All conspiracy theories hinge on the rejection of authority, Professor of History Dave Stewart said in a talk Nov. 10.
Stewart discussed popular conspiracy theories like the fake moon landing and the Illuminati, and how these theories arise from groups who feel that they lack power.
“In some cases they will try and say that the government or some group is lying about something, covering it up, or manipulating things,” Stewart said.
According to Stewart, there are four categories to conspiracy theories: secret societies, deceitful governments or groups, enigmas, and cryptids.
“Enigma are things that aren’t necessarily conspiracies but defy explanation like Atlantis or the Bermuda Triangle,” Stewart said. “Then Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster are what scholars call cryptids — an animal whose existence is unsubstantiated.”
When it comes to the moon landing, there are three basic strains of the movement, similar to the different denominations in Christianity, according to Stewart.
“Some people believe that all the moon landings were fake and others believe that the first half of them were fake,” Stewart said. “But the last and my favorite is that we did land on the moon but we faked the footage anyway because what we found there was terrible.”
Stewart said a few common reasons include that the photos were photoshopped, the pictures don’t have stars, the astronauts did not develop cancer, and other things.
“Most of these claims are built around common sense and are not outlandish,” Stewart said. “All we must do is raise a reasonable common sense objection.”
Stewart said possible objections to the theories are that exposure may have been too low to capture the stars, photoshop didn’t exist in the 1960s, and astronauts had insignificant radiation exposure.
When it comes to the Illuminati, Stewart said the lack of evidence acts as evidence.
“There is no evidence of the Illuminati because they are that good at leaving no evidence,” Stewart said. “This is what compels so many to believe in this theory.”
Stewart said that theories like these arise from a need to create an ordered world. When evil occurs, people would rather believe it was orchestrated rather than happening without reason.
Senior Lydia Hilton organized the event and said she appreciated learning how conspiracists arrived at their claims.
“I am generally very fact-based but it was interesting to consider these theories because they are definitely coming from somewhere,” Hilton said, “so it was interesting to hear the why behind their beliefs.” Sophomore attendee Lucy Treene also said it was helpful to hear the reasoning behind the claims.
“It was super interesting to hear and try to understand the logic behind the conspiracists,” Treene said. “People will really believe in whatever you want them to believe.”
