Conspiracy theories: 5 questions to help distinguish truth from fiction

Katya Zvereva

Co-founder and coordinator of the "skeptics society».

No money is not got love life, career does not go up the hill? Output is: do not do anything, forget about working on yourself and blaming throughout the Zionists, Freemasons, the Illuminati, the CIA, the State Department, Monsanto, Reptilians or laboratory mice About mice - at the end of the article. .

The world is constantly something goes wrong as you want. And our natural suspicion of trying to see what happened in the secret meaning, or even malice. Whatever happens - for those who have to go by. And it's not what it seems.

A colleague did not say hello - he hates you. Doctor prescribed expensive drugs - want to breed for money. We tend to look for a trick and secretly motivated even in the little things of everyday.

It is not surprising that in the world there are conspiracy theories about almost all important events or phenomena.

McCartney dead, and Lennon was alive. The Large Hadron Collider is designed to awaken the Osiris, and the pyramids built by the ancient Atlanteans. The Americans were not on the moon, and the moon does not exist.

The Ice Bucket Challenge - this is a satanic ritual, and the hurricane "Katrina" - the climate weapon. In the 51st state of the United States hidden aliens, and "Titanic" did not sink. HIV has come up with the CIA, and Viktor Tsoi was their secret agent. Reptilians rule the world, but not only: More Freemasons, Zionists, the Bilderberg Group, the Committee of 300, the Club of Rome. They agree with each other - an interesting question.

For every event there exists a significant own special treatment, including intrigues, tricks and secrets. Conspiracy theorists claim that various important for the country, people or events throughout the world were the result of a secret agreement a certain group of people, for example, government or multinational corporations. Whoever these enemies of humanity, they are always very clever, cunning and infinitely powerful.

The plot as such is nothing unusual or supernatural no, sometimes operate covertly - the only way to achieve the desired. In the XVIII century, our country has gone through a whole epoch of palace revolutions. And the world learned in 2013 that the National Security Agency shouldEdward Snowden For everyone. Great fear of ordinary Americans proved true. it is not surprising after such discoveries that people do not trust its government and see the traces of his work in large-scale tragedies.

It is obvious that conspiracies do happen, even a fairly large scale. Paranoia is justified. And how do you know that before us: insane conspiracy theories, or still a real conspiracy?

Definition "Wikipedia" isConspiracy theoryBut it does not give a clear answer about where to draw the line and how to understand certain. Often, all that is within our reach - to estimate the probability of a conspiracy. And not necessarily just to understand this is whylunar conspiracy on Moon not waving the flag or that the wreckage foundRoswell incident near the town of Roswell. First we need to think about how all the organization of such an event is realistic and justified. And this will help in some questions.

1. Who are all these people?

Who are these knights without fear and without reproach, fanatically devoted to their work and to each other? Where did they come from? As the elected? Eject whether from favorites?

According to conspiracy theories, the Illuminati (substitute the name of any other secret organization) - a group of the richest and most influential men who determine the policy of almost all countries. For decades or even centuries of existence it had no splits, no betrayals. All participants work for a great purpose, forgetting about personal interests, preferences, ambitions. One for all and all for one!

It sounds too fantastic for our society.

Look at the UN meeting or NATO, even disputes on Twitter or Facebook between the rich and the famous - there is no unanimity, but there is a difference in the moral, political and economic views, conflict of interest, the desire to push its position and unwillingness to retreat.

And how is it that the powers that be, with different backgrounds and ideas about good and bad, all of a sudden We decided to work together on a common cause destruction of the Russian nation (or American, or all non-Jews)?

In addition, it is not clear who is on the list the richest. What if Forbes rating or changed man down and out? How do you determine that a neophyte ready to serve a higher purpose and will not wreak havoc?

2. How it works?

What is the structure of the organization? How is the connection? Who exactly does all the work? Who repairs printers and configure the server? Where is the secret base?

For a palace coup quite a few faithful companions: his goal - the elimination of one person for a limited period of time. But if we are talking about some kind of large-scale long-term plots, in addition to the higher elite, to decide the fate of humanity, we need more and huge State of the rank and file employees, who will write letters, buy equipment, send orders, monitor their implementation and resolve undesirables.

Someone had to bring tons of sand to the studio to build the lunar scenery, lighting mood, and then remove all as if nothing had happened. And silent, not to ask questions, not to tell your friends about it in the bar or the Oprah Winfrey television show.

