Coming out of the closet

[Maxmars]

What "conspiracy theories" or "fringe topics" are you willing to discuss, in public, without deriding them?

...

So I will happy rant along with about:

• The Illuminati
  
• Science is lies
  
• The moon landing was fake
  
• Time isn't linear
  
• American satinism
  
• They sunk the Titanic on purpose
  
• Nukes aren't real
  
• The pyramids were built with ancient high tech
  
• The pharoses used the Book of Dead to really reincarnate
  
• The past is mutable and different for everyone
  
• Donald Trump's hair
  
• Pandas are fake and were invented
  
• The earth is not a spinning ball
  
• Tesla and his pigeon
  
• The D's and the R's really aren't that different
  
• WWI was started by England and France
  
• Fluoride is mind control
  
• The universe requires consent
  
• Epstein wasn't really killed
  

and many others!  It is like having a bunch of different shoes to wear!

So, do other people do this?  What are you willing to entertain?  What are you not willing to entertain?  For example, I avoid eugenics and supremacist ideologies, because they can be so hate-adjacent.  That's just practical.

I heard this was a splinter of a conspiracy site, but without the mudslinging.  But you guys seem really in the closet?  It is crazy that everyone is afraid of seeming crazy.

Excellent idea for a conversation! 
 
Because of my compulsion to entertain and dissect lists, I was immediate confronted by how many different direction in which it could evolve...  I will reject my natural tendency to address your OP point by point... I think the central idea was sound and clear.

There are many reasons for exploring these ideas, and many of them aren't mine so it is difficult to do them justice; especially if your hoping to tease out any sincere deep dive into specificity.

I have found that there is no person I have ever spoken to or corresponded with, who wasn't a conspiracy theorist in some sense.  A "human life" is a string of conspiracy theories... we live to understand, our first human instinct is to 'learn' through observation.  The "curation" of our individual realities starts there, without exception.  "Conspiracy theory" is just observations... Fringe Ideas are 'usually' connected to conspiracy theory... in some natural way.

Few like to admit that they acknowledge this.  From the flatly manipulative "it's all craziness - you should fear and reject conspiracy discussions" to the ironic "conspiracy theories are conspiratorial"  we are 'dissuaded' socially from approaching the ideas... and I find that should be a very telling component of socially distancing oneself from them. 

Why the knee-jerk rejection to conspiracy theory? 
What exactly do they 'damage?' 
Why "hide" your interest? 
Why distance yourself from it? 
What judgment are you avoiding? 
From what is it that you are protecting yourself?

The 'closet' in this case is the idea that despite a genuine interest, we must frustrate our own inquisitiveness... because "only a fool would believe [insert theory]?"  Yet we watch soap operas, and fantasy films, read comic books and easily participate in WWE-style political theater, or worship the imagery of talented celebrities... even knowing that almost all of it is a bouquet of lies and bluster.

Personally, I was never "in the conspiracy theorist closet"... I very often was the one to add "Hey, how about this... [insert observation?]" to be met with "Oh! You're one of those?" inflected to deliver the verbal eye-roll.  I got used to it.  The older I got, the less the social knee jerk response bothered me... now I can proudly say that "Yes! I am a conspiracy theorist, aren't we lucky?"

I would like to address some of your examples... but it would really be beside the point I'm trying to share.