Coming out of the closet

[UltraBudgie]

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.

A nuanced and considered reply as always; thank you.

I like the idea that "everyone is a conspiracy theorist, in some sense", and the idea that we all sort of build our own world-views as we mature.  That's true.  For example, when I was young I could breath underwater through my ears, until I couldn't, at which point I hadn't.  I think.  Did I rebuild my world into one where that wasn't possible, so it hadn't been?  I don't know, of course -- there's no way to "step outside" the construct and measure.  I guess the best that we can hope for with the way we see the world is that it is some balance between 1) being workable, in which we have agency, 2) being predictable, in which we have a sense of self, and 3) being exciting and fun, in which we do not stagnate or wither.  Those are in conflict sometimes!  And when not fulfilled, people look "in the cracks" of their realities, searching for new meaning.  I guess that's "conspiracy theorizing", in the broad sense we're using it here.

The "knee-jerk" reaction people have: no one likes an unexpected and undesired challenge, where the game of social interaction suddenly changes and the rules they though were in play are suddenly maybe-not-valid.  I think American culture paints so many images of "crazy outsiders" at people that they become afraid.  Ideologically xenophobic.  Certainly, with politics, people have been shock-collar trained to avoid avoid avoid cross-boundary interaction.  To formalize it with nerfed non-reaction and hide from the conflict they see presented as "normal" online or in our news media.  The same thing applies if someone out of the blue starts talking about aliens, illegal or the other kind.

And I think we all have a social persona.  The way we want people to see us.  No one likes the idea of being considered the crazy, the nail that sticks up gets hammered.  You don't get invited to any of the really fun parties, perhaps.  And of course there's the "professional image" to think about.  Do any of the posters here ever think about running for even mid-level political office, hmm?  Well, maybe that doesn't matter so much if you have the right connections -- Beto O'Rourke was a member of the Cult of The Dead Cow, you know.

Some of the list entries drew you in a little, huh?  Haha mission accomplished.  Start a thread or two!  That'd be great.

Yes, you've made very good points -- don't bulldoze people's worldviews casually, even unintentionally, unless there's a very good reason and they've indicated consent.  In a way, all worldviews are religions, and that faith may be the only thing between them and the void.  So when I'm talking with someone and they mention, for example, dinosaurs, my measured reaction isn't to set them straight, but to better understand their mythology, why they need that belief system, what purpose it serves them.  Especially with older folk -- if you get to your 60s or 70s believing such things, well, might as well ride out the journey; who am I to say different.  I think that's a part of respecting people as people.