In short, the simpler your explanation, the better. Yet many conspiracy theories routinely contradict Occam’s razor, a philosophical principle based on the idea that the more assumptions needed to explain something – whether it’s a scientific law or a conspiracy theory – the less reliable the explanation. Though conspirators attempt to hide their actions, patterns exist everywhere. Successful conspirators hide their identities and actions we must, therefore, always be wary, even when there’s little reason for suspicion.ĭots can always be connected. For this reason, the horrible machinations of “evil” conspirators become more believable than a fluke or an accident. It’s the idea that someone, somewhere – from God down to human conspirators – plays a role in what happens to us.Īs political scientist Michael Barkun details in his book “ A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America,” conspiracy theories usually hinge on three core beliefs: Indeed, many are drawn to what science writer Michael Shermer has termed “ agenticity” – the tendency to infuse patterns with meaning and agency. Workers prepare to take away the car in which Diana, Princess of Wales, died on Sunday, Aug. I’ve found that belief in conspiracy theories is more about a refusal to accept the randomness of life and tragedy than it is about the existence of evidence (or lack thereof). In 2008, after a lengthy investigation, the U.K.‘s Metropolitan Police reported the death a “tragic accident,” noting that Diana’s driver had been drunk.īut even this didn’t end the intrigue. Most of these theories were proven to be either wrong or misleading. she arrived at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris (3.5 miles away) at 2:06 a.m., over 90 minutes later.Ĭould she have been saved? Why was the response so slow? The initial call notifying emergency services came at 12:26 a.m. Some have also been suspicious about the emergency response to the accident. (Others say that Diana was pregnant with Dodi Fayed’s baby.) The thinking went that the royal family wanted to prevent Princess Diana from marrying her boyfriend, Fayed, the son of a prominent Egyptian billionaire. Some suggested that MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, caused the crash by blinding Diana’s driver with a strobe light. Shortly after Princess Diana’s death, numerous notions started to circulate suggesting conspiracies against her. Kennedy, often have more to do with our lives than theirs. In the end, our reasons for entertaining conspiracy theories about luminaries, whether it’s the princess of Wales or John F.
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