A conspiracy theory requires some specific conditions to thrive, and you'll find all of them in the current climate. A sense of powerlessness? Check. Generalized anxiety? Absolutely. Deep partisan divide, along with platforms that easily amplify misleading messages? Yes and yes.

This makes Megyn Kelly's forthcoming interview with Alex Jones, the InfoWars host renowned for spewing right-wing conspiracy theories, troubling. Kelly insists that she will challenge his views during Sunday night's interview, and reports suggest that after criticism she has overhauled the interview to be more hard-hitting, but it doesn't matter. Psychologically speaking, elevating chicanery and those who propagate it—even to debunk the lie---only spreads their nonsense.

“Megyn Kelly interviewing Alex Jones is like taking a leaf of poison ivy that you know is making you itch and rubbing it all over someone’s face,” says Stephanie Kelley-Romano, who teaches rhetoric at Bates College and studies how and why conspiracy beliefs take root. "You don't spread it around."

The briefest glance at the political landscape proves her point. During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump used the rhetoric of conspiracy—often cribbing from Jones himself---to appeal to his base. Thousands of Muslim-Americans celebrated the fall of the Twin Towers. Climate change is a Chinese hoax to hobble US manufacturing. The election system is rigged. He masterfully played to voters' fears of disempowerment and disenfranchisement, feelings that historically leave people susceptible to paranoia. In doing so, Trump pushed paranoia into the mainstream, and now the country finds itself in the improbable position of having a conspiracy-theorist-in-chief. That gives misleading ideas unprecedented reach and influence.

“These conspiracy theories are corrosive to trust in journalism and government, and they exacerbate hostile feelings toward the opposition,” says Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth University political scientist who studies the role conspiracy paranoia plays in society. "And they undermine the factual basis for democratic debate."

Conspiracy theories are not limited to conservatives, of course. Those on the left propagate them, too, especially now that Republicans rule Washington. Republican lawmakers celebrated the passage of Trumpcare over beers. Bernie Sanders is a Russian agent sent to destroy the Democratic Party. The FCC targeted Stephen Colbert. None of this should come as a surprise, because if there's one thing that's true about any of this nonsense, it's this: Conspiracy theories beget conspiracy theories, and once a crazy idea takes root it is all but impossible to quash. You can only slow its spread.

The Feeling of Truth

People love conspiracy theories because they feel good. “If false conspiracy theories are being believed as true, it's because they are doing some sort of work for the people who believe them,” says Kelley-Romano.

Conspiracy theories beget conspiracy theories.

People always try to make sense of the senseless. Faced with uncertainty, the brain seeks understanding. Conspiracy theories provide refuge in a complicated, confusing world. Coal miners aren’t losing their jobs because of economic and climatic shifts but because Barack Obama hates them. “It's a simplification device," Kelley-Romano says. "Rather than struggle with the complexities of economic theory, we say, 'No, it's because of this great cabal that's plotting against us.'"

Some researchers suspect that embracing a conspiracy theory stems from the human inclination to detect patterns and avoid exploitation. Tumultuous times can lead even the most rational person to believe paranoid fantasies. “The most consistent predictor of who is most likely to believe in conspiracies is some form of uncertainty,” says Anna Newheiser, a psychologist at SUNY Albany.

It gets worse when you add extreme partisanship to the mix, because those beliefs get enmeshed in the person's sense of identity. When your erroneous belief is wrapped up in your value system, it buttresses your sense of self. That makes accepting that a conspiracy theory is bogus feel like admitting there is something wrong with you. Experts say this is a key reason people can fervently believe something despite evidence disproving it. That, in turn, deepens the cultural divide.

Mainstreaming the Fringe

Which brings me back to Kelly's interview with Jones. He has spent a fair amount of time arguing that the Sandy Hook massacre is a hoax, propagated by Democrats to pass gun control laws. This is, of course, an egregious lie, and if he mentions it during Sunday night's interview, Kelly will challenge him on it.

Merely mentioning Alex Jones' Sandy Hook conspiracy theory will give it credence in the eyes of those who believe it---and anyone susceptible to believing it.

It won't matter. Merely mentioning the lie will give it credence in the eyes of those who believe it---and anyone susceptible to believing it, if they haven't already heard it.