Distrust, Skepticism, Motives, Truth, Disprove.
How do Conspiracy theorists think?
I tried to go with something different this week. I was planning on looking at a famous scientist or philosopher who I liked and see how they got to their point of view which I ultimately agreed with. I decided it would be too easy to research something I thought was ‘the correct or established way to do things’. Enter conspiracy theorists. The moon landing was faked, the earth is flat and the upper echelons of humanity are all lizard people.
There aren’t a small amount of people in the world who believe one or all of these things, hundreds even thousands get sucked in. What causes these irrational beliefs? What thought process to these people go through? Hopefully I will answer some of that today.
Distrust
Whether its the government, the ones in control or just the ‘powers that control us’, most conspiracies are born out of distrust for the information we are spoon fed from birth. We are taught that certain things happened at certain times and when we question it, we are told “Well it’s always been this way”. Governments lie, whether thats for our best interest or theirs. If they have the capacity to lie about the small things, surely we have to question the big things.
Skepticism
Born from distrust, conspiracy theorists are asking questions about basic fundamentals that we take for granted. Has there really been no contact from extraterrestrial life, is the earth a globe, does gravity exist. Human beings have always been disagreeing with each other. If one person believes that dragons are not real, you can bet there is someone out there that thinks they are, some might even say they’ve seen them.
Motives for lying
Why would ‘the powers that govern’ put all of the resources into faking these truths? Why would NASA photoshop every single photo of the earth? Is every private company thats ever gone into space or launched a satellite lied about the shape of the earth? Why? Well they all have something to gain. It’s obviously the conspiracy theorist’s job to find out what that is. Most conclusions point to the populous ‘not being ready’ for the truth.
Their Truth
Ok so we’ve established that the government are lying and none of the things they say are true, so what is? This is where the real meat and bones of conspiracy theory takes place. Well the moon landing was obviously shot in studio conditions or in the dessert, Bigfoot was the last of his kind, the aliens are already among us. Even one conspiracy has many truths believed by different members of the community. “The earth is flat and has ice walls”, “No it’s in a dome”, “There is a bigger world surrounding ours”.
Hard to Disprove
So the supposed truth comes out. Surely with modern science we can disprove pretty much every theory right? Well no. Can you 100% tell me that the loch ness monster was never seen? Do you know for sure that there isn’t a little humanoid beastie that roams Mexico’s arid areas and eats goats? Of course rationally these seem ridiculous but they can’t be disproven. Therefore they are true (according to the believers).
Logic. <– Argument ––––––> Disprove.
A common theme for conspiracy theories is that they lean so heavily on the disproving part of the argument that they neglect the logical part. Once someone has started to believe in one conspiracy, it’s easy to start to see how the others become more plausible. It’s a feedback loop that stems from the individual tendency to distrust authority and therefor be skeptical of what said authority has told you to believe.
Cryptozoology and Black Line Drawing
Cryptozoology is the study of proving that mythical and paranormal creatures, Bigfoot, Nessie etc are real. In Maine, USA there is the International Cryptozoology Museum. My black line drawing showcases common conspiracy thinking in a museum environment. Central objects on stands that call to light some basic truths. Astronaut helmet with the moon’s reflection, on a stand that says ‘Conspiracy’. Under this is the common ‘fact’ that is used to disprove. The next drawing is a model of the flat earth. Set out as if in a learning environment, with rods that show the rotation of the sun and moon. ‘Our Planet’ written on the stand, disprove us underneath. The last drawing is of a common government uniform with distrust written below’. These 3 drawings show how conspiracies can go from simple things like the government is lying, through to major historical events being fake, all the way to the earth being a different shape. Conspiracies come in all shapes and sizes (like the earth 😂). P.S. I don’t believe any of this stuff.
Development
After getting feedback from Sarah and peers I decided to give this outcome some more life. Rather than just looking like a quick sketch I have made it into more of an art piece. I used string and coloured card to represent all of the elements. Sarah had the idea of using string and just seeing where it fell onto the page. This was great but I felt it didn’t really fit with the linear unrelenting thought process. In the end I decided to go for harsh turns and straight lines as I felt this fit better. I also added a legend to the piece as per Winnie’s suggestion, to make each element clearer.
Reflection
I love how this final piece cam together. From my complicated sketches in the beginning to the simple line drawing and finally the string piece. After working in this medium I wanted to see some more examples of string exhibitions. I imagine having an exhibition where each part of my process has its own room which can be thoroughly explored through the use of string. To mock-up this large scale exhibition using my outcome I added some mini people to it. I really like how this looks and it makes you think that the original scale is quite ambiguous anyway.
Chiharu Shiota is an incredible artist who creates whole exhibitions using string. She explores human existence through experimental design. Her pieces are wonderfully eccentric and thought provoking. If I was to create mine on a larger scale, Chiharu’s would be the ideal reference material to look into.
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