Conspiracy Theories and Gen Z: Why Are We so Vulnerable?
Is it a sign of the times?
2020 has been a very eventful, volatile, and traumatic year for most of us. It started in January with the U.S. drone strikes that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and sparked tensions between the U.S. and Iran. I remember being on holiday in Spain over the Christmas break with my family, listening to news reports and wondering if we were seeing the beginnings of a World War.
Little did I know that this incident was just the first of many more to come. There were the impeachment hearings against President Trump, the bushfires in Australia, and then, the sudden accidental death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash. The month of March saw the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic and 149,000+ deaths and 4.32 million+ cases were reported in the United States by July. The protests against police brutality and racial injustice after the shooting of George Floyd started in May. We still have six more months left before the year ends with the Presidential elections.
Many have compared the year 2020 to 1968, which to date had been labeled as the worst year in modern American history in terms of violence and disruption due to the Vietnam War offensives and the Civil Rights protests among other events. Therefore, it is not a surprise that 2020 has been a time of immense political, social, and economic turmoil and there has been a surge in conspiracy theories.
What does Gen z see in conspiracy theories?
I decided to explore how younger people regarded conspiracy theories and started with combing through some Reddit channels. What I discovered was that while some contributors regarded it as an essential means of questioning the mainstream narrative and a search for the truth, others perceived it as a panacea “very soothing to the disturbed individual…like religion but with the spice of political intrigue and a sense of marked superiority over those who don’t believe.” One of the contributors pointed out that conspiracy theories gained steam due to a “rise of populism and skepticism”. All the opinions seemed valid and I thought it would be interesting to dig deeper and check which conspiracy theories were floating around during 2020 and then identify possible motives or affiliations.
Screenshot of Reddit Gen Z thread reflecting opinions on conspiracy theories
Nothing new about the existence of conspiracy theories
Of course, conspiracy theories are not a recent invention and have been around for a long time. Just take a look at the books by David Icke sold on Amazon promoting wild theories on the “murder of Princess Diana” and “how the same interconnecting bloodlines have controlled the planet for thousands of years”. Sounds fantastic, but obviously there have been converts so his influence cannot be disputed.
Even the motto and the images on the Great Seal of the United States has not been exempt. The motto Annuit cœptis “He (GOD) has favored our undertakings” traces its origins from the Latin poet Virgil and the symbols — the all-seeing eye, the unfinished pyramid, the bald eagle clutching an olive branch — have all been subject to much misrepresentation since 1776 when the seal first came into existence. Among some of the bizarre proclamations surrounding this national treasure are that the United States is destined to rule the world and its government is run by the secret organizations of Freemasons. See article.
Credits: Business Insider magazine (Image: Great Seal of the United States)
Some famous conspiracy theories targeted at Gen Z
Some conspiracy theories are especially targeted at Gen Z. Examples include the Pizzagate conspiracy theory about a Democratic child sex dungeon in a Washington pizzeria. This idea was floated approximately four years ago, a little before Trump’s election to the White House in 2016, and is still going strong on TikTok. Another conspiracy theory that has been circulated recently through a documentary called “Plandemic: The hidden agenda behind COVID-19”, claims that the pandemic was intentionally planned by powerful people. In many cases, these conspiracy theories gain traction because popular influencers like Mikki Wallis, Kim Cohen, and Rebecca Pfeiffer, with a large subscriber list, provide them the platform to reach Gen z, who mostly get their news from social media or John Oliver’s comedy skits. These social media stars make money out of sensationalism and clickbait headlines like Jefferey Epstein’s supposed murder of George Floyd being alive. See article.
Most members of Gen z, like me, are stuck at home due to the virus and bored out of their mind, with no clear direction on the path forward. Many of us are using social media to build a sense of community, normalcy, and a channel for communication — whether it be through YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. It is no surprise that conspiracy theories are getting a lot of traction at this time, as they often help us to cope with reality through alternative narratives that help us to deal with our helplessness.
Indeed, some social media platforms and fact-checkers have flagged or banned these stories. However, in most cases, the content is archived on the Internet forever and it is easy to keep resurrecting the misinformation time and again. Technology is also hand in glove in the quest to promote conspiracy theories using recommender algorithms that lead users through a bunch of questionable sources if they click on a video. Therefore, misinformation is automatically promoted with very little effort and broadcast to a large audience.
What is the QAnon conspiracy?
Recently, Twitter took an unprecedented step and banned accounts relating to the QAnon conspiracy.
According to Shayan Sardarizadeh and Jack Goodman, members of the BBC anti-disinformation team, QAnon is “a wide-ranging unfounded conspiracy theory that President Trump is battling a clandestine “deep state” network of political, business, media and entertainment elites, often involving Satanic plots and child trafficking.”
It is unique in that it has incorporated other smaller conspiracy theories. These include Pizzagate (that claims the Democratic party is involved in a pedophile ring) and Obamagate (that claims former President Obama has spied on Trump using wiretapping methods that were similar to Nixon’s Watergate scandal). The marketing seems to be derived out of a James Bond novel as a supposed official called “Q” with top security clearance posts cryptic messages on an anonymous message board called “4chan”, about issues like the coronavirus being a “deep state” hoax.
Are conspiracy theories dangerous?
What makes the situation worse is when politicians and presidents seem to endorse these theories and give them legitimacy by drawing them out from the periphery of social media to mainstream discourse. To counteract the influence of conspiracy theories, it is important to understand the motivations behind their promotion and how they can be weaponized by certain fringe groups based on their ideological preferences.
At their best, conspiracy theories are harmless, but at their worst, they may be extremely dangerous. Interestingly, due to the growing anti-vaccine lobby, measles that had been eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, has again made a comeback because of claims that vaccines cause autism. Recently, an 18-year-old Ohio teenager, Ethan Lindenberger, told lawmakers that his mother, an anti-vaccine advocate, relied on Facebook for her information and so, did not get him vaccinated.
When the idea that Covid-19 was created by a Chinese bioweapons lab was circulated, it resulted in an immense backlash against the Chinese-American community in the United States and provoked racial violence against them. Similarly, when the COVID-19 pandemic is touted as a hoax, many people think that face masks are anti-freedom or unconstitutional and it just helps to spread the disease.
Therefore, conspiracy theories may have a wide reach and its proponents may have influence in disconnected domains like terrorism, science, health, climate change, etc. Ultimately, proponents of conspiracy theories aim to use “prejudice, witch hunts, scapegoating” for economic or political gain.
Given the current political climate and divisions in our society, I feel that a lack of trust in the government and traditional media, combined with the proliferation of new media and online forums may be responsible for the sudden surge of conspiracy theories. The fascination over conspiracy theories is due to the sense of mystery and intrigue that surrounds them, similar to how an audience feels when reading a “whodunnit” mystery novel. Though conspiracy theories have the characteristics of investigative journalism, they are far removed from it because of the lack of evidence. The Gen z generation has become uniquely susceptible to it because of our reliance on social media platforms, the restrictions of being at home due to the pandemic, the divisiveness in race and politics, and finally our reliance on influencers and celebrities.
