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The emotions of conspiracy theories
Next time you try to change your uncle's mind with facts...
Yowei Shaw
March 06, 2025
Good afternoon!
Back again, with an important detail and some learnings from today’s episode that are not timely and relevant for any reasons at all.
But first:
LAUNCH
Proxy producer Kim Nederveen Pieterse raised a good point the other day: that we should probably tell you WHEN in April we’re launching. (You know, in case April rolls around and you’re like, um, hello? They said April!)
Proxy is officially launching on April 22nd, and from then on out, we’ll be publishing on Tuesdays every two weeks.
It’s so soon! I’m only freaking out a little bit! Here is a magnet I made featuring a team motto from my other gig that I’m trying to keep in mind for the next several months.
TODAY’S EPISODE
One of the reasons I’m so passionate about emotional investigative journalism™ is because by now, we know that emotions drive behavior. And boy, is there a lot of irrational, alarming behavior happening in the world right now.
One of the most enduring and high stakes examples of this: conspiracy theories and how many Americans believe in them, all the way to the highest seats of power.
So what I want to know is: Are there emotional dynamics at play that we could better understand to help us deal with this?
The episode we’re sharing today comes from Zach Mack, a reporter who’s been on a mission to investigate this exact question for his own family.
Growing up, Zach's dad was the lone Christian conservative in their family and social circle. But it wasn’t till the pandemic hit, that he started getting more vocal with his views. Bristling at mask wearing, refusing to get vaccinated, and eventually believing that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
Zach actually tried to warn his dad about QAnon, thinking if he told his dad about it in advance, it would take away its power, but that didn’t work. Instead, Zach ended up adding another conspiracy theory to his dad’s roster.
And then last year, Zach’s dad sent him a strange email. He asked Zach if he’d be willing to bet $10,000 to settle once and for all who was correct and who was the brainwashed one.
Zach’s dad listed 10 predictions that he knew were going to happen in 2024. A bunch of wacky stuff like martial law being imposed and Obama, Pelosi, Biden and the Clintons all being tried for treason. And if these predictions didn’t pan out, Zach’s dad said he would finally admit he was wrong and Zach would win the cash.
Zach reported a 3-part series called Alternate Realities for NPR’s Embedded podcast, which I highly recommend.
You may remember that NPR canceled a bunch of longform podcasts in 2023 (including, of course, my alma mater Invisibilia), and Embedded is now NPR’s home for all their audio documentaries and narrative series.
Here are some moments from the Alternate Realities episode we’re sharing that feel important to keep in mind in this conspiracy-fueled moment:
On the futility of trying to correct misinformation with facts
We'd like to think that if we could just convince people of the right facts, if everyone just believed the right thing, they would all act the right way. But here's the thing, you correct people's wrong beliefs in something, you correct the misinformation … But their views don't matter. They know that a lot of the things aren't true, and they like them 'cause they like them. And simply changing their mind about a handful of facts isn't going to change that.
On why the rhetoric of conspiracy theories is so effective
It invites them into a cosmic battle. It gives their life this sense of transcendence … It draws someone … into the belief that they're part of something big. Like, “Hey, my kids, my wife, my pastor, they don't get it, but they will. They're going to see there's a reality here that is just hiding right below the surface … And I've been right all along, and all of the ways that they've sort of given me a side eye or laughed me off in the past when I was kind of hinting at the idea that I thought vaccines were a conspiracy or from the New World Order, they're going to finally see.”
On conspiracy theories as emotional coping mechanisms
Even if [Zach’s] father doesn't put the pieces together, there is some awakening of his own mortality that might be contributing to all of this as well … One of the ways that you come to terms with your mortality is to look back and say, “Did my life have meaning?”
You can listen to the entire Alternate Reality series here.
Your emotional investigative journalist,
Yowei
Edited by Juliana Feliciano Reyes
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