’t really speak on conspiracy theories as a whole. Some are actually legit, no matter how much we don’t want them to be. Others are absolute bullshit (I’m looking at you, Q-Anon).

Honey, darling, listen to me. Would I lie to you? No, I wouldn't. If you ever find yourself driving around in the rural southern US, you simply must keep an eye out for one of these gentlemen: