Conspiracy theories tend to be simpler explanations. The people attracted to them struggle to comprehend complexities, and thus reject reality for the conspiracy.
The simple explanations are often shrouded in mountains of bullshit to make you think you "did the work". All fluff and very little substance. Lefty or not Sophie from Mars dids a fantastic essay on conspiracy theories and stigmatized knowledge. Well worth anyone's time considering how relevant the topic is nowadays
Yes, but they could / would say exactly the same things about our side. This symmetry of how each side perceives the other, I find it both fascinating, infuriating and frustrating.
Identifying aircraft or atmospheric phenomenon is very complex. You need an understanding of aircraft and various classes of aircraft. Satellites and various classes and orbits. A for phenomenon you need an understanding of physics, fluid dynamics and meteorology. It's easier to say you saw an alien.
Technology has advanced significantly in the last 200 years. This makes senses in you understand the enlightenment and improved communication technologies (printing press etc). There has been a steady increase in technological development each one making the next feasible. Optics improved reading. Lighting allowed work outside of daylight. Agricultural development allowed more people to get out of a substance living and more people developing technology and culture. Unless we got all those ideas from an alien craft.
Vaccines and how the improve immune response is not trivial. Especially the new vaccines that were developed for covid. Rather than appear ignorant, it easier to reject that they are effective.
Well, there's actually "doing your own research" and there's "get fed a line by alt right media and thinking that counts as research". Which is a conspiracy in and of itself...
Carefully researched conspiracy theory with science method just can't exist. The basis for conspiracy theory is that there's truth so well hidden there's no proof for that, and they can just "see through the lies".