We have all heard it before- something along the lines of “Hitler was a werewolf” and then “That’s just stupid”. Other people see this and join in, usually supporting that first skeptic. In fact, the first skeptic is often just responding to a general statement themselves.

Now whichever side you choose, there is one thing you need to know: nobody can ever win this argument. In a few situations a bystander or two might be made to go along with the conspiracy theory or to let go of the idea, but ultimately the people at the heart of the argument will never be turned.

So what causes people to come up with these crazy theories? Surprisingly few actually do it, the rest you see are just jumping on the bandwagon. They are likely to accept the story they hear perhaps because they need something exciting to think about, or they love mystery, it was told to them by someone they trust, or any number of reasons.

The skeptics, in contrast, usually decide for themselves that they don’t like the theory. Sometimes they were told a different story, but more likely they just don’t like things they can’t explain, or are used to an understanding of things that does not include the wild claims of the theorist.

The biggest problem with conspiracy theories is that the majority of them are created without any backing. Like I mentioned, there is a story out there that Adolf Hitler was a werewolf. They cannot possibly have any sort of evidence (if you go to Germany and start asking questions about the Nazis people will get mad at you really fast) and of course werewolves aren’t proven to exist at all. Also, I wrote this article about Flight 19 (the beginning of the Bermuda Triangle myth) explaining exactly what happened there. The conspiracy theorist who supports this myth has never actually been to the airbase where the incident happened, where the entire thing is on record. The motive behind this particular one is money, the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle made for a lot of well-selling books.

I can also be a theorist, for instance I believe the rumors about September 11th, 2001, because you just have to admit that it’s hard for a plane the size of a whale to punch a few 6-foot holes in a wall and then vanish. Which just goes to show you, it is possible for somebody to be a skeptic and a theorist at the same time.

You must admit that peaceful discussions about this can never last, and it just annoys the people around you to argue over it. Again, this is just one of those things that is pointless to argue about. So don’t argue.