I just watched truth lose to conspiracy theory in real time on Twitter—a viral thread claimed “leftists” and “radical Muslims” formed a secret alliance to destroy civilization, racking up millions of views and massive engagement, while my reasonable explanation (maybe it’s just misguided people making predictable mistakes?) got crickets and algorithmic burial. This is how we’re drowning in conspiracy theories: social media rewards apocalyptic rage and punishes nuance. The Dundee “Braveheart” hoax followed the same pattern—inflammatory fiction went viral while police corrections got buried. The algorithm wants you angry. The question is whether we’re going to keep feeding it what it wants.
The Banality of Evil
The banality of evil is not just that people look the other way while terrible things happen. It’s that ordinary people become willing participants, convinced they’re doing something righteous or necessary. They genuinely believe the narrative that the targeted group poses an existential threat.
Beyond the Margins 