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he word to the outer world. The plots that conspiracy theorists believe in are therefore planted in hiding and secrecy. Another aspect of conspiracy theories is that they are usually connoted with paranoia or even madness. Many formal definitions of the term include that when something is called a conspiracy theory it is usually inclined that the theory is found implausible. Friedrich Nietzsche's madman who proclaimed “God is dead” serves as an example for this. Lastly, conspiracy theories have the very problematic criterion of being non-falsifiable. For the majority of the conspiracy theories proof or evidence is impossible to find. Furthermore, strong conspiratorial thinkers claim that any evidence against a conspiracy theory must have been planted by a conspirator himself which makes impossible to be disconfirmed.

 

Following this, different types of conspiracy theories have been identified. The main focus of this paper has been on what Barkun has termed ‘event conspiracy' in which the conspirators are believed to be responsible for only a limited, discrete event. Furthermore, a categorization of supernatural and factual conspiracies has taken place. Supernatural theories are constituted by the involvement of a supernatural force in global events. The main focus of the paper however, evolved around the so called factual conspiracy theories which incline the secret involvement of an earthly group, organization or even state in global events and affairs. The case of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya served as an example for a factual conspiracy theory which has gained a lot of support in the western world. Putting the main focus on factual theory was important in order to define the nature of the conspiracy theories that were meant in the initial hypothesis.

 

This categorization was followed by the analysis of the different functions conspiracy theories have in the minds of the people as well as in the population as a whole. First of all, it was argued that a belief in conspiracy theories and therefore, in an alternative explanation for an event can be seen as a sign of distrust in politics and politicians. Furthermore, in our consumer society choice is extremely important for the autonomy of a person. Nowadays, there is hardly any area left in which we cannot choose. In this sense, conspiracy theories constitute another choice of truth that we have. Moreover, it was argued that conspiracy theories can be seen as a new form of scapegoating. Lastly, the in 1938 developed theory of play in contemporary culture by Johan Huizinga was applied to the concept of conspiricist thinking. This analysis has defined the important functions that conspiracy theories fulfill in our contemporary society. Moreover, this study is essential to figure out whether conspiracy theories have gained more importance and are taken more and more seriously.

 

In the next section, the role of popular culture and the mass media in particular in the spread of conspiracy theories was discussed. The mass media has three main functions on the development and spread of conspiracy theories. First of all, for strong believers in cons本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。