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By Andy Kessler
Dec. 15, 2024 12:17 pm ET
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Glendale, Ariz., Dec. 9. Photo: patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has brought conspiracy theories back into the mainstream. In the past, he has claimed vaccines cause autism (since debunked), that we should drink raw milk (last month it was found possibly to contain bird flu), and that 5G broadband is used to ācontrol our behaviorā (well, it does tell my Uber driver where to go).
Mr. Kennedy recently tweeted: āSeed oils are one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have in foods.ā Heāll even sell you a $35 āMake Frying Oil Tallow Againā hat. Ending corn and other farm subsidies would solve their overuseābut tallow? Cardiologists suggest that saturated fat in beef tallow increases heart disease. Can we agree that policy should never be based on lawyersā theories?
Humans are gullible. We like to be told tall tales. We eat them up. The Central Intelligence Agency killed John F. Kennedy. It must be true, I saw it in an Oliver Stone movie! Go to the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, and youāll find a 1980 Texas Historic Landmark sign that reads: āWhen Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and killed President John F. Kennedy.ā Allegedly? Well, those dissecting frames 313 to 316 of the Zapruder film think so.
Who hasnāt fallen for at least one of these myths? Paul McCartney is dead. I am the walrus, goo-goo gājoob. UFOs at Roswell, N.M., and now in New Jersey. The moon landing was staged. Sept. 11 was orchestrated by government. Aliens crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Pizzagate. Meghan Markle is a robot. Dinosaurs built Stonehenge.
Fluoride in our water. Subliminal ads in movies. Stolen elections. The Elders of Zion, Illuminati or Freemasons running the world. Barack Obamaās birthplace. Russia collusion. āDeny. Defend. Depose.ā The deep state carrying out Donald Trumpās assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. Great movie plot, but cāmon.
We fall for conspiracy theories because they either sound plausible or contain some small tinge of truth that the rest of the made-up stuff hangs on. G. Gordon Liddyāwho I must admit as a Watergate mastermind wasnāt the greatest of sourcesāthought conspiracy theories eventually fail because of competency and leakage problems. First, most are too dumb to pull it off, and many conspiracy theories are surely fake because there is no way that many people could keep their mouths shut for that long.
But conspiracy theories can be lucrative. In 2022, RFK Jr. collected $510,000 from the antivaccine Childrenās Health Defense, a nonprofit he founded. This was part of almost $8 million he made in the year before he ran for president, including from his environmental-law practice and fees from other litigation firms. Anthony Fauci was, for a time, the highest-paid federal employee. Al Gore founded the now $35 billion āsustainable investingā firm Generation Investment Management. And someone is cashing in by selling āEpstein didnāt kill himselfā ugly Christmas sweaters for $41.99 on Amazon.
Conspiracy theories make for strange bedfellows. The stereotypical antivaxxer used to be a Prius-driving Whole Foods mom, especially when it came to measles. Marin County, north of San Francisco, had notoriously low child vaccination rates for MMR vaccines, until a measles outbreak in 2015.
The stereotype flipped to MAGA warriors in 2021, for those refusing to be guinea pigs for undertested Covid shots. Looking back, so-called Covid conspiracy theoriesāabout the virusās origin in a Wuhan lab, the efficacy of lockdowns, masks and natural immunity, vaccine testing and the negative effect of school closings on childrenāended up more right than wrong.
Until recently, debunking conspiracy theories was the role of the mainstream press. Sadly, their reputation is in tatters after their Covid biases, their insistence that President Biden was sharp as a tack, and their cheerleading for wokeness. Millions of Americans now rely on podcasters, influencers and other crackpots instead. That isnāt good either.
We live in an age of loosey-goosey truth. The Twittersphere nicknamed former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz āMiss Information.ā āFact checkersā are too busy analyzing every Trump utterance. Snopes can be a good conspiracy debunker, but still, people want to believe. Now more than ever, you need to make up your own mind.
So how do you debunk conspiracy theories? Itās hard. First, they must pass the smell test. Most donāt. Then ask if someone can hold a secret for that long. Donāt believe movies, podcasters or even politicians. Find some real science. Most important, figure out who benefits from spreading the story. The trick is not to let your emotions get the better of you. Question authority. But donāt believe your uncle Charley either. Remain skeptical. Then again, maybe start cooking with butter instead of canola oilājust in case.
Write to kessler@wsj.com.
Itās All a Conspiracy, Right?
