The Mental Chains of Conspiratorial Thinking

Chronicles ^ | November 2025 | Pedro Gonzalez

[Pelham]

"I believe, as Edmund Burke did, “that men of intemperate minds cannot be free” because their “passions forge their fetters.” This is a core precept of conservatism in the truest sense of that abused term, and that is why conspiracism is anathema to it, as it uses passions to fetter minds. It enslaves with untruths and nonsense that ultimately cause more confusion than clarity, like siren songs encouraging people to throw their brains against the rocks. It can have no place within an American right that wishes to stand for order and, yes, that thing that has become almost comical to invoke: virtue. But it matters, even now. "

[odawg]

“The right often references Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who called on us to “live not by lies.” That also means not turning a blind eye to those who have made a living by telling lies and, in turn, make others live by them.”

He has the gall to quote Solzhenitsy in order to, as it were, clinch his argument, when Sollzhenitsy spent a large part of his life exposing the communist conspiracy that took over the Russian nation and giving warning to the American nation.

[Jan_Sobieski]

In their mind, If you disagree with the hate Israel first crowd, you’re part of the conspiracy. Meanwhile Muslim nations get a preponderance of US Aid

[Chipper]

Government telling the truth vs. Conspiracy Theorists being right, isn’t even a close score.

[wintertime]

The scales fell off my eyes with Obama’s blazingly ***fake*** birth certificate. Even the so-called conservative media ignored it.

I’ve never been the same when it comes to media, even conservative media.

[WinstonSmith1984]

Building 7 didn’t kill itself...

[cgbg]

Old joke at this point.

Q. “What is the difference between a conspiracy theory and a conspiracy fact?”

A. “Six months.”

Lol.

[cgbg]

The best way to avoid conspiracy thinking is to believe exactly what The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and CNN tells you.

I have family members who do this—and it works for them!

Lol.

[one guy in new jersey]

A supposed scan of a paper document, presented in the form of a .pdf file ***with separable electronic layers like a stack of transparencies!**”.

[cgbg]

Edmund Burke did not walk into his classroom as an elite university freshman to find out that only ten percent of his classmates were white males.

[proust]

Same author called the raid on Mar A Lago a “A Conspiracy Against the People”

https://chroniclesmagazine.org/columns/a-conspiracy-against-the-people/

[CondoleezzaProtege]

True.

But the witch-burning antics and tribalism on the so called “rational” side is equally toxic.

Remember, it was the priestly, law-abiding Pharisees who had Jesus put to death. Not a bunch of rebels or hippies.

The “shut up and put up” Soviet-style, obey the dear leader conformist wing. It’s these types that are responsible for why sexual abuse in Christian churches goes unabated for decades, for example. And victims get castigated into silence. And why Epstein list was able to get as long and far ranging as it did.

[reasonisfaith]

When you use the word “conspiracy” as an accusation against a person, it means one of two things:

1. you don’t want the person to think independently about a particular subject

2. you’re afraid yourself to think independently about a particular subject

[reasonisfaith]

If the anti-conspiracy nuts were confident in their own position, then they wouldn’t have to resort to using the meaningless term “conspiracy.”

They would limit their language to words like “false” or “delusion.”

But false and delusion don’t have the power of intimidation.

The intent to intimidate in a discussion is anathema to true conservative thought.

[reasonisfaith]

The term “conspiratorial thinking” has no real meaning.

It pretends to mean “you’re crazy,” but again, the anti-conspiracy nuts are aware that “you’re crazy” doesn’t have the same weight as “you’re a conspiracy nut.”

[reasonisfaith]

Why would the author of this piece, Pedro Gonzalez, want to prevent people from thinking independently?

[reasonisfaith]

Being afraid to think, and intending to prevent others from thinking, are forms of low IQ.

[reasonisfaith]

And I should point out for the record, that all CIA-associated and other individuals involved in the scheme to invent the term “conspiracy theory,” in and around 1964, as a weapon for the purpose of protecting their propaganda are low IQ.

That is to say, these individuals acted from low mental ability when they set out to create the term “conspiracy theory.” As does anyone currently perpetuating the ridiculous notion.

I don’t say this as a personal attack, I’m merely stating objective fact for the historical record.

[alternatives?]

The Bible emphasizes “truth” a lot. It is easy to see why today.

[Pelham]

“Remember, it was the priestly, law-abiding Pharisees who had Jesus put to death. Not a bunch of rebels or hippies.”

The push to force Pilate to act came from the Sanhedrin, which Sadducees controlled. Their motivation was political. They saw Jesus’ popularity as a risk to civil order and their privileged position under the Romans.

The Pharisees wanted Jesus executed for blasphemy, which the Roman authority couldn’t have cared less about. And neither did the Sadducees, who weren’t all that interested in Pharisee fundamentalism.

The Sadducees forced Pilate’s hand by threatening to tell Rome that Jesus was fomenting a tax rebellion. That’s something that Rome would take very seriously. If Rome believed that rumor and Pilate had failed to act, Pilate knew that he could end up decorating a cross. Which he didn’t want.

Either way, normative Christian theology required Jesus’ death, witness Jesus’ rebuke of Peter when he tried to intervene with the arrest. Otherwise there is no substitutionary atonement.