Unicorni, maiali, leoni: Ideologie semiotiche del complotto

The article investigates the popular definition of conspiracy the- ories as resulting from the tendency to arbitrarily seeing order into chaos and patterns into randomness. Through reference to the enormous success of the mythology of the unicorn in present–day popular culture, merchan- dising, and even how–to publications, the article explores the hypothe- sis that this success might be parallel to the proliferation of conspiracy theories, since, just as unicorn believers, conspiracy theorists too tend to irrationally construct a position of existential singularity, surrounded by an aura of exclusivity and distinction. This hypothesis is further investi- gated with reference to a case–study, this time involving not unicorns but piglets, precisely those that a young Ecuadorian visual designer painted on the walls of Guayaquil in 2004, unintentionally igniting rumors, pub- lic panic, and conspiracy theories about their threatening meaning. The article continues with a semiotic articulation of how signs are generally interpreted in conspiracy theories, in their quality of either para–signs or pseudo–signs. The third animal evoked in the paper, the lion, is a reference to the long tradition of inventing mythical animals and firmly believing in their existence, often placing them at the periphery of the known world. Perhaps, the article concludes, the aesthetic pleasure of this invention, and the existential thrill that it begets, are also to be considered in explaining the semiotic ideology behind the modern appeal of conspiracy theories.