You may not believe in conspiracies, but conspiracies believe in you.

In the 1960s American students enthusiastically embraced Tolkien. But not for his Catholicism. Whether Tolkien’s literary creation was experienced by these young people as a frisson of what it was to be United States American haunted by their Anglo colonial roots, if anyone needed a consoling fantasy enshrined in their heart, the Shire wouldn’t be a bad one at all. 
The Shire isn’t a militaristic power. It has no empire and doesn’t seek one. It is overlooked by the rest of the world and therefore cannot have a migration crisis of tens of thousands of refugees from war-torn Rohan. It has no pretentions to be a ‘Global Shire’. And last but not least, the Shire has no ‘special relationship’ with the witch realm of Angmar. 
However, there are some differences between the Shire folk and the English. The Shire people are not seafarers. They have had no industrial revolution. Even if the Shire had a coastline, without having an industrial revolution as well, they could never have the English seaside holiday. That would be a considerable loss. 
One enviable feature of the Shire is its history. No event in it is such that it can disturb the mind and lead to history becoming pathological. There are no statues of long-forgotten notables from the 17th century of the Third Age of the Sun that need dumping in the Bandywine River. There are no peoples of Far Harad demanding recompense for the ill-use of their ancestors and no Mayor of Hobbiton who would be docile and enervated enough to find ‘creative’ ways of indulging them if there were. 
There are no Shire historians looking at the past and trying to mine a grievance from the fact that a long-forgotten king of men granted to their ancestors as a place of settlement an unwanted province devasted by war rather than one better furnished. 
Whether England should be like it or not, the Shire is the subject of the benignant interest and guardianship of one of the eternal entities who form the overarching supernatural structure to what is – despite the creation of all in the thought of the One using the Flame Imperishable – an otherwise godless universe.  
As elsewhere in the world, and unlike England, the Shire has no places of worship. Though close to the soil, the Shire folk are not even animist, as are the Elves. So untroubled are they by religion, nothing reaches the Shire people of any of the greatest spirits; not even of Manwë who is the breath of all people. 
But congratulations to Mr Eagleton for describing a non-conspiratorial world as if it were a conspiracy. Does wearing the world like a hair shirt calm the soul? 

Conspiracy and Narcissists go together. I’m so unique and insightful only I and few like me can see and explain this etc etc. It’s makes me special. Groan.
Many things are complex and not straightforward. They warrant an inquisitive mind that can absorb nuance and intricacy. Conspiracies can thus also appeal to the lazy.
And then of course there are the manipulators. They drip-feed the narcissists and the lazy.

“Conspiracy Theory” = Smear thrown at ‘outsiders’ to undermine public scrutiny.

I would imagine that people in government think in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Only we understand the truth but we have to explain it to them, the plebs. So, in a way, a conspiracy is necessary to sell an idea, as well as to refute the same idea. Almost nothing that you read can be separated from a conspiracy. An author on UnHerd is conspiring with the UnHerd management to make an article which appeals to the members.
The wackier conspiracies are started by people who want to draw attention to themselves, who want to be interesting.

There’s some very vague logic in here, and of course Mr. Eagleton finds the time to draw an analogy or two between what the Third Reich were doing and what Trump is currently attempting – well done! – but the conspiracy theory idea is a flimsy one.
As I often tell people, at least before they change the subject and remember pressing engagements elsewhere, the reason lots of people believe in conspiracy theories is that they cannot take the actions of politicians on face value. When political parties put policies in place which look to the average person like a really bad idea, and from which everyone can predict a lousy outcome, and which inevitably DO have a lousy outcome, people refuse to believe they don’t have some kind of hidden agenda – otherwise why would they do things so obviously counterproductive? Surely not for the good of the people, like they’re supposed to be. What are they hiding? What are their REAL intentions? Seems pretty obvious to me.

Powerful insight here denied to Americans themselves who are wandering lost in their troubled landscape.

Terry Eagleton is a fine fellow, but a bit stack to his nerative..! If you don’t take your nerative out in the open to breath some fresh air that nerative stands no longer. I understand the tendency to support one’s ideas. I think though that the best way to empower these ideas is to bring them into contrast with the finest of the opposition. Sadly, the leftists more and more in our time, quit the effort of intelligent dialogue and only have mad to throw towards the “enemy”..!

By the way.. can someone explain to me what was the “non-being”, that Jews were allegedly standing for..?
“..Annihilating Jews was an attempt to abolish the frightful form of non-being they stood for, which threatened the very foundations of the Third Reich..”

Brilliant as always from Terry Eagleton.