Do you believe in faith?
This sounds like a dumb question, but it's germane to the subject of conspiracies, because people who believe in conspiracies have faith in sources that may not necessarily be true.
The Wiki definition of faith is: confidence or trust in a person or thing; or the observance of an obligation from loyalty; or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement; or a belief not based on proof; or it may refer to a particular system of religious belief, etc. It seems that faith has many connotations and is used in many different ways.
The word comes from Middle English and Anglo-French feid, which means to trust. It's basically the idea of fidelity.
I'm more concerned with the idea of faith as it applies to believing in these conspiracy theories. Some people have faith in the media. An old yet modern adage going around says: if it's on the Internet it must be true. The same could be said for what's printed in newspapers, magazines and what's said on TV. Not many people try to check out the claims that are made in newscasts and on the Internet. They just assume that what's said is true.
Is this a psychological problem or is it intrinsic to the human species? That's a good question, but an answer is difficult to discern. That's because people don't always believe in what they say they do. It's as if they present one face to the public and keep a hidden face for themselves. In other words, they're two faced. It's difficult to determine what people actually believe in. Some of this may be self-delusion or a defense mechanism. I think that it's how the human brain functions when encountering equivocal information. It's easier to just accept it. It's appears that unequivocal information is hard to come by.
A good example of misplaced faith is the tabloid magazines. These publications go out of the way to publish lurid and sensational articles on celebrities even though what they say is blatantly false. People are attracted to sensation, especially of the sexual kind because it's titillating. Sometimes, the articles are about the fact that a celebrity is near death, and they show pictures of the celebrity physically decimated. This is grossness taken to the egregious level. How could anyone have faith in that kind of patronizing sensationalistic journalism?
Religious faith is a different matter. Faith in God and theological ideas requires faith because none of it can be proven. But, even there it requires an element of trust. At least trust in God is more valid than trust in any government or institution. However, even religious faith is riddled with problems. Each religion claims to be the true religion and that they are the only path to God. The faithful do what the name suggests, they have faith in the message without questioning if it is true.
Most churchgoers don't question anything. They rely on the pastor, rabbi, or imam to interpret the Bible, Torah, or Quran for them. I don't know about Jews and Muslims, but I do know that most Christians don't read the Bible. They have faith in the pastor to do it for them.
When it comes to conspiracy theories, it's a divided world out there. Some people think that they're true, while others debunk them. I maintain a neutral position in which I look at the facts and determine what to believe. I don't have faith in the media to tell the truth about anything. In most cases they're interested in attracting readers by using sensationalism. That's unfair, but it's a fact of life. Be weary my friends!
Thanks for reading.