Conspirators, conspiracy & truth
issue ii.
For every rumour, there is always an iota of truth.
Growing up, I was so fond of my eldest cousin who had left Ekiti state to live with my family in Ibadan in preparation for her Joint Admission Matriculation Board, (JAMB) exams. I was curious though. I’ve heard of a few of my other cousins leaving their immediate families to live with close relatives when prepping for external exams.
Why was it common? Could it be the key to passing exams lies in changing their environment, or spending time away from their family? Would I also have to live with another relative when it is time for me to write my external examinations? While I didn’t have the answers, I was convinced that whatever it was, the exams were quite important and consequential to their life trajectory, or so it seemed.
The version of me that was 6-year-old, firstborn and only child-ish loved having someone he could call sister — at the time my eldest cousin. He would tag along with her everywhere she went like her handbag. Sometimes, he’d get a little protective of her when boys catcalled her — boys he considered no good.
The good part was she told stories, some of which I still remember and laugh. In her stories, she told me something I didn’t forget. She said, “For every rumour, there is always an iota of truth.” Perhaps someday, I will recount the tales she told me, at least the ones I can remember and the funny ones.
I have been thinking about conspiracy theory lately, and it is intriguing. Depending on the circumstance, it is often peddled as an alternative truth or false narrative and easily dismissed by those with the ‘facts’. I think conspiracies are not always bad.
It is common knowledge that conspiracy theories thrive on distrust in players involved, scepticism towards official narratives, suspicion, interpretation of random occurrences, and inability to accept accidents and coincidences. If it is labelled a conspiracy theory then it is inconsistent with what is considered ‘factual’, contradictory to what is known and lacking substantive evidence.
Though I don’t believe in conspiracy theories as I do not care so much about sinister agendas; I read about them to know what the propagators know. The most intriguing part is how it makes people think, feel and ask questions beyond what they have been told to be true. Ridiculous and shallow it may seem sometimes, they do have their logic.
The way to frame this is simple. Do we have conspirators? Can conspirators conspire while masking their real intentions? The answer is yes! One popular conspiracy that proved to be true is the fact that tobacco companies had scientific data that cigarettes were harmful but kept it from the public.
Just like rumours, some conspiracies may have an iota of truth. However, the problem is that this teeny-weeny truth would have been taken out of context, clouded with sentiments, misguided, weakened and discarded as a blatant lie by those with the ‘official narrative’.
I do not support extremist theories on any event, especially one that puts humans at risk. But, I am not sure the world is all rosy and truthful about everything; I have accepted this and am willing to live in it. However, people can have one or two conspiracy theories that they hold to themselves, in their left hands till they find the true version, or something close.
While having ‘funny’ ideas won’t enhance the quality of life, or change reality, a little ‘unharmful explanation’ wouldn’t hurt either. Who knows, one may find an iota of hidden truth; unless we fear that there may be a truth we are not ready to face because it questions everything we know.
My submission is simple. Conspiracy theories can be used to figure out conspiracies. As Sarah Kendizor argued, there are many real conspiracies, so we need conspiracy theories to help explain them. Not all conspiracy theories may be right, in the end, some may be crazy; but that is a matter of evidence, not disdainful hand-waving and dismissal. In that sense, the term conspiracy theory is not, and should not be, regarded as pejorative.
