The Inner World of the Conspiracy Theorist
A strategy to avoid our early pain around authority.
Living in our modern world, where narrative warfare is openly taking place on every social media platform and street corner, there is one narrative that I find especially bugs me (to use a choice phrase).
It concerns Mr Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum. People desperate to convince me that a high-level conspiracy is taking place to enslave all humanity, right before our eyes, invariably latch onto Mr Schwab as “proof apparent” of the veracity of their claim.
Why?
Because Mr Schwab, unlike presumably most other high-level global enslavers, does not keep quiet about his ideas.
He says things like, “Guys, we can be happy without owning material stuff.” He says things like “Hey, did you know we could all eat bugs and be totally healthy?”
Because Mr Schwab is happy to openly discuss such possibilities, in his inimitable German accent, this is taken by those desperate to believe in James Bond-style bad guys, as incontrovertible proof that a huge elite conspiracy exists.
Faced on regular occasions with a barrage of this so-called “proof,” accompanied by the demand that I too believe in the conspiracy and propagate its memes, I usually rebuff the applicant something like this:
Uhm, if this elite conspiracy is so hidden, why is Mr Schwab making very public statements like this? Wouldn’t he be better off keeping his secret plan, er, secret?
I mean, are you sure that you don’t just have a whopping great trip with authority and hierarchies, originating from how you learned to deal with your parents’ control as an infant? I do work in therapy, you know.
Like how is it for you when someone in authority tells you what to do?
Do you think it’s possible that you may have learned to go along with authority physically, but to resist mentally, saying to yourself “You’re never going to get me?”
And that now that our world is undergoing a major transition, this mental resistance is being ramped up inside of you to the max, and all the repressed anger and pain around your early experience with authority is coming closer and closer to the surface?
And that you are avoiding to feel this very personal wounding, choosing instead to project it onto the world and see it there?
Furthermore, that you are now seeking to recruit others to your viewpoint as a learned strategy to try and keep the barrier inside of you strong, so that you don’t have to feel your early vulnerability?
Every now and again, I meet someone who is intrigued by this possibility.
But, as a general rule, people get away from me as quickly as they possibly can.
Which I am okay with as I don’t feel the need to surround myself with any more conspiracy believers than I already have.
I take their avoidance as confirmation that hiding from their deeper feelings is precisely what they are doing.
And that they are simply not ready to stop projecting and trying to recruit others. They are not ready to feel their own pain.
And that, even though it’s my trip to try to confront them, this is also okay.
Hi Dev
A rich vein to explore! What you have written seems multi-faceted to me, but some of the 'threads' appear to somewhat entangled.
- Yes, I have 'authority issues' from childhood. Yes, these can probably lead me to react to certain stimuli in ways that I cannot yet see. Yes, it's worth me being aware of these as much as possible and discounting for them if I can.
- In fact, I have a problem with the idea of (perceived) authority (with the meaning that someone else assumes the right to tell me what to do, rather the sense that they have expertise/knowledge which makes them someone worth listening to). Why wouldn't I? Whilst I acknowledge the reality that some people will seek to bully, our society is built on the idea that 'all are equal under the law' (even if that isn't exactly working perfectly...). Agreeing to allow certain people certain roles where they can instruct others in order to make life/society work better is a different thing. As is any agreed authority coming with transparency and accountability.
- I agree that there are people who deliver a "barrage of this so-called 'proof'" with the demand that others adopt their views and that this may well often come from their childhood authority issues...and that doesn't mean that was they say is necessarily incorrect. ("You may be paranoid, but that doesn't mean they're not necessarily out to get you"!!). To be clear, I don't enjoy it when others do this either.
- I see a risk that you may be doing a similar thing with those who react to authority in this way to what you are accusing them of. You seem less to be challenging their thinking, as reacting to their (potential) authority-response and then negating any possibility of value in what they are saying. You seem to be pushing us to adopt your views (they seem to come with considerable 'charge').
- For example, when you discount the possibility that Schwab is as bad a guy as such people believe, you cite that he is open about his goals. Why does this preclude the possibility that he is conspiring with others to achieve those goals? I can think of many reasons why someone might publicise their intentions (maybe they get off on it, maybe it furthers their power trip, it is in line with requirements of certain dark/occult practices, they can 'control the narrative' more easily and use partial truths to hide deeper ones, by doing so they can head off some of the 'heat' that would likely arise as people put two and two together and started pointing fingers etc etc).
All that said, the dynamic that you raise around where I avoid facing what is behind the 'authority issues' is relevant and interesting to me. At the start of the 'covid' charade, I was prone to wanting to persuade others and have them 'wake up' as a result of the fears from what I was perceiving and the future-projections that were alive for me. The fear of malign domination was very high and I was definitely struggling to face this. It is not helped by the fact that most of what I foresaw turned out to be broadly accurate - and that doesn't justify the strident pressurising of others or trying to 'wake them up'.
You have spoken about your own journey with authority issues. I am curious what drives your (imo strong) reaction to others who have the same?
With love, mark