It would be foolish to believe that people disagree and fight with each other because they believe in discrepant conspiracy theories; on the opposite, one has often the impression that people believe in discrepant conspiracy theories exactly because they want to disagree. They want to somehow vehicle and also give vent to the tension that underlies society, and that does not find other . . . frameworks of expression.
. . . For example, the problem of conspiracy theories on vaccines . . . lies not in their supposed logical or scientific fallacy, but in the fact that they are a means to voice a social preoccupation that would, otherwise, remain unexpressed, that is, anguish toward the increasing deconstruction of scientific and also medical knowledge in the new digital arenas
Massimo Leone: «Preface» to Lexia. Rivista di semiotica, n. 23~24 [monographic on conspiracy theories] ; Torino & Ariccia : CIRCE & Aracne, 2016-06 (excerpt La Litera información)