Donāt believe every tale you hear. Remain skeptical and look for real science.
By Andy Kessler
Dec. 15, 2024 12:17 pm ET
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominated to run the Department of Health and Human Services, has brought conspiracy theories back into the mainstream. In the past, he has claimed vaccines cause autism (since debunked), that we should drink raw milk (last month it was found possibly to contain bird flu), and that 5G broadband is used to ācontrol our behaviorā (well, it does tell my Uber driver where to go).
Mr. Kennedy recently tweeted: āSeed oils are one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have in foods.ā Heāll even sell you a $35 āMake Frying Oil Tallow Againā hat. Ending corn and other farm subsidies would solve their overuseābut tallow? Cardiologists suggest that saturated fat in beef tallow increases heart disease. Can we agree that policy should never be based on lawyersā theories?
Humans are gullible. We like to be told tall tales. We eat them up. The Central Intelligence Agency killed John F. Kennedy. It must be true, I saw it in an Oliver Stone movie! Go to the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas, and youāll find a 1980 Texas Historic Landmark sign that reads: āWhen Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and killed President John F. Kennedy.ā Allegedly? Well, those dissecting frames 313 to 316 of the Zapruder film think so.
Who hasnāt fallen for at least one of these myths? Paul McCartney is dead. I am the walrus, goo-goo gājoob. UFOs at Roswell, N.M., and now in New Jersey. The moon landing was staged. Sept. 11 was orchestrated by government. Aliens crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Pizzagate. Meghan Markle is a robot. Dinosaurs built Stonehenge.
Fluoride in our water. Subliminal ads in movies. Stolen elections. The Elders of Zion, Illuminati or Freemasons running the world. Barack Obamaās birthplace. Russia collusion. āDeny. Defend. Depose.ā The deep state carrying out Donald Trumpās assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. Great movie plot, but cāmon.
We fall for conspiracy theories because they either sound plausible or contain some small tinge of truth that the rest of the made-up stuff hangs on. G. Gordon Liddyāwho I must admit as a Watergate mastermind wasnāt the greatest of sourcesāthought conspiracy theories eventually fail because of competency and leakage problems. First, most are too dumb to pull it off, and many conspiracy theories are surely fake because there is no way that many people could keep their mouths shut for that long.
But conspiracy theories can be lucrative. In 2022, RFK Jr. collected $510,000 from the antivaccine Childrenās Health Defense, a nonprofit he founded. This was part of almost $8 million he made in the year before he ran for president, including from his environmental-law practice and fees from other litigation firms. Anthony Fauci was, for a time, the highest-paid federal employee. Al Gore founded the now $35 billion āsustainable investingā firm Generation Investment Management. And someone is cashing in by selling āEpstein didnāt kill himselfā ugly Christmas sweaters for $41.99 on Amazon.
Conspiracy theories make for strange bedfellows. The stereotypical antivaxxer used to be a Prius-driving Whole Foods mom, especially when it came to measles. Marin County, north of San Francisco, had notoriously low child vaccination rates for MMR vaccines, until a measles outbreak in 2015.
The stereotype flipped to MAGA warriors in 2021, for those refusing to be guinea pigs for undertested Covid shots. Looking back, so-called Covid conspiracy theoriesāabout the virusās origin in a Wuhan lab, the efficacy of lockdowns, masks and natural immunity, vaccine testing and the negative effect of school closings on childrenāended up more right than wrong.
Until recently, debunking conspiracy theories was the role of the mainstream press. Sadly, their reputation is in tatters after their Covid biases, their insistence that President Biden was sharp as a tack, and their cheerleading for wokeness. Millions of Americans now rely on podcasters, influencers and other crackpots instead. That isnāt good either.
We live in an age of loosey-goosey truth. The Twittersphere nicknamed former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz āMiss Information.ā āFact checkersā are too busy analyzing every Trump utterance. Snopes can be a good conspiracy debunker, but still, people want to believe. Now more than ever, you need to make up your own mind.
So how do you debunk conspiracy theories? Itās hard. First, they must pass the smell test. Most donāt. Then ask if someone can hold a secret for that long. Donāt believe movies, podcasters or even politicians. Find some real science. Most important, figure out who benefits from spreading the story. The trick is not to let your emotions get the better of you. Question authority. But donāt believe your uncle Charley either. Remain skeptical. Then again, maybe start cooking with butter instead of canola oilājust in case.
Write to kessler@wsj.com.