3. How is maintained secrecy?

Why the conspiracy has not yet been disclosed? Where defectors? Where the work of the enemy intelligence agencies? Where ordinary human indiscretion?

When the Manhattan ProjectThe Manhattan project US intelligence agencies have applied great efforts to preserve secrecy: the rank and file employees do not know exactly what developed on the premises, but it is rigorously tested, we have signed a confidentiality agreement and were under constant supervision.

Despite all these measures, the only official reportBook I - General - Vol 14 - Foreign Intelligence US Department of Energy says about 1500 investigated cases unintended information leakage, and 1 200 cases of violations of the rules of work with classified documents.

Secrecy prevented not only human negligence, but also Soviet intelligenceEspionage and the Manhattan Project. Many became spies because of their sympathy for the Soviet regime, and could in the short term to convey a lot of secret documents. The Soviet Union took advantage obtained operating time and was able to create a nuclear bomb as early as 1949.

But why did the USSR, having a well-developed spy network, found a flight of Americans, its main competitors in space race, to the moon? Imagine a dialogue with supporters of the lunar conspiracy:

The further the dialogue goes, the more questionable assumptions. But supporters of the lunar conspiracy do not give up, and in 2015, they allegedly received irrefutable proof of its position: Stanley Kubrick himself in one of the video interviews saysStanley Kubrick Confesses To Faking The Moon LandingsThat it really took off landing on the moon in the studio. For some it is still an argument, although the video was a fake: it starred an actor, a bit similar to the famous director. All real "witnesses" of the lunar conspiracy somehow still silent.

In 1965 NASA It employed 411 000 people: it is difficult to believe that among them there was not a talker, who does not have boasted at a party how they fooled the whole world to the moon. Of course, we can not dedicate to the project details of all employees, but in this case it is necessary to convince them not to ask questions, do not look around, do not look for information on the Internet.

4. What is the purpose of the conspirators?

Why do I need a plot? What will the conspirators? Is the game worth the candle?

For some, the alleged conspiracy, even if they are not justified, the motivation may be understandable. For example, the US government wanted to justify the invasion of Iraq with the help of the September 11 attacks. The goal is clear, but it is worth to remember that no matter how significant the consequences, it does not prove the truth of the hypothesis.

Kept secrets is difficult, especially if such knowledge affects the fate of mankind and is a significant part of your life. Permanent control of a well has to pay - if not very good salary or threats as well as the promise of a brighter future.

But not all conspiracies benefit for each participant is clear. If you go back to the lunar conspiracy Neil Armstrong will be silent, because at stake is his reputation. But why keep the secret of an ordinary worker who cleaned the sand after the shooting and took away the scenery? The authorities in the country have long been other people, so to speak the truth is not dangerous, and interest in the subject has not disappeared. Why not write a revealing book or tell on YouTube? You can get fame and money, to restore justice and punish the thieves, but for almost 50 years silence reigns.

5. Do conspirators methods are rational?

This is exactly the best solution? Is there not simpler ways to get what you want?

People who are able to fool all of humanity should be extremely clever and prudent. Their decisions must be, if not the best, it is very well thought out and reasonable.

But not all the conspirators are evil geniuses. Judge for yourself: if, as stated in some theories, the building can not fall from them crashed into the aircraft, and even straight down, then why US intelligence agencies decided to play just such unrealistic story? Are they did not have a thought-out ideas for his evil plan?

Another example of a "cunning" US authorities - chemtrailschemtrails. Conspiracy theorists claim that it is not simply the condensate, and hazardous chemicals that poison civilians. But spraying poisons using passenger planes, which fly at an altitude of 9-11 kilometers, expensive and inefficient.

Questions you can think of quite a few, and ifaboutMost of the ones left without a clear answer, the more likely we face a fantasy rather than a realistic description of the plot.

If you look closely, the evil genius of conspiracy theories prove to be not such a genius, and their evil plans - not very elaborate. One can only wonder how such stupid decisions when they are able to control the situation or the whole world.

For the realization of their ideas are usually required organization without accidents, oversights and omissions. That everything went according to plan and is always performed accurately and on time. But it does not happen, and therefore, as correctly noted Pelevin, "The world is ruled not a secret box, and clear crap."

And on mice that were mentioned at the beginning, said Douglas Adams in his book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Restaurant "At the end of the universe"».