A conspiracy theory is the product of a few individuals who use various powerful means to give meaning to an occurrence. They usually oppose the official accounts provided to explain the events and choose to push their rendition of the truth. There are many conspiracy theorists across the United States and globally. They predominantly believe that governments, powerful companies, and organizations can use their influence to deceive the public (Herndon et al.). Therefore, various conspiracy theories have attempted to explain different occurrences, including assassinations of top-level individuals, military installations, and alien activities. This paper focuses on the Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory that has attracted massive attention across the United States, Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world. Even though the theory attempts to substantiate the existence of chemtrails, there are no factual facts to their kind of reasoning.
The Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory gained prominence in the 1990s following a widespread belief that governments or some other supposed forces were constantly spattering the planet with chemicals from routine passenger airplanes. States that the theory relates to an undercover scheme to add harmful substances to the sky from airplanes in a pattern showing visible plumes in the atmosphere akin to the contrails traditionally released by aircraft.
Generally, when airplanes fly across the sky, they form contrails, specks of water vapor and fine soot particles produced when the planes burn jet fuel that is condensed into ice crystals. The contrails are not observed each time an aircraft flies, depending on the prevailing weather conditions and the high altitude at which an airplane flies (Herndon et al.). When the air is characterized by low humidity, the crystals scatter into the atmosphere, meaning they cannot be seen.
However, when there is high humidity, the crystals persist, creating clear vapor trails spread over large expanses of the sky. The vapor trails become visible since they are held up by humid air over a long duration of time when they turn into thin membranes of cirrus clouds up in the sky. The Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists believe that the contrails are not the only thing the aircraft produces. According to Dunne, the proponents of the theory, despite contrails, there are moments when the white stripes persist for a longer duration and become too large to be considered mere water vapors. Hence, they believe that the visible white streaks must be infused with other chemicals that are intentionally and nefariously splashed into the sky by the government for many reasons.
The reasons provided by the Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists to support their viewpoint seek to evoke emotional appeal amongst the populace. At first, the theorists stated that a toxic metal substance, barium, was sprayed into the vapor to reduce population. Since then, many other emotionally appealing rationales have been advanced to win more support. The reasons include controlling people’s minds, reducing life expectancy, sterilizing the population, and weather control Dunne. The most recent reasons advanced by the Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists is that the contrails are laced with coronavirus and are used to distribute vaccines as a way of cleverly promoting a different social order in the world.
In addition, the theorists’ reasoning is backed up by weak argumentation, as many of the reasons provided are false. In the current digital age, it would be expected that a manufacturing facility for the material would have been uncovered if the government ran the program on a large scale. It would be easy to investigate and ascertain the materials’ transportation, loading and dispersal, a process involving hundreds or thousands of people. Therefore, hiding such a secret program from the world is virtually impossible, as someone can easily leak its existence (Tingley and Wegner). The Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists have produced no document, image, or hardware to authenticate their claim. It would also be hard for the purported chemical substance to dissipate through the high altitude and reach the ground level in an active form.
Furthermore, the Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists have leveraged the vast following on social media platforms to spread the fake news. Their messaging is supported by relentless psychological prejudices and the widespread skepticism of official statements (Bram). For instance, the United States Air Force has captioned a disclaimer on its web page to discredit the chemtrail lie based on their investigation and confirmations from numerous established and accredited research organizations, universities, and media. Moreover, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has publicized an identical observation and provided a fact sheet regarding contrails. Nonetheless, the proponents have not been swayed but focused on dismissing the announcements mainly through the internet. They have gained massive influence across Telegram and Facebook, where they spread their views and thinking.
In conclusion, conspiracy theories have been developed for a long time to oppose the official account of different events that have transpired at different times. The theorists seek to provide their version of the truth, which they spread to the masses to gain some following. Notably, the Chemtrails Conspiracy Theory developed out of the contrails left behind by flying aircraft. The theory holds that the government could spray the contrails with a chemical substance to attain a particular objective, including the recent spread of coronavirus and vaccine distribution. Even as they do not provide a strong argument, they have taken advantage of social media platforms to talk over their thinking and gain more following.
Works Cited
Bram, Curtis. “When a Conspiracy Theory Goes Mainstream, People Feel More Positive toward Conspiracy Theorists.” Research & Politics, vol. 8, no. 4. 2021. Web.
Dunne Carey. “My Month with Chemtrails Conspiracy Theorists.” The Guardian, 2017. Web.
Herndon, J. Marvin, et al. “Chemtrails Are Not Contrails: Radiometric Evidence.” Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International. 2020, pp. 22–29. Web.
Tingley, Dustin, and Gernot Wagner. “Solar Geoengineering and the Chemtrails Conspiracy on Social Media.” Palgrave Communications, vol. 3, no. 1. 2017. Web.