Jacobin 49 (2023)

Pasolini once wrote that conspiracies make us think crazy thoughts because they free us from the burden of having to face the truth.... In fact, if you are convinced that the history of the world is directed by secret societies — be they the Illuminati or the Bilderberg group — that are about to establish a new world order, what do you do? You give up, and you fret and fume. So every conspiracy theory directs the public imagination toward nonexistent dangers and away from genuine threats. As Chomsky once suggested, imagining what was almost a conspiracy of conspiracy theories, those who get the greatest advantage from fantasies about a supposed plot are the very institutions that the conspiracy theory aims to strike.

— Umberto Eco, “Conspiracy,” 2015