Conspiracy Theories

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Many events have occurred or are currently occurring for which we have no explanation. A lot of information is hidden from the public's eyes and ears, which fuels the public's desire to discover those hidden pieces of information. Man is an inquisitive being by nature; we want to know why things happen. Man's nature has resulted in the scientific and technological advancements we have today. But our curiosity is not limited to the scientific realm; it pervades every aspect of our daily lives.

The need for evidence

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The desire to understand why is never-ending, which is why we conduct investigations. The end result of investigation is evidence because we won't be able to prove a point without others doubting us. For example, the world was once thought to be flat, but advances in astronomy and other fields disproved this. But society refused to believe it until evidence of why the world is round rather than flat was presented. This evidence convinced many people to abandon their old belief in the flat earth.

Information vacuum

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Many things in governance, or important corporations, are done in secrecy. Some are to keep the state safe from harm, so that enemy states do not use the information to harm the state. The government keeps some things secret because they violate the law. For example, a country that decriminalized torture may need to torture some people in order to extract top security information from them. They'd do it in secret, to avoid public outrage, and so on. The information vacuum created by the government or top companies not disclosing all information leads people on a quest to figure out or imagine why.

Lack of trust

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Some people refuse to trust the mainstream media because they believe the government can easily control and regulate it. While it is true that most undemocratic governments have strict or total control over media outlets, this is not true for countries that have freedom of expression or media. Governments in strong democratic countries have broadcasting rules and regulations that they expect all media outlets to follow, which may include not revealing information that is state or top secret. This leads to people making up their own reasons by stringing together bits of true information and filling in the gaps with what they believe is the cause of something happening, which in most cases cannot be verified or backed up.

Some conspiracy theories may appear logical, but they are not founded on objective criteria. Many scientific theories are reliable because they can be tested, but conspiracy theories cannot be proven or tested. A conspiracy theorist may even cite a lack of evidence as proof that their theory is correct.

Based on fake news and facts

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Conspiracy theories are mostly based on fake news, which uses unrelated or doctored videos or images to persuade people to believe. Last month, some people spread a false tweet claiming that Elon Musk's hotel on Mars was about to open and would cost lodgers hundreds of thousands of dollars per night. Why do so many people believe and spread it? The reason was that they knew very little about Mars. They are unaware that there is no human structure on Mars and that no human has ever visited it! The irony is that conspiracy theorists claim that actual facts are conspiracy theories.

Conclusion
While it is true that news reported by reputable media may be incorrect, such errors are usually followed by an apology or the publication of new information that is correct.

While we cannot obtain all information or be aware of everything that occurs in the world, it is preferable to stick to information or facts that we are aware of rather than spreading fake news.