Ah, the conspiracy theorist. Once one of the most mocked and derided kind of person in the Western hemisphere, now borderline considered soothsayers and wise men.
Looking back at how the left laughed at people who came up with conspiracies, it's pretty clear now that the left was only doing so for one of two reasons. Either they didn't want what these conspiracy theorists were talking about to be true because it would destroy their entire worldview, including how they viewed government and institutions of authority, or — in the case of those in power — they knew the conspiracy theorists were right, and they wanted to throw people off by making fun of them as if they were stupid and crazy.
While there are definitely some conspiracy theorists out there that are fit for the loony bin, what we call "conspiracy theorists" today have often been right on the money with their guesses. Many of them popped up during the pandemic, as too much of what was going on and the decisions being made around this issue, didn't add up.
As I wrote at the time, conspiracy theorists weren't born in a vacuum, but as a result of answers not being given by those who should be providing them. I should have worded that differently. They absolutely are born in a vacuum, but an information vacuum to be specific.
(READ: Conspiracy Theorists Aren't Created In a Vacuum, Our Institutions Are to Blame for Their Rise)
Now, we're seeing these "conspiracies" bear fruit now that we have an administration willing to do what many people have been wanting for decades; a big giant government audit.
Now, DOGE is making various things come to light that the people expected existed but didn't have the proof for. There are even fake sound stages being discovered, as my colleague Nick Arama reported on Tuesday.
(WATCH: Alina Habba Has a Little Fun When She Discovers Biden's Fake 'Oval Office')
We can look back and see where the conspiracy theorists got it right in just the last month, such as FEMA being weaponized against Trump supporters.
What's important here is that the skepticism they mocked people for having ended up being one a virtue, and one that opened the door for organizations like DOGE to exist. The people who derided those who asked questions or doubted the honesty of those above them ended up looking like total fools, and continue to look like fools as they fight against the changes being made and the waste being cut.
Having that level of skepticism against any power, especially a power as big as the United States government, isn't actually crazy. It's wisdom. History has shown that a government unwatched can easily become a government with too much power. Not suspecting something with that much depth and that much control is foolish.
It may sound odd to say this, but it's something that should be said: If you're enjoying the current reduction of our government, the uncovering of hidden files, and the draining of the swamp, then thank a conspiracy theorist. If it wasn't for them speaking out, we might not have the ire toward our bloated government we do today.
Moreover, I think it's interesting that real efforts for censorship were put toward silencing people who spoke out about the missing pieces of the puzzle in our society. The bizarre connections and actions that were pieced together by people paying attention were purposely silenced. As Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted, people from the Biden administration would call his employees daily, demanding people speaking out be silenced.
Any government that goes out of its way to silence the people is hiding something, and in that absence of answers, the people should only get louder. The ones that did who were mocked, called crazy, and labeled as worthy of ignoring are the ones who should be lauded today.
Again, skepticism is a virtue. Trying to find answers in a vacuum of information is healthy.
Going forward, this is something we should be encouraging people to do. Of course, we should temper our fact-finding with educated guesses with information we have, not go off on wild nonsense, but while these two levels exist under the same umbrella, they aren't the same and shouldn't be conflated.
The guy simply trying to piece together why his government is wasting his money and society is in decline, and the guy wearing a tinfoil hat because the lizard people who run our government are trying to see his thoughts aren't alike.
The former is an example of a person who loves his country and wants the best for it, and as such, he's willing to piece together the clues to find a direction to go in for the future. It's these kinds of people who give politicians the necessary marching orders to cure the disease plaguing the government, and thus the people.
Government skeptics are pretty great.
