5 Feet of Fury

A Short Guide to Leftist Conspiracy Theories

Scott Locklin:

Why did the racist conspiracy of white people do these things? How does it manage these things? Who is in charge, and where do I sign up for my white privileges? What is the all-powerful racist conspirators’ ultimate plan, and why do they want these things?

To believe in an all-powerful modern racist conspiracy, you’d have to believe in a cabal that actually wants to humiliate other tribes by making itself a small, oppressed, demoralized, self-flagellating minority which still manages to do better than other tribes, barring Asians and Jews. This seems peculiar behavior from the racist white people conspiracy.

Then there’s the idea that basic social customs are some kind of conspiracy. According to this trope, the nationalism that seems to spontaneously occur in almost all cultures is a form of mass psychosis. The idea that sticking with your fellows keeps you from being invaded and slaughtered seems a more parsimonious explanation to me.