The article literally says that a recent review shows that this is unlikely.
Moreover, the occurrence of conspiracy theories is being countered by more openness and helping people feel less powerless.
Examples of such powerlessness could be failure of the government to communicate important facts and decisions, repeated events of large companies overpowering the will of the people, etc.
This makes sense to me. The conditions are right for successful conspiracies, whether they truly exist or not. History is rife with real, proven conspiracies — both failed and successful. That’s what happens when power is concentrated and unchecked.
Which sucks because it means anyone targeted by a real conspiracy cannot get help from anyone, for fear of being labeled mentally unstable.
Being mentally unstable isn’t a character flaw. We should be encouraging everyone to get help. A good therapist knows what a delusion looks like, what the criteria are, and how to develop a relationship with the client to gently challenge them.
I did a little deep dive on them recently when I realized I was talking to a narcissist with grandiose delusions claiming experts in sociology and such “made up” the gender/sex distinction and, whaddya know, he thinks narcissism is a made-up disorder, too. He’s been around our discord server for months and I finally popped off and posted the criteria along with how his multitude of claims fit. He understandable got pissed, but at least everyone else is aware what the criteria is now and how to walk through it themselves. (And to be clear, I only weaponized the term against him because he referred to people using neutral pronouns - such as myself, as he is well aware - delusional).
If you hold a belief with absolute conviction that has been falsified, shown counter evidence, and it impacts your functioning in society, then you may have a delusional belief. It’s not uncommon or a big deal once you can recognize it and work out the logic.
We really just need to be teaching psych in high schools, honestly. Destigmatize it. Ik I’m stigmatizing narcissism a bit here, so lemme add that being a narcissist doesn’t mean a person will act as abusively (if at all) as the individual I’ve been dealing with is, nor does abuse imply a mental disorder. It gets nuanced but I think it’s fascinating
And that is exactly what the illuminati lizard people who rule the world want
One thing that I’ve found helpful is from Naomi Klein in her most recent book. To paraphrase - conspiracy theories often get the feelings right, but the facts wrong. For example, we are all being screwed over by banks and hedge funds, but it’s because of the structures of capitalism, not the Jews. But it’s much easier, mentally, to pin the blame on one specific person or group than to grapple with the flaws inherent in the social systems we’ve created.
Can you prove that the structure of capitalism is why we’re being screwed over by banks and hedge funds?
Sure. For one, the growth imperative means that any business must return a profit as its primary function. If profits are hard to come by, that can lead to things like predatory lending and higher fees for consumers, not to mention investment in environmentally destructive, but profitable, activities. Second, by commodifying human necessities like housing and turning them into investment vehicles, housing is increasingly unaffordable for working people as prices go up. I could go on, if you’d like, but I think those are both fairly compelling arguments.
