In his book The Demon-Haunted World, the renowned scientist late Carl Sagan wrote that many people go out of their way to forestall any intellectual/rational inquiry into magical/supernatural claims. Sagan explained this nature of forestalling through an allegorical example.

Imagine if a person claims that there were a fire-breathing dragon in his garage. When a visitor asks him to show the dragon, he is taken to the garage. But when the visitor sees nothing, he is told that the dragon is actually invisible.

The visitor suggests throwing flour on the floor so they can see the invisible dragon’s footsteps. The response to this is that the dragon actually floats in the air and his feet rarely touch the ground. When the visitor suggests using an infrared camera to see the dragon’s invisible fire, he is told that the creature’s fire was heatless and hence would be invisible to an infrared camera.

The visitor then suggests spray-painting the dragon so he would become visible. The response to this is that the dragon was incorporeal and the paint won’t stick.

Engaging with conspiracy theorists is often like being slowly sucked inside a whirlpool of illusions, delusions and paranoia… until one hits a brick wall

Sagan wrote that, on many occasions, no matter how sincerely one tries to test a claim through scientific means, the ones making fantastical claims go to any length to ‘prove’ that the claims are untestable and simply need to be accepted as true.

Often, well-meaning folk advise that, instead of outrightly rejecting claims and theories that look or sound incredibly implausible or even utter rubbish, they should be discussed with those making them. But what if the claim-makers are simply interested in deflecting your queries through more fibs?

Not unless you agree that invisible, floating, incorporeal dragons living in garages breathing heatless fires exist, will you be able to have any real engagement with the claim-maker. Then you can both be on the same wavelength, talking about dragons, and maybe even fairies.

Twenty or so years ago, my paternal grandfather was told by the cleric of a mosque that he (the cleric) had managed to bring a djinn under his control. My grandfather was a very religious man and had contributed a lot of resources to the mosque. But he was also a questioning man. So one day he asked the cleric where he was keeping the djinn. The cleric pointed towards a small room which was located in an extended portion of the mosque.

My grandfather and some of his colleagues who regularly prayed at the mosque, insisted that the cleric show them the djinn. After some hesitation, the cleric agreed. He opened the door of the room. But there was no djinn there. Just a carpet on which were three chairs and a table. There was also a table-fan placed in a corner. When asked about the djinn, the cleric said that the djinn often changed his shape in front of strangers.

My grandfather told the cleric that since the djinn was under the cleric’s control, surely he must be knowing what shape he had taken. The cleric replied that the djinn could be the table, the carpet, one of the three chairs, or the fan. So one of my grandfather’s colleagues decided to sit on the chairs, the table, the carpet, and he also switched on the fan. He did all this but the djinn refused to appear.

So they told the cleric they will stay in the room until the djinn changes back to his original shape. The cleric advised them not to do that, because the djinn may end up possessing them. When asked why the djinn hadn’t possessed him, the cleric told them that the djinn believed that the cleric was the holiest man in the room.

This irritated some of my grandfather’s colleagues, but my grandfather just smiled. As they were exiting the room, my grandfather told the cleric to ask the djinn to provide the monthly funds for the upkeep of the mosque. After this, the cleric never spoke of the djinn again.

There are a lot of people who try to sincerely engage with folk who, for example, claim that the former PM of Pakistan Imran Khan was ousted through a diabolical conspiracy woven by the military, anti-Khan politicians, the European Union countries and the US.

Then there are those who insist that the 2020 US presidential elections were rigged by a sinister ‘elite’ to oust Donald Trump. Or those who will tell you that, in ancient India, people were flying nuclear-powered spaceships. Apparently, India’s PM Narendra Modi holds similar views.

Those who attempt to hold a meaningful discussion with such folk often say that the experience is like being slowly sucked inside a whirlpool of illusions, delusions and paranoid theories, until one hits a brick wall. Not unless you entirely believe the claim-makers, will you be able to hold a ‘discussion’. Of course, by this I mean two people reinforcing a claim that they both insist is true. Not much of a discussion, this.

So what is going on here? Let’s explore this within examples of Khan, Trump and their supporters. According to a study published in the January 2022 issue of the journal Nature Human Behaviour, being deprived of political control (by failing to get re-elected, or being ousted from power) increases conspiracy theorising.

When people feel locked out of power, they may be more motivated to endorse beliefs that delegitimise incumbent authorities and the outcomes of political processes. This is also a way to exhibit that the defeated were stronger than the winners.

This is how Trump and Khan have framed those who ousted them. They question the legitimacy of the process that put them at the losing end, despite the fact that one lost an election which was declared fair by credible observers and investigations, and the other was ousted through constitutional means. Yet, supporters of both men continue to discard even the most obvious evidence in this regard. Thus the near-impossibility of having any rational engagement with them.

But Modi is a winner. So why indulge in fantastical theories about India’s ancient past? Simply because these theories bolster the modern Hindu nationalist project of erasing the actual history of non-Hindu rule in the region between the 13th and mid-20th centuries.

That period is explained as oppressive and barbaric. And, of course, one that did not have any nuclear-powered spaceships. The dragon in the garage.

Published in Dawn, EOS, September 4th, 2022