How to Talk With a Conspiracy Theorist
Hint: Don’t talk about the conspiracy theory.
Dear Karin,
I try to have productive conversations with conservatives, but I find it really challenging when they start talking about Obama being born outside the U.S. or the “deep state,” or the “global warming hoax.” How should I respond when someone believes in crazy conspiracy theories?
Sincerely,
Stymied
Dear Stymied,
Political conspiracy theories — whether on the right or left — pose a unique challenge. It’s disorienting and infuriating when an otherwise rational person begins pontificating about QAnon or the dangers of vaccination or George Soros’s plan to undermine American democracy.
The natural impulse in those moments is to argue and tell them exactly why they’re wrong, but you probably know from experience that won’t change their mind. As Nancy Rosenblum, the co-author of A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy argues, a conspiracy theory is a “closed system” of beliefs that is unresponsive to reason.
