i have an ur-conspiracy theory that every elaborate conspiracy theory is a distraction from a simple and straightforward conspiracy. for every “trump is trying to uncover a vast child sex ring” there’s a “trump fucks kids and our system of capital protects him”
That kind of sums up the difference Naomi Klein makes in Doppelganger about conspiracy theory and leftist critics: Leftists will look at the system while conspiracy theorists will assume the system is good but some people, most often Jews, have somehow corrupted it.
Trump’s conspiratorial base are hugely and reliably animated by stories about impunity for elite sex predators. As well they should be! Elite sex predators get away with all kinds of crimes – not just Epstein, but the whole universe of powerful men, from Harvey Weinstein to Donald Trump, who systematically abused women for decades and got away with it – bragged about it, even!
But despite these very real abusers, the conspiracists in the Trump base are mostly concerned with imaginary abusers – Qanon’s shadowy cabal of adrenochrome-guzzling pedophiles, tirelessly freighting trafficked children from one nonexistent pizza parlor basement to the next, packed inside of very mid Wayfair home furnishings:
It’s the world in which real suffering children (kids in cages, children rotting in Alligator Auschwitz, kids working the night-shift at a meat-packing plant) don’t matter at all, while imaginary children (unborn children, Qanon victims, etc) take center stage.
The general difference, though unspoken, is that the kids being “trafficked” in their heads are white middle class suburban kids. A lot of conspiracy simply leads back to antisemitism, white supremacy, or both.
As Naomi Klein said: Conspiracy theorists often get the feeling right but the facts wrong.
If you’re into literature and willing to explore the absurdity of conspiracy theorists then Foucault’s Pendulum by Humberto Eco is a great read.
And somehow prophetic regarding the post truth world…
i have an ur-conspiracy theory that every elaborate conspiracy theory is a distraction from a simple and straightforward conspiracy. for every “trump is trying to uncover a vast child sex ring” there’s a “trump fucks kids and our system of capital protects him”
That kind of sums up the difference Naomi Klein makes in Doppelganger about conspiracy theory and leftist critics: Leftists will look at the system while conspiracy theorists will assume the system is good but some people, most often Jews, have somehow corrupted it.
Im sure you know Cory Doctrorow already but i still wanted to share this little section from one of his recent blogposts.
https://pluralistic.net/2025/07/19/systemic/
The general difference, though unspoken, is that the kids being “trafficked” in their heads are white middle class suburban kids. A lot of conspiracy simply leads back to antisemitism, white supremacy, or both.
Good king, eeeeeeevil nobility
I think this sums up pizzagate. The actual evidence was woeful but some high up people got very scared and shut it down.