--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: it was the sudden, shocking exposure of…" description: "\"“it was the sudden, shocking exposure of actual conspiracies starting in the 1970s that made Americans overcorrect, to assume that anything bad is the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/kurt-andersen-8221_conspiracies_it-was-the-sudden-shocking-exposure-of-a_1934949.jpg" --- # it was the sudden, shocking exposure of actual… ![“it was the sudden, shocking exposure of actual conspiracies starting in the 1970s that made Americans overcorrect, to assume that anything bad is the intentional result of some conspiracy. Which may make it harder, ironically, to expose and dismantle the rare real ones. Our news and…” quote by Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/kurt-andersen-8221_conspiracies_it-was-the-sudden-shocking-exposure-of-a_1934949.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/kurt-andersen-8221_conspiracies_it-was-the-sudden-shocking-exposure-of-a_1934949.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c41/kurt-andersen-8221_conspiracies_it-was-the-sudden-shocking-exposure-of-a_1934949.jpg) > ““it was the sudden, shocking exposure of actual conspiracies starting in the 1970s that made Americans overcorrect, to assume that anything bad is the intentional result of some conspiracy. Which may make it harder, ironically, to expose and dismantle the rare real ones. Our news and Internet-enabled media discourse are clogged more than ever with conspiracy theories. All the fantastical noise obscures the occasional signals. I’m thinking, for instance, of the Russian government’s interference in the last U.S. presidential election, to which too little attention was paid as it was happening. In the middle of 2016, it sounded like just one more wild speculation.”” [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The prevalence of conspiracy theories leads people to overreact, assuming all bad events are intentional plots, which can blind them to genuine threats. **In simple terms:** People over‑attribute bad events to conspiracies, missing real dangers. Key Takeaway Questionawareness of real threats. Themes critical thinking media literacy trust public discourse political awareness Mood cautious analytical Type reflective informative When to use this quote - journalism - political analysis - public policy - media consumption - education Key Concepts cognitive bias information overload confirmation bias Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance skepticism with openness to real evidence? - What methods improve discerning truth from speculation? A Different Perspective Over‑generalizing conspiracies can hinder detection of actual plots. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conspiracies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracies/) [Conspiracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracy/) [Conspiracy theories](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracy-theories/) ## Related quotes > [“The world is big conspiracy to make you happy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/santosh-kalwar/the-world-is-big-conspiracy-to-make-you-happy/) [Santosh Kalwar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/santosh-kalwar/) > [America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/america-is-a-vast-conspiracy-to-make-you-happy/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [The reason it is difficult is that we have been conditioned to laugh at conspiracy theories, and few people will risk public ridicule by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-edward-griffin/the-reason-it-is-difficult-is-that-we-have-been-conditioned-to-laugh/) [G. Edward Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-edward-griffin/) > [“So how can we determine what’s real and what’s not? We can’t. We can just pick and choose what we want to believe and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-b-spence/so-how-can-we-determine-what-s-real-and-what-s-not-we-can-t-we-can-2/) [Richard B. Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-b-spence/) > [“But no one who studies autocratic propaganda believes that fact-checking or even swift reactions are sufficient. By the time the correction is made, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-applebaum/but-no-one-who-studies-autocratic-propaganda-believes-that-fact/) [Anne Applebaum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-applebaum/) > [“Almost as an article of faith, some individuals believe that conspiracies are either kooky fantasies or unimportant aberrations. To be sure, wacko conspiracy theories…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-parenti/almost-as-an-article-of-faith-some-individuals-believe-that/) [Michael Parenti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-parenti/) > [“Culture, religion, and education, are conspiracies to standardize worldviews.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/culture-religion-and-education-are-conspiracies-to-standardize/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [“Facts count. Conspiracy theories, usually the refuge of the bitter or disempowered, range from factually challenged to wildly hallucinogenic. Conspiracy theories are not harmless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-lee-lerner/facts-count-conspiracy-theories-usually-the-refuge-of-the-bitter-or/) [K. Lee Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-lee-lerner/) > [“We are always in a constant state of conspiracies, at least thats what they keep telling us...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faith-brashear/we-are-always-in-a-constant-state-of-conspiracies-at-least-thats-what/) Faith Brashear > [“Acknowledging actual, specific conspiracies makes sense. But reflexive conspiracism can become a bad habit and a misguided way of making sense of current events.