How Conspiracy Theories Work

On Saturday (5th May) Femi Fani Kayode posted a video of a trailer transporting some men allegedly from the north to the south. The voiceover hinted at a conspiracy by northern states to transport large numbers of herdsmen to the south during this lockdown period for a secret unknown mission. The voice went on to implore all southerners to be on alert because “something was going on”.

That was all that was needed to do for the conspiracy theory to have the needed effect. The 3 minute video effectively checked all the boxes — use of selected facts, stoking fear, alluding to government cover up. You need facts in case someone wants to fact-check you. You need fear because you want your target to be in a state of heightened emotions so they would be less logical. You need government cover-up because that’s the best way to get people to take matters in their own hands and act. Whether it’s by burning 5g masts as we saw in the UK or by rushing to buy whatever woke products the conspiracy theorist is peddling as had happened frequently enough to make Alex Jones a very wealthy man.

Now let’s analyze at the video based on our check list.
1. Facts: There were indeed men coming out from a trailer (fact). From the clothing of some of them, they are clearly northerners (fact). The language that can be heard spoken at the background sounded northern (fact).

2. Fear: the narrator called the men herdsmen even though there was nothing that indicated they were herdsmen. But because he knew the “fear value” of that word amongst his target audience, he used it generously to get the needed impact.

3. Government coverup: the fact that interstate travel has been banned by government yet they were able to travel across several states indicate government complicity. Also, the whole thing happening at a time when the country was on lockdown meant someone somewhere is trying to hide something (cover-up).

https:///4WEt5DqWtP?amp=1