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conspiracy theories

  • SOURCE: New Statesman
    12/2/2020

    What The Hitler Conspiracies Mean

    by Richard J. Evans

    Against evidence and common sense, theories persist that Adolf Hitler escaped Berlin to live in Argentina. An expert on the memory of the Third Reich argues that the conspiracy theories reflect