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/acknowledging-actual-specific-conspiracies-makes-sense-but-reflexive/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“JONES IS BOTH symptom and cause of how knee-jerk, florid conspiracism has become rampant and normalized in America, a fixture of the way people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/jones-is-both-symptom-and-cause-of-how-knee-jerk-florid-conspiracism/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“The trouble with believing conspiracies is you start seeing them everywhere, right? And everything becomes a part of them. But, of course, the trouble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-ross-clara/the-trouble-with-believing-conspiracies-is-you-start-seeing-them/) [J. Ross Clara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-ross-clara/) > [“It is indispensable for us to undermine all faith, to tear out of the mind of the "goyim" the very principle of god-head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/protocols-of-the-learned-elders-of-zion/it-is-indispensable-for-us-to-undermine-all-faith-to-tear-out-of-the/) Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion > [I'm absolutely obsessed with conspiracies and have been since I was a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scarlett-moffatt/i-m-absolutely-obsessed-with-conspiracies-and-have-been-since-i-was-a/) [Scarlett Moffatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scarlett-moffatt/) > [“Conspiracies are fun and entertaining. The only thing to be afraid of are the facts that surround them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-yvonne-moon/conspiracies-are-fun-and-entertaining-the-only-thing-to-be-afraid-of/) Lynn Yvonne Moon ## More by Kurt Andersen > [“Since the turn of the century, American fundamentalists had reveled in their sense of persecution by an infidel elite, but in the 1960s the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/since-the-turn-of-the-century-american-fundamentalists-had-reveled-in/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“If I think it’s true, no matter why or how I think it’s true, then it’s true, and nobody can tell me otherwise.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/if-i-think-it-s-true-no-matter-why-or-how-i-think-it-s-true-then-it-s/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“Libertarianism used to have a robust left wing as well. Both disliked government. Both were driven by a fantastically nostalgic conviction that a country…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/libertarianism-used-to-have-a-robust-left-wing-as-well-both-disliked/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“But what other place on Earth has been more congenial to believers and promoters of mad dreams and schemes of so many kinds? California…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/but-what-other-place-on-earth-has-been-more-congenial-to-believers/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“The antisharia movement lobbied states to pass statutes and constitutional amendments banning the use of sharia in their courts and legal systems, a fantasy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/the-antisharia-movement-lobbied-states-to-pass-statutes-and/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [I'm comparing Americans to international peers in terms of GDP, educational system - the sort of benchmarks we used to designate a so-called developed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/i-m-comparing-americans-to-international-peers-in-terms-of-gdp/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [TED was simply wonderful, an intellectual spa, a 21st-century Chataqua, superb and singular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/ted-was-simply-wonderful-an-intellectual-spa-a-21st-century-chataqua/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“The early advocates of universal literacy and a free press…did not foresee…the development of a vast mass communications industry, concerned in the main neither…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/the-early-advocates-of-universal-literacy-and-a-free-press-did-not/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“EVEN PAUL GOODMAN, beloved by young leftists in the 1960s, was flabbergasted by his students in 1969. “There was no knowledge,” he wrote, “only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/even-paul-goodman-beloved-by-young-leftists-in-the-1960s-was/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“IN ADDITION TO having become a distinctly Christian party, the GOP is more than ever America’s self-consciously white party. The nationalization of its Southern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-addition-to-having-become-a-distinctly-christian-party-the-gop-is/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“Sixteen hundred years ago Saint Augustine instructed, basically, Don’t be stupid. “Shall we say, then,” he wrote about Genesis, “there was such a sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/sixteen-hundred-years-ago-saint-augustine-instructed-basically-don-t/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“After more than three decades and many hundreds of studies, the overwhelming scientific consensus is that GMO foods are safe to eat. The National…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/after-more-than-three-decades-and-many-hundreds-of-studies-the/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“P. T. Barnum was the great early American merchandiser of exciting secular fantasies and half-truths. His extremely successful precircus career derived from and fed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/p-t-barnum-was-the-great-early-american-merchandiser-of-exciting/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [I am proud to be American. We wouldn't have our big dreams without this quality, but if we can't agree on the shape of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/i-am-proud-to-be-american-we-wouldn-t-have-our-big-dreams-without/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) > [“In 1848 the Homeopathic Medical College was founded in Philadelphia, eventually becoming the Drexel University College of Medicine. Homeopathic M.D. degrees were issued by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-andersen/in-1848-the-homeopathic-medical-college-was-founded-in-philadelphia/) [Kurt Andersen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) [Explore all 83 Kurt Andersen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-andersen/) ## More Conspiracies quotes > [“Conspiracies are fun and entertaining. The only thing to be afraid of are the facts that surround them.