For the last half-decade, it has felt like we've been living in the land of conspiracy, with new rumors and misinformation in need of debunking every day. Reality — or at least an agreed-upon version of it — has never felt easier to detach from, with alternate explanations readily available to sweep people up and send them tumbling down the rabbit hole of conspiratorial thinking. Yet despite how prevalent tinfoil hats seem to be today, widespread belief in bonkers conspiracies is not as new as it may feel. "Conspiracy theorizing is a human issue and appears, as far as I can tell, to be a constant throughout history," Joseph Uscinski, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, tells Mic.
It's certainly been a fixture of American history. It dates all the way back to the country's infancy, when rumors of secret organizations seeking to overthrow the government grew out of lingering fears of religious persecution. Many prominent events in American history have alternative conspiracy-laced explanations: the moon landing, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Area 51. "Seemingly all events and circumstances attract conspiracy theories. Events that are more salient will attract more conspiracy theories, largely because more people are paying attention," Uscinski explains. "Conspiracy-minded people concoct conspiracy theories around things that they are paying attention to."
