Rants // This Eclipse is Bringing Out the Conspiracy Theorists in Droves

The discourse around the solar eclipse this year has reached a fever pitch with the celestial event expected to take place this afternoon. Conspiracy theories abound. I was told recently that if you are on the “right side” of Tik Tok or Reddit you will be seeing video after video of people discussing all the ways in which the eclipse is going to bring about disaster and even the end-times.

I hadn’t seen a single conspiracy theory about the event, so I decided to do a little searching online. Apparently, I’ve been living in a little bubble of sanity in my little condo in Cambridge MA because when I did some digging, I came across tons of videos of people in a state of hysteria, ranting about impending global doom.

Since you are reading this article now it very likely means none of those conspiracies actually happened. The Rapture ( a Christian myth that says Jesus will return to take the believers in to heaven leaving everyone else in a state of torture) didn’t take place.

The Illuminati didn’t drop a nuclear weapon that wiped out the world. The Singularity didn’t happen.Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster didn’t come out of hiding to join forces with the bugs from Starship Troopers and enact world domination. So now what?

Now everyone who was convinced it was the end, and who tried to convince others are still here. They still have to wake up tomorrow morning and go about their daily business picking up after their dog, brushing their teeth, filing taxes. The reality may be crushingly disappointing for the folks who are so deeply unhappy with their boring lives that they fantasized about an apocalypse. It’s unlikely they will ever acknowledge they were wrong, however.

Harsh reality never stops conspiracy theorists from spreading their wackadoo ideas. If anything, it usually causes them to dig a little deeper into their delusions. If they follow up at all they will just say they had the wrong date and kick the can down the road until the next celestial event. Every time this happens there is a complete lack of accountability. Remember the 2012 Apocalypse that didn’t happen? No one ever admitted they were wrong about those prophecies. They just moved on to the next theory.

There’s a direct link between these kinds of end time prophecies and death cults like Heaven’s Gate, where 39 people participated in a ritual mass suicide in 1997 in the shadow of the Hale-Bopp comet, believing it to be a vehicle for them to transition to heaven.

When people are believers in these kinds of religious systems, they are dangerous to themselves and others. They begin to feel like they have nothing to lose and that their actions may not have real world consequences. I’ve heard of pensioners tipping out hundreds of dollars to servers over the last couple of days because “the end is coming I won’t need money anymore.” It’s great for the servers, but one has to wonder if these deluded people are going to be left destitute once the sun begins to shine again after the brief moments of daytime darkness.

I have a lot of strong feelings about this type of disaster discourse having grown up in a household where conspiracy theories abounded. I’ll never forget prepping for disaster as Y2K approached and the world was supposed to go dark and feral at the stroke of Midnight on December 31st, 2000. My parents listened to a conspiracy based, right wing radio station in Tennessee 24/7 the way a lot of Conservatives listen to Fox News now.

I remember one theory was that there would be a terrorist attack on Sept 9, 1998 where tractor trailers carrying poisonous gas would drive along the interstate system killing anyone who lived nearby. We had an Interstate that ran directly behind where we were living so my anxiety riddled self was terrified. As a sheltered tween I didn’t have the context to understand that these people were speculating for fun and not from a place of secret knowledge.

They get some sort of kick out of spreading fear and chaos to the gullible. Some sort of twisted gratification. They even sometimes convince themselves that what they are saying must be true. That they are conduits to God almighty and He is sending them a secret message to share with other true believers.

It’s easy to find myself wondering what these people get out of spreading rumors of doom and disaster. They must be getting something from it or else why are they wasting their time and making themselves look unhinged? It could be as simple as just the attention that they receive. They get off on having people look to them for answers. They get power in their religious circles from people who are too ignorant to understand the basic science behind the movement of the sun, Earth, and moon. They receive money from people who have no hope for a future–and of course they get views.

The reality of the situation is that we are experiencing a slow-motion (at this point) apocalypse. We are in the beginning stages of climate collapse and people are already being displaced and affected due to the damage humanity has caused to this planet. But its far sexier to say the Rapture is happening at a particular date (believing oneself to be one of the chosen is a smugness like nothing else) than it is to lament what we have callously done to our world with our disregard for the environment and the rest of humanity.

That feeling of doom people are experiencing deep inside that convinces them these theories must be true is real. It’s just internalized climate grief–not Jesus speaking to their spirit. But who wants to face reality? It’s terrifying and bleak and doesn’t give people a chance to be one of the self-satisfied chosen few.