A is true. B is why the truth cannot be proven. So A is true.
Make a statement. Then explain why it cannot be proven. Accuse anyone who challenges the second statement of trying to cover up the truth. Use this attempt as proof that the original statement is true.
Examples:
- Flying saucers have landed. The government is covering it up, which is why there is no evidence about it. Of course they deny it!
- The senior managers in this company are bleeding it dry. But then they control the accounts, which is why finances seems to be healthy.
This fallacy works by making it impossible to challenge the proving statement without proving it. The focus of attention is thus moved to the person trying to disprove the 'proof', and reframes their refutation as further proof.
Typical features in conspiratorial thinking according to Lewandowsky & Cook (2020: 6-7):
C - Contradictory
Conspiracy theorists can simultaneously believe in ideas that are mutually contradictory.
For example, believing the theory that Princess Diana was murdered but also believing that she faked her own death.This is because the theorists’ commitment to disbelieving the “official“ account is so absolute, it doesn’t matter if their belief system is incoherent.
O - Overriding suspicion
Conspiratorial thinking involves a nihilistic degree of skepticism towards the official account. This extreme degree of suspicion prevents belief in anything that doesn’t fit into the conspiracy theory.
N - Nefarious intent
The motivations behind any presumed conspiracy are invariably assumed to be nefarious. Conspiracy theories never propose that the presumed conspirators have benign motivations.
S - Something must be wrong
Although conspiracy theorists may occasionally abandon specific ideas when they become untenable, those revisions don’t change their overall conclusion that “something must be wrong” and the official account is based on deception.
P - Persecuted victim
Conspiracy theorists perceive and present themselves as the victim of organized Persecution. At the same time, they see themselves as brave antagonists taking on the villainous conspirators. Conspiratorial thinking involves a self-perception of simultaneously being a victim and a hero.
I - Immune to evidence
Conspiracy theories are inherently self-sealing—evidence that counters a theory is re-interpreted as originating from the conspiracy. This reflects the belief that the stronger the evidence against a conspiracy (e.g., the FBI exonerating a politician from allegations of misusing a personal email server), the more the conspirators must want people to believe their version of events (e.g., the FBI was part of the conspiracy to protect that politician).
R - Re-interpreting randomness
The overriding suspicion found in conspiratorial thinking frequently results in the belief that nothing occurs by accident. Small random events, such as intact windows in the Pentagon after the 9/11 attacks, are re-interpreted as being caused by the conspiracy (because if an airliner had hit the Pentagon, then all windows would have shattered and are woven into a broader, interconnected pattern.
Lewandowsky, S. Cook, J. (2020). The Conspiracy theory handbook
