Conspiracism appears then as a contestation of the dominant order, almost like a class struggle. But this is not the case. Just as anti-Semitism was the socialism of fools, conspiracism is the class struggle of experts who are not situated anywhere in particular, not in society, nor along a politico-ideological spectrum.
The “conspiracist response” wants exactly the same world, the same state, but rid of the “caste”: it “imagines the world without it.” It is only a question of preserving all of the elements of this society by extracting them from the practices of these “malicious” and “manipulative” individuals who pervert and corrupt them; real wages, real education, real healthcare, real democracy, real information, real agriculture, real consumption, real economy, a real state.
Conspiracism criticizes everything, desiring that what exists should become “true”. But by conceiving its object as a “dark side” and demonic hijacking, this criticism turns it into a simple accident of the same world. In doing so, it affirms only that it wants the world to continue as it is. The whole of what exists could be so beautiful were it not manipulated and misappropriated. The dominant class, its reproduction, its practices, the pursuit of its interests, ideological production – all are no longer the natural product of all the social relations that the conspiracist wants to preserve. Instead we find the intrigues of a gang of thugs trying to take us for fools. The conspiracist is clever, an expert in everything. It is remarkable to note (there have been a few studies on the subject) that conspiracism affects first and foremost a middle class holding degrees, one that boasts about its “critical spirit” and wears it everywhere on its sleeve. For those who on a daily basis experience all the humiliation and misery of capitalist social relations, the “conspiracy” to enslave our freedom makes little sense. Having to love this world, we don’t want it to lie to us.