posted ago by Crescendo ago by Crescendo +2 / -12

A curious trait I've observed among this contemporary strain of conspiracy theorist is the invulnerability of his spirit to disappointment, that his philosophical momentum is barely affected by being continually kicked in the balls by reality.

Most recently, this manifested quite obviously surrounding the election. It seemed as though every day something new and earth-shattering was promised by the usual cast of con artists like Lin Wood or Ron Watkins. Something was about to be revealed that would end Biden's campaign or change the results of the election or restore power back to Trump or restore power back to the military, et cetera. And when every promise predictably amounted to nothing, this didn't remotely shake the devout beliefs of the conspiracy theorist. Why? Because his beliefs aren't based in any kind of material reality. It's faith and nothing more.

It reminds me of some things that Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in "Reflections on the Jewish Question" which I'll paraphrase here:

It is a way of feeling good, proud even, rather than guilty at the abandonment of responsibility and the flight before the impossibility of true sincerity. He abandons himself to the crowd and his bad faith, he "flees responsibility as he flees his own consciousness, and choosing for his personality the permanence of the rock, he chooses for his morality the scale of petrified values."

He pulls down shutters, blinds, mirrors and mirages over his consciousness to keep himself in his bad faith away from his responsibilities and his liberty. He is afraid "of himself, of his own consciousness, of his own liberty, of his instincts, of his responsibilities, of solitariness, of change, of society, and the world...

He is a coward who does not want to admit his cowardice to himself.

So I ask you, somewhat sincerely, what keeps you going when every single earth-shattering prospect (always just around the corner) amounts to jack shit?