Joining the conspiracy

You just can’t win with a ­conspiracy theorist. For him or her, the long-established association of conspiracy theory with paranoia goes to show that there is a secret plot to conceal the truth and discredit truth-tellers. However, as Joseph Heller put it, ‘Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.’ And, in any case, perhaps the sanest response to the prevailing conditions is paranoia. Look at the news. There’s the bankers, of course, conniving to rip us off. But even doctors are at it too. GlaxoSmithKline has just been fined $3 billion for convincing them to prescribe inappropriate medicine.

Yes, these are indeed high days for conspiracy theories. The internet has vastly increased information availability and awareness of the forces which govern our lives. Meanwhile, we remain storytelling mammals, programmed to make sense of what’s out there: and there is nothing so efficient as a good conspiracy theory to provide a comforting explanation of a crazy world.