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Conspiracy

Wednesday 21st of January 2026

Conspiracy theories The distinguishing thing about the paranoid style is not that its exponents see conspiracies here and there in history, but that they regard a “vast” or “gigantic” conspiracy as the motive force  in historical events. History is  a conspiracy, set in motion by demonic forces of almost transcendent power, and what is felt to be needed to defeat it is not the usual methods of political give-and-take, but an all-out crusade. Richard Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories The emotional appeal of a conspiracy theory is in its simplicity. It explains away complex phenomena, accounts for chance and accidents, offers the believer the satisfying sense of having special, privileged access to the truth. Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, October 2018 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories I've heard these are people that love our country. So I don't know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me. Donald Trump on QAnon conpsiracy theorists who believe he's fighting a war against a Satanic cult of Democratic pedophiles and whose tweets he reposts © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories It's not going to happen from mocking them or calling them stupid or making smart remarks like,  “If Kamala Harris really is a lizard person, why didn't she eat that fly on Mike Pence's head?” Don't do that. I'm saying don't do that.  Bill Maher,  Real Time with Bill Maher, November 20, 2020, advice on what not what to do to get QAnon followers out of their cult and over their great disappointment about Trump not being reelected  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories  It saves so much thinking to think like this, to survey the world and to know that all its disorders are due to the malignity of a single group of mysterious plotters. John Gwyer, Portraits of Mean Men: A Short History of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories Many people assume, he [Joseph Uscinski] told me, that a propensity for conspiracy thinking is predictable along ideological lines. That's wrong, he explained. It's better to think of conspiracy thinking as independent of party politics. It's a particular form of mind-wiring. And it’s generally characterized by acceptance of the following propositions: Our lives are controlled by plots hatched in secreet places. Although we ostensibly live in a democracy, a small group of people run everything, but we don't know who they are. When big events occur – pandemics, recessions, wars, terrorist attacks – it is because that secretive group is working against the rest of us. Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic, June 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories The paranoid's interpretation of history is in this sense distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someone's will. Richard Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics” © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories Realizing that no single cabal can secretly control the entire world is not just accurate – it is also empowering. It means that you can identify the competing factions in our world, and ally yourself with some groups against others. That's what real politics is all about. Yuval Noah Harari, New York Times, November 20, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theories  Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society. Thomas Paine, Common Sense  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists I used to think conspiracy theories were the refuge of the powerless and the uneducated. … But conspiracy theorists have moved from the streets to the suites. They have become presidents of countries, including Turkey and Brazil. In the US, Donald Trump  — who sees plots against him everywhere — is planning his political comeback. The most dangerous conspiracy theorist of them all is Vladimir Putin, who is currently threatening the world with nuclear war. Gideon Rachman, Financial Times, October 3, 2022 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists say The Deep State is out to get me © 2018 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists say How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a gross conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, when it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men. Joseph McCarthy, 1951 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists say Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me! Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar in the British film Carry on Cleo © 2022 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists say The intell on this wasn't 100 percent. Edgar Maddison Welch, admitting he had been misled by Pizzagate conspiracy theorists after driving 360 miles from home to Washington, DC, to free children from the pizzeria where they claimed Hillary Clinton ran a child sex ring and shooting it up with his AR-15, only to discover that no children were being trafficked there © 2020 Kwiple.com
Conspiracy theorists say Tap water? You're drinking toilet water with birth control drugs in them. Chloramine, and on top of that they're putting in fluoride. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it's a mind-control drug that has no benefit to our dental health.  Mukhande Singh (née Christopher Sanborn), founder of Live Water, a purveyor of unfiltered, untreated, unsterilized – “raw” – water  © 2018 Kwiple.com
 
Conspiracy theorists say What do you think tap water is? It's a gay bomb baby. … I don't like them putting chemicals in the water. They turn the freaking frogs gay.  Alex Jones © 2018 Kwiple.com