Frozen

The Conspiracy Theory

After Disney’s death, a rumor started to spread that Disney actually had his body frozen before he passed away. Over the years, many theorists have cited that during his lifetime Disney showed constant interest in technological innovations including cryogenics. They believed that the private lifestyle of Disney was the result of his secretive plan to preserve his body. Although it was discredited several times by his family members, many still believe that it was true. After the 2013 movie Frozen, many theorists believed that the Company was attempting to distract the public from the alleged legend of Disney to protect Walt Disney’s image. They have cited the Company’s past actions of photoshopping Disney’s photos to preserve his image. The animation company has photoshopped many photos of Walt Disney holding a cigarette to hide the fact that Walt Disney was a heavy smoker. Before the movie premiere, when people google the word, “frozen,” the myth regarding his death would show up. However, after the movie, results regarding the myth of Disney’s death disappeared. Many speculated that it was another attempt by the Disney Company trying to hide the truth.

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Dentith’s definition of a conspiracy

Dentith’s definition of a conspiracy is very simple. In his definition of a conspiracy, he contends that a conspiracy must include only three conditions.
1. The conspirators condition: There exists (or existed) some set of agents with a plan
2. The secrecy condition: Steps have been taken by the agents to minimize public awareness of what they are up to
3. The goal condition: some end is, or was desired, by the agents

The myth surround Walt Disney’s death fits all the requirements above. If the conspiracy were true, a group of conspirators must exist to execute the freezing process and avoid the media press. Because many speculated the possible procedure taken by Walt Disney and his conspirators, the Disney Company has taken steps to minimize the public awareness. The premiere of the movie, Frozen, was aimed to distract the speculators from the conspiracy. The goal was achieved by the conspirators. Now, when people google the word “Frozen,” they will not find articles regarding the myth surrounding Walt Disney’s death. Therefore, because the myth fits all the conditions above, it is a conspiracy.

Dentith’s definition of a conspiracy theory

Now that we have identify that it is a conspiracy, we should determine that whether a conspiracy theory is warranted or unwarranted. Dentith contends that we should judge each case on its merit instead of generalizing them into a category of unwarranted conspiracy theories. He believes that the previous definitions given by his predecessors are biased in their nature. Those definitions are already unwarranted by their nature. He believes that we should determine the rationality of the theory by its probability. He outlines three types of probability:

1. The posterior probability: the extent to which the available evidence renders some hypothesis probable
2. The prior probability: the degree to which the hypothesis is independently likely
3. The relative probability: the likelihood of the hypothesis, relative to the other hypotheses being considered

If a conspiracy satisfies all the conditions above, we have good reasons to accept the conspiracy as rational. The conspiracy does not fit condition one because there are no concrete evidence showing that Walt Disney undergone the procedure. However, the conspiracy is independently likely to happen because at the time many wealthy, prominent men have done the procedure. Because Walt Disney was a pioneer of the animation industry, he was likely to have consider it as well. Lastly, the conspiracy does not fit the third requirement because it is less likely relative to other options. Walt Disney’s body might have been cremated instead of frozen. It seems that the former option is more likely to happen since most people would have done it. Therefore, because the conspiracy fails to fit all three conditions, it is not a conspiracy theory.

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