Seriously.

Some reasons why conspiracy theories don't die:

1. They're easy to understand: a bunch of smart bad guys get together to fool the rest of us.

2. They're mysterious: who are these bad guys? what do they really want? how do they continue to get away with it?

3. They're usually about something vital and threatening, if true: Has a fascist coup been running America since 1963? Are Earth governments in league with the saucermen? Are doctors making my kid autistic? Is the man in the White House working for Bin Laden?

4. They make the believers feel even smarter than the conspirators themselves because the believers have it, or most of it, all figured out in spite of the secrecy.

5. They make the believers feel smarter than the dopes who can't see the conspiracy.

6. They appeal to the imagination: anybody can come up with a new twist or a new question they want answered.

7. They feed on themselves: every parent knows that the question "why?" can be repeated forever. And believers are even more likely than kids to reject the explanation of why with a "Yes, but..." or "How do you explain...?"

8. Believers believe other believers who keep raising more questions.

9. The less you know about anything, the easier it is to make up a conspiracy theory.

10. Real frauds can make anything sound mysterious by putting a sinister spin on a question that's already been answered, or one that's actually total nonsense: Who got Obama into Harvard? How come none of Obama's "fellow students" can remember him? Is there a link between Southern tornado deaths and CIA weather-control experiments?

12. Conspiracy theories are guaranteed to sell books, papers and commercial time, and to get theorists' names in print and on the air.

13. Real conspiracies do occur (though usually with a limited cast of characters), and a truly successful conspiracy would never be discovered or revealed....

14. So if there's no evidence of a conspiracy...that could be the most powerful evidence of all!!!!!