I was thinking the other day about such people and the term 'conspiracy theorist', in particular 'CRAZY conspiracy theorist'. For many years, much of the information we've been presenting to people has been labeled 'crazy'. It struck me that the reason it is seen that way is that, for those people, it IS crazy. Whether or not it is true is besides the point.
Such people are like children (albeit some with prodigious intellects), and they quickly intuit what the implications for them of what we are saying. The implications of any 'crazy conspiracy theory' for such people are, essentially, that we live in a world where the authorities are corrupt and not only do not care about their wards (the people) but are actively attempting to harm them in one way or another.
The rational response to this (if it were assumed to be true) is for the people to ditch their reliance on authorities and assume responsibility for their own lives, the lives of others and the world around them, to take responsibility for the 'big stuff' that the authorities are supposedly responsible for.
The problem is that many people are fundamentally UNABLE to do this, and to ask them to do so (in the form of asking them to accept, or at least consider, an alternative view of the nature and intentions of the authorities of this world) is the same as asking a 5 year old child to ditch its abusive parents and go out in the world on its own, get a car, a job and start paying the bills. To the child, that suggestion is literally crazy because the child IS literally unable to do it.
This helps me to understand why so many people react with such derision and anger to 'conspiracy theories'. They know the implications of the theory for them, but that awareness is mostly unconscious, and they are therefore unable to be honest with themselves about it. This is the reason, IMO, that many people attack such theories in a dismissive way, not really knowing why they are doing so, although those with more developed intellects will make extra effort to marshal an apparently convincing rebuttal to the theory. This also suggests that those that go after conspiracy theories in a particularly energetic way are likely to be those MOST unable to live without a temporal authority in their lives.
Ultimately, the motivation of all such people is self-preservation, and has nothing to do with an open and objective assessment of the facts and where they lead. So there's little wonder that the debate on issues like these is usually so fractious and divided between 'us and them'. For both sides, it's personal. For one side, its about NEEDING to refuse or refute certain uncomfortable facts in order to maintain their childish world view. For the other side, its about NEEDING to know the Truth because the Truth is perceived as being essential to maintain order in their personal lives and the wider world.
Wow. That was beautiful.
We forget how much effort it takes, how much learning and overcoming of fear is required to grapple with the big ugly world.
Speaking of cars... Mine completely crapped out a while ago and everybody I knew reached out to offer their emotional support. -Which seems odd in retrospect, (it's just a car. They don't run forever.), but I understood why! I felt a choice, like I could become depressed and sad and anxious because I'd have to venture into the unknown to find a replacement, and where do you even start? I remember the moment where I activated some of the life-coping techniques I'd learned here and from other resources to shrug off the worry and just get on with the job, and even have fun with it. (The result was very positive.)
But that relatively minor challenge, a deliberate shift in perception and attitude, took basically 25 years of training.
What do you do when the problem is much much bigger? (Your drinking water is spiked with poison! Really, it is! Your phone is melting your brain! Honestly! Your doctor is wrong about.., just everything! etc. -Not to mention monsters and scary murals and UFOs and all that stuff.)
It's easy to forget how frightening and unmanageable things were back in the beginning. It's tough without the right programming from a young age.
I remember my father when I was a little boy. For some reason which I never understood at the time, when I'd say, "I wish that..." he would frown at me and say, "Never say that. Never wish."
Gosh! I was lucky to have such a great guy looking out for me. Thanks, Dad!