https://www.yahoo.com/news/solar-eclipse-triggers-onslaught-of-conspiracy-theories-across-social-media-185431128.html
Solar eclipse triggers onslaught of conspiracy theories across social media
Depending on who you ask, April 8 could go one of two ways. It will either be when a total solar eclipse happens, putting on a show for the roughly 44 million people who live within the eclipse’s path, or it will be the end of the world.
During a total solar eclipse, some places on Earth are entirely shielded from the sun by the moon for a few minutes. In North America, the eclipse will start on the Pacific coast of Mexico and travel a diagonal path northeast across the U. S. before leaving the continent shortly before 4 p. m. ET. The U. S. won’t see another total eclipse for the next 20 years.
While most people seem excited — many even traveling to other states to witness the eclipse firsthand — others are spreading misinformation about the event. Some prominent social media users, like InfoWars host Alex Jones, have spent the last few weeks spreading conspiracy theories about the eclipse on X, which have reached millions of people.
“Part of what makes conspiracy theories so compelling is their flexibility and malleability,” Yotam Ophir, an expert on media effects, persuasion and misinformation at the University at Buffalo, told Yahoo News. “Those who understand the world through conspiratorial lenses tend to interpret events, especially dramatic ones, as being driven by intentional, often evil, forces.”
Ophir argues that a large component of why conspiracy theories spread and stick is that they're based in emotions; conspiracy theorists are usually scared or angry. Jeffrey Blevins, a professor of journalism at the University of Cincinnati, noted that the emotional ties to these beliefs also explain why conspiracy theorists don’t seek out any information that could contradict or negate their existing views.
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