Joe Gonzalez

   Humans are very controlling beings. We like to attain as much information as we can and know everything there is to know about our environment. We are complex organisms, and want to maintain control of our environment. This intrinsic need is what drives us to make various connections between events that may seem to only be coincidental. When events occur that we cannot fully comprehend, or refuse to believe, we begin to create our own reality of the event to help cope with what happened. Sometimes, however, the event is too extreme, and we cannot begin to make sense as to why it had happened. This is when we begin to rely on others or a warped explanation for help. Some conspiracy theories offer a way for people to begin to understand why something terrible has happened. Conspiracy theories offer a way for people to blame someone and take a simple fact and create a more complex meaning behind it. These complex meanings pull people in and grasp their curiosity. This curiosity creates a desire for people to entertain the idea that maybe there is a more complex reason behind an event that occurred, and this is the reason as to why they were not able to control the environment around them.

        An example of a horrific event that caused people to create a complex reasoning for its occurrence is the conspiracy behind the Sandy Hook shooting. This took place on December 14, 2012. Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children between the ages of six and seven years old. This was a very horrific event, and as a result, some people did not want to believe that it was just a random act of violence from one individual. People began to wonder why this happened, and why no one could stop this man from committing this crime. It was not long before conspiracies of the event began to surface. Videos, blogs, and articles came out with reasons as to what “really” happened and why. People began to believe and feed into these conspiracies as a way to feel a sense of comfort. If this shooting was a planned plot from people with power, then of course no one could stop it. This may not fill the void of the tragedy that happened, but at least now people know why their environment had changed. The conspiracies take a difficult situation and create a new way of looking at it. Sometimes, this new way is more appealing and comfortable for people. According to The Influence of Control on Belief in Conspiracy Theories: Conceptual and Applied Extensions, Prooijen, who is an associate professor in social psychology, says “the main psychological process that has been associated with this conspiratorial mindset is the human desire to make sense of their social environment.” After this shooting, no one could make sense of this country. Why would someone do this? As opposed to accepting the news and the deaths of the children, many conspiracies came out to help aid the confusion.

        One theory was that President Obama orchestrated the shooting. This event played a role in passing new gun restrictions. Before Sandy Hook, there had been other college shootings and shootings in general, but these did not catch the same attention like Sandy. Many believe that Obama used an elementary school to create controversy about gun control and create an argument to get the guns off the streets and into the hands of only the government and military. To do this, he used actors and a stage. There have been photos of the shooting that show a calm elementary school and no chaos. If there had just been a shooting, there would be hysteria and people running in and out of the school. One of the supposed “actors” was Gene Rosen. Henry Makow mentions him in Sandy Hook Orchestrated by Obama WH?. According to Makow, who has his PhD in English Literature, Gene Rosen is “an actor known to play out skits about children.” This theory allows people to construct a “logical” reason as to why this shooting occurred. Saying that this was the work of a government official to restrict gun use gives people a way to make sense of the situation. Knowing that there was a motive behind what had happened gives people a reason as to why their environment had changed.

        For some people, they find comfort in thinking that the government itself is corrupt. Malia freeman mentions this point in 33 Unanswered Questions on Sandy Hook’s 3rd Anniversary. When she says people “believe that criminal elements within the US Government could pull off a false flag hoax,” she means that people believe that a higher power, in this case the government, had plotted and planned something deliberately so that the event could not be stopped, and people realize that they could not possibly have had any ability to intervene. This may bring anger and disgust to some, but behind these feelings, they also feel slightly relieved. The thought of not having control of their own environment worries people and causes them to search for a reason as to why they did not have control. A simple answer to this question is not always sufficient enough to reassure people that it was not their fault and nothing could have been differently. Instead, people want a complex theory with no real concrete answer. They much rather prefer complex ideas and an answer that can never really be answered. Knowing that some events were plotted and planned by someone with power, people tend to gravitate towards these ideas more. If people cannot control their own environment, then they prefer to believe that it was by design of someone with more power than them.