Steve James wrote:Yeah, the human imagination has been crucial to our development as a species. Fear of the unknown has also been necessary. Conspiracy theories are getting a bad rap when they're considered part of human evolutionary behavior. There are actual conspiracies, dangers, and groups of people determined to control others. The problem is when people identify aliens or lizard people, but particularly when they identify Jews, people who aren't Christian, and other real people as the conspirators or causes of their problems.
Actually, many religions past and present share many of the features of modern conspiracy theories, or of course vice versa. Especially more ancient religions, with lots of gods intervening to steer and shape and often enough nastily screw up the fates of mortals. We can't see them, but we know what's going on! 'Them up there' scaring us, also being entities we can blame. The Norse pantheon, the Greek/Roman pantheon, for example.
The Desert Religons a little different, but much in the same direction. Buddhism is sometimes referred to as being more of a philosophy than a religion; it certainly doesn't seem to have that basic feature of "there are hidden beings up there who are rooting for us and helping us, and other trying to destroy us." Instead it's much more "do it for yourself, find it in yourself, just travel your own path to the light".
Or viewed the other way: the QAnon bullshit reproduces a Manichean struggle between forces of darkness and forces of light for the fate of the world (in this case with the forces of darkness supposedly in full view while the forces of light remain hidden and more mysterious). With "Q" as the prophet communicating his visions and prophecies to the faithful.