Keller @ Large: Conspiracy Theories Lead To Unintentional Humor
BOSTON (CBS) - The 2016 presidential race may not wind up being remembered for stirring rhetoric or inspiring ideas.
But it will be remembered for sometimes unintentional humor.
Like the remark I heard on the radio Thursday night from an agitated Trump supporter defending her candidate's silly spat with Fox News on the grounds that the cable network is "a part of the left-wing conspiracy."
If true, that is perhaps the most poorly designed conspiracy in the history of the world.
But once I stopped laughing, I started thinking about the whole concept of conspiracies, and how we've become a culture obsessed with them.
Public perception of conspiracies dates back well before the birth of Christ, and with good reason. People do tend to collaborate with one another to achieve objectives that may not always be legal or fair.
But we also have a nasty habit of using conspiracy to explain things we don't understand.
Most political conspiracy theories are easily debunked, but as we're seeing in this campaign, truth often has little to do with their appeal. Whether it's a broadly-defined political establishment conspiring to destroy the American way or a financial establishment conspiring to oppress working people, both the right and left have their fantasies in high gear.
From conspiracy theories flow scapegoats, demons, rumors accepted as fact, pettiness, and foolish policies.
And as those symptoms overwhelm our political culture, it's turning out to be not very funny after all.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
