Conspiracy Theories and The Lure and Terror of Group-Think

CrimeReads

Factuality

Ownership

Conspiracy Theories and The Lure and Terror of Group-Think

From the Salem Witch Trials to the Satanic Panic of the 80s to the narratives spread by online conspiracy theorists today, group think has been around for centuries. I’m not sure what drives it—the need to feel a sense of superiority, the desire to be part of a larger and more powerful whole, the strange bonding that comes from sharing a common enemy. It could be all of those things, combined with the simple, sad fact that if enough people repea…