posted ago by Mad_King_Kalak ago by Mad_King_Kalak +7 / -2

Does this apply to you and any of your theories?


"The madman's explanation of a thing is always complete, and often in a purely rational sense satisfactory. Or, so to speak, the insane explanation, if not conclusive, is at least unanswerable; this may be observed in the two or three commonest types of madness. If a man says (for instance) that men have a conspiracy against him, you cannot dispute it except by saying that all the men deny that they are conspirators; which is exactly what conspirators would do. His explanation covers the facts as much as yours. Or if a man says he is the rightful king of England, it is no complete answer to say that the existing authorities call him mad; for if he were the king of England that might be the wisest thing for the existing authorities to do."

[snip]

Nevertheless he is wrong. But if we attempt to trace his error in exact terms, we shall not find it quite so easy as we had supposed. Perhaps the nearest we can get to expressing it is to say this; that his mind moves in a perfect but narrow circle….in the same way the insane explanation is quite as complete as the sane one, but is not so large.”

-GK Chesterton (Orthodoxy)

TLDR – Stupid conspiracy theories can have perfect internal logic, but fall apart when presented with outside facts.