Conspiracy theories are all around us and too many people propagate them on social networks.

By | March 10, 2019

Conspiracy theories are all around us and too many people propagate them on social networks.

Umberto Eco, one of the greatest thinkers of the past decades, put it very well:

“Every conspiracy theory steers the public psyche toward imaginary perils, thereby distracting it from genuine threats.”

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/5lhODHqqZHUCqwOZcw2liL/Umberto-Eco–A-theory-of-conspiracies.html

Conspiracies were an inspiration for Eco’s books. Other great lines from Eco:

‘I have always been fascinated by paranoid people imagining conspiracies. I am fascinated by this in a critical way.’

‘All the theories of conspiracy were always a way to escape our responsibilities. It is a very important kind of social sickness by which we avoid recognizing reality such as it is and avoid our responsibilities.’

‘Conspiracies do exist. Probably in this moment in New York there is an economic group making a conspiracy in order to buy three banks. But if they succeed, they are immediately discovered.’

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/5lhODHqqZHUCqwOZcw2liL/Umberto-Eco–A-theory-of-conspiracies.html