Name: Voodoo Histories
Rating: 4 (23 reviews)
Author: David Aaronovitch

Voodoo Histories summary

David Aaronovitch

The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History

4 (23 ratings)

12 mins

What is Voodoo Histories about?

Voodoo Histories (2009) is a fascinating look at why we love to create conspiracy theories. Why do we feel the need to create stories to explain tragic events, such as the Apollo 11 moon landing and the deaths of Princess Diana and Marilyn Monroe? Read on and find out.

Table of Contents

What’s in it for me? Step into the shady world of conspiracy theories.

Have you ever heard of chemtrails? It’s a conspiracy theory that believes the long, white trails airplanes leave after them as they fly through the sky are actually chemicals released by governments to control the public. Sounds pretty crazy, right? You’d be surprised, then, how popular the theory is, and it’s far from the only crazy conspiracy theory out there.

So why do people believe in these theories?

As you’ll see in these blinks, one of the reasons is that they satisfy our innate need to create order in a confusing and scary world. Plus, some conspiracies have turned out to be true! So how do you know if your crazy neighbor who won’t stop talking about JFK’s assassination is insane or holding onto the next big scoop?

In these blinks, you’ll learn

what razors have to do with conspiracy theories;
why you can’t put down The Da Vinci Code; and
why conspiracy theories can be comforting.

Conspiracy theories differ from conspiracies, but they do share some common traits.

Maybe you’ve watched a movie in which the hero gets to the bottom of some mystery. After much field work, he reveals that some important individual didn’t die in a car accident after all. No, it was murder – a conspiracy! Okay, so how does a conspiracy like this differ from a conspiracy theory?

An actual act of conspiracy is not a conspiracy theory.

A conspiracy happens when two or more people are involved in secretly plotting an illegal or deceptive act. Whereas a conspiracy theory is just that – a theory that the official explanation is not true, that there’s a conspiracy afoot.

For example, one popular conspiracy theory is that NASA and the US government faked the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. But which is more likely: Thousands of people conspiring to create and cover up an elaborate hoax or NASA actually landing on the moon?

This method of cutting through competing explanations in search of the simplest one is known as Occam’s razor. It is one of the primary tools for analyzing the probability of a conspiracy theory.

One way conspiracy theories gain believers is by citing “evidence.” Sometimes this comes in the form of celebrity endorsement, or from so-called experts with exaggerated qualifications. And these believers will work hard to present the evidence in a convincingly academic fashion.

Conspiracy theories also range in size, from small plots (like a few members of Buckingham Palace being involved in the death of Princess Diana) to massively elaborate ones, like the Vatican hiding the truth about Jesus’s bloodline.

Furthermore, real conspiracies sometimes lead to conspiracy theories.

In the Middle East, there have been a number of legitimate conspiracies; this makes the area fertile ground for conspiracy theories.

For instance, the fact that Britain and France conspired to divide up the Ottoman Empire after World War I has led to new conspiracy theories, such as ISIS being an Israeli plot intended to disrupt rival powers.

In the next blink, we’ll find out how conspiracy theories create the illusion of truth.

We like conspiracy theories that uncover a hidden truth, especially about famous people.

So we’ve seen why conspiracy theories sometimes seem so persuasive. But what makes us like them so much? Interestingly, certain conspiracy theories seem to give us a sort of pleasure.

Many of us like conspiracy theories because they offer hope of uncovering the “truth.”

Conspiracy theories can be reassuring in the face of tragedy, but they can also lead to tragedy.

So, we’ve seen why we’re attracted to the stories that conspiracy theories tell and why we’re motivated to create them, but why do some stories prove to be more satisfying and successful than others?

For a conspiracy theory to be successful, it must, in some way, be reassuring.

Key ideas in Voodoo Histories