My two bits on conspiracy theories floating on social media

People love to believe in conspiracies. Rather they are attracted towards conspiracy theories. That’s because nowadays knowledge has become very vast. No single person can know everything that is to know. No single person can claim to understand everything that is there to be understood. He or she can understand only a part of their field of work. That also to a limited extent.

We drive a car. But do we know everything in minute detail about how our car functions? We use computers but do we know everything in minute details about how it functions? No ! These are just a few examples of how the advances in science and technology have made information and knowledge extremely complicated and vast.

And when something massive or unusual starts happening like pandemic or war people try to gain info and make an effort to understand it. But sometimes info is not forthcoming. Or it is beyond their comprehension. Because it is in scientific jargon and difficult to understand. And there is no clear cut villain or person whom the common public can pin the blame on.

In such cases most people in their endeavour to find answers fall for conspiracies. Why ? Because they are extremely easy to understand. There is a clear cut villain highlighted in conspiracy theories. There’s a definite person to blame for. And that makes people happy and contented because they have found answers which align with their thought process. Wether the answers are right or wrong is none of their concern. The answers should just align with their thoughts, fears, beliefs and level of understanding. Then it becomes the right answer.

But we need to understand that these nonsense things also appeal to our baser instincts and make us more anxious, agitated and angry.

Life is very simple and very beautiful to waste it on nonsense things. Also each of us have our own unique set of problems to deal with. Why add more to them?

Finally to sum up “Social media is only for communication and entertainment. It is and never will be, a source of authentic information.”

©️ShashikantDudhgaonkar