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-yvonne-moon/conspiracies-are-fun-and-entertaining-the-only-thing-to-be-afraid-of/) Lynn Yvonne Moon > [I'm absolutely obsessed with conspiracies and have been since I was a kid.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scarlett-moffatt/i-m-absolutely-obsessed-with-conspiracies-and-have-been-since-i-was-a/) [Scarlett Moffatt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scarlett-moffatt/) > [“It is indispensable for us to undermine all faith, to tear out of the mind of the "goyim" the very principle of god-head and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/protocols-of-the-learned-elders-of-zion/it-is-indispensable-for-us-to-undermine-all-faith-to-tear-out-of-the/) Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion > [“The trouble with believing conspiracies is you start seeing them everywhere, right? And everything becomes a part of them. But, of course, the trouble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-ross-clara/the-trouble-with-believing-conspiracies-is-you-start-seeing-them/) [J. Ross Clara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-ross-clara/) > [I thought that was the coolest thing in the world, the idea of somebody trying to solve mysteries. I would see conspiracies in everything.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-hirsch/i-thought-that-was-the-coolest-thing-in-the-world-the-idea-of/) [Alex Hirsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-hirsch/) > [Donald Trump believes in conspiracies. He has thin skin and is impulsive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/donald-trump-believes-in-conspiracies-he-has-thin-skin-and-is/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [“We are always in a constant state of conspiracies, at least thats what they keep telling us...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faith-brashear/we-are-always-in-a-constant-state-of-conspiracies-at-least-thats-what/) Faith Brashear > [The most dangerous and successful conspiracies take place in public, in plain sight, under the clear, bright light of day -- usually with TV…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-neil-smith/the-most-dangerous-and-successful-conspiracies-take-place-in-public/) [L. Neil Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-neil-smith/) > [In fact, I point out that all the conspiracies in history - especially during the last 5000 years - are actually different aspects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eustace-mullins/in-fact-i-point-out-that-all-the-conspiracies-in-history-especially/) [Eustace Mullins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eustace-mullins/) > [If we are on the outside, we assume a conspiracy is the perfect working of a scheme. Silent nameless men with unadorned hearts. A…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/if-we-are-on-the-outside-we-assume-a-conspiracy-is-the-perfect/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“Holy conspiracies, Batman!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-nicholas/holy-conspiracies-batman/) [Annie Nicholas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-nicholas/) > [“2 Hours for this conclusion is too much and it's ne big fucking lost... ... What we know about the world... people and so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deyth-banger/2-hours-for-this-conclusion-is-too-much-and-it-s-ne-big-fucking-lost/) Deyth Banger > [There are conspiracies all over the Senate floor on any day!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arlen-specter/there-are-conspiracies-all-over-the-senate-floor-on-any-day/) [Arlen Specter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arlen-specter/) > [Some of life's biggest and most positive changes are propelled by mini conspiracies of a few well-meaning folks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernard-lown/some-of-life-s-biggest-and-most-positive-changes-are-propelled-by/) [Bernard Lown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernard-lown/) > [“It's so far up your street it's got its tongue through your letter-box. Mum could never quite get the hang of conspiracies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-mars-jones/it-s-so-far-up-your-street-it-s-got-its-tongue-through-your-letter/) Adam Mars-Jones [Browse all 74 Conspiracies quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conspiracies/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“it was the sudden, shocking exposure of actual conspiracies starting in the 1970s that made Americans overcorrect, to assume that anything bad is the intentional result of some conspiracy. Which may make it harder, ironically, to expose and dismantle the rare real ones. Our news and Internet-enabled media discourse are clogged more than ever with conspiracy theories. All the fantastical noise obscures the occasional signals. I’m thinking, for instance, of the Russian government’s interference in the last U.S. presidential election, to which too little attention was paid as it was happening. 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