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Just recently, in casual conversation, someone commented to me that “they” already have a cure for cancer but are hiding it. This is a claim I frequently encounter. One survey, from 2005, found that 27.3% of those surveyed endorsed this belief. Another survey from 2014 found that 37% of people believe the FDA is suppressing natural cancer cures on behalf of “Big Pharma”. A 2018 survey found that 37% of people believe that cancer can be cured solely through natural alternative treatments.

These two claims – that there is a conspiracy to suppress already known cancer cures and that alternative treatments can cure cancer, are related. They are representative of the symbiotic relationship between the conspiracy subculture and the CAM industry.

This relationship is perhaps most disturbingly and cynically represented in the persona of Alex Jones. According to many sources, the Info Wars empire exists solely to sell snake oil. That’s really it – it is a dietary supplement business that uses conspiracy mongering as a marketing tool. The conspiracy messaging has been market tested in every broadcast, and the message tweaked to maximize sales. Jones apparently hit upon a pre-existing relationship, and then turbo-charged it with the heartless precision that only a con-artist can (without the baggage of actually believing anything).

That there is a huge overlap between CAM true believers and conspiracy theorists is not surprising. Both are the natural consequence of rejecting science, the institutions of science, and expertise. The thought process flows naturally. If, for example, we begin with a claim – that coffee enemas cure cancer – proponents of this claim run into a hard brick wall of fact. Coffee enemas do not cure cancer. Within a scientific framework, for various claims, we might say that there is no credible evidence the treatment works, or that there is no plausible mechanism, or that direct clinical evidence does not show any benefit, or that there are risks far in excess of any potential benefit. In short, we use science to answer the question – is this intervention safe and effective.

This is a problem, however, if you want to sell coffee enemas to cure cancer, or use the claim to sell your services as a health guru. So what’s a snake oil purveyor to do? The pseudoscience handbook provides an answer – just dismiss the scientific evidence as part of some conspiracy. “They” don’t want you to cure your cancer with coffee enemas so that they can keep you sick and sell you their drugs.

Unfortunately, the conspiracy narrative is inherently emotionally compelling to the human brain. Some people seem to be innate conspiracy theorists, and buy pretty much every conspiracy. That is just how they see the world. But there is a continuum, and at the other end there are those with more of an analytical thinking style who are relatively resistant. But most people are in between, and are “opportunistic” conspiracy theorists – they will latch onto conspiracy theories that support their existing belief system or their tribal identity.

Conspiracy thinking is also a trap because it contains feedback loops of positive reinforcement. If you reject authoritative sources of information as part of a conspiracy, then you will likely reject any information that can disprove the conspiracy. Any information that contradicts the conspiracy, or lack of information that would prove the conspiracy, are part of the conspiracy. A shadowy “they” then hovers over all information, which gives you permission to reject, ad hoc, any inconvenient data point.

Conspiracy thinking can also be emotionally appealing. The conspiracy believer sees themselves as part of a privileged enlightened few, who can see the man behind the curtain. The rest of the world is divided to dupes and villains, but they are the army of light, the Rebel Alliance who knows that the Empire is secretly being run by a Sith Lord.

It also gives them permission to sell snake oil without the burden of due diligence, quality control, doing actual research, making difficult decisions, or compromising profit in the name of good patient outcomes. This is why pretty much every CAM claim comes wrapped in a conspiracy theory, and every conspiracy website sells snake oil supplements on the margin. The supplement industry is financing the conspiracy industry, while the latter is marketing for the former.

Social media has, unsurprisingly, also supercharged this dark symbiosis. It has elevated another element to the conspiracy thinking dynamic – radicalization. While yes, there are all-purpose conspiracy theorists and opportunistic dabblers, social media algorithms have created feedback loops that radicalize the latter into the former. Conspiracy theorists, it turns out, are reliable content consumers. If you want to drive clicks, radicalize your viewers.

The media has always been a willing partner to the conspiracy theory – alternative science dynamic. Such narratives serve their purpose of sensationalism. Social media did not invent click bait, it just brought it into the 21st century and automated it with algorithms.

The end result is that media driven, snake oil financed, conspiracy thinking is rotting out the core of our society. It is also compromising the quality of our health care, luring people away from complicated but at least tested and standardized interventions to harmful and expensive fantasies. It is creating a generation that does not even recognize expertise, that sees all claims as equally valid, in fact validity does not even come into it. Claims are all performance, and exist solely to generate social media engagement.

We are now also a hairs-breath away from a dangerous medical conspiracy theorist possibly being put in charge of our institutions of health – RFK Jr. He had his own journey of conspiracy radicalization, and now wants to effectively run the NIH, CDC, and FDA, and install like-minded conspiracy theorists to head these organizations. It’s difficult to imagine a more horrific disaster for American healthcare than this scenario.

But this is where the unholy alliance of conspiracy theories and snake oil has brought us.

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  • Steven Novella

    Founder and currently Executive Editor of Science-Based Medicine Steven Novella, MD is an academic clinical neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, and the author of the NeuroLogicaBlog, a daily blog that covers news and issues in neuroscience, but also general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. Dr. Novella also has produced two courses with The Great Courses, and published a book on critical thinking - also called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.

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Posted by Steven Novella

Founder and currently Executive Editor of Science-Based Medicine Steven Novella, MD is an academic clinical neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also the host and producer of the popular weekly science podcast, The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, and the author of the NeuroLogicaBlog, a daily blog that covers news and issues in neuroscience, but also general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society. Dr. Novella also has produced two courses with The Great Courses, and published a book on critical thinking - also called The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.