I used to buy into the conspiracy theory that 9/11 was a government plot. Given the unusual circumstances I don’t blame anyone for holding that view at one point, but it’s been over 20 years and not a single American has confessed to the plot. Conspiracies are based on secrets and it’s hard to keep secrets for long, especially when it’s a big scale operation like 9/11. I eventually shook off the belief after seeing a few engineers debunk the claims and back it up with experiments and, again, the fact that the movement had zero momentum (i.e. the claims were bs).

So why did I buy in at all or for so long?

First, the seeds of doubt were planted by some charismatic people that didn’t seem like basement trolls or had an at least somewhat positive reputation up until then (so they had something to lose by being labeled a kook or being proven wrong).

Second, lots of unusual stuff happened all at once. Not going to list all of the stuff, but as someone that knows little about air traffic, security policies of airlines, protocols for hijackings, explosions, and the stability of skyscrapers I thought, “No way this is normal.” I wasn’t really claiming to be an expert in these things but my “common sense” did me dirty and I kind of refused to hear explanations. I don’t think I had a fear of being wrong, but (leading into reason 3) I had a laser focus on “the truth” and I was convinced my view was correct.

The biggest reason I probably stuck with the belief is that it kind of felt good to believe in it. I was in college and was doing fuck all. It felt good to be part of the group, to feel like we were crusaders for truth, to feel smarter than everyone else for seeing what others couldn’t see. This was the hardest thing to overcome (especially without separating from the group). My subconscious didn’t want to let me go down the road of “maybe I’m wrong” because not only would the ride end, I’d feel like an idiot.

All that being said I’m not sure if I have any advice for helping to snap people out of the trance. I think it’s gotta be a self-realization thing unfortunately. Their subconscious needs to register that they’re not getting a good enough “high” from believing in something, which can allow them to think critically. Or they need to form some negative association with the belief (e.g. the belief causes them to lose friends or gain friends they dislike).