Swami and Coles write: To the extent that conspiracy theories fill a need for certainty, it is thought they may gain more widespread acceptance in instances when establishment or mainstream explanations contain erroneous information, discrepancies, or ambiguities (Miller, 2002). A conspiracy theory, in this sense, helps explain those ambiguities and “provides a convenient alternative to living with uncertainty” (Zarefsky, 1984, p.72). Or as Young and colleagues (1990, p.104) have put it, “[T]he human desire for explanations of all natural phenomena—a drive that spurs inquiry on many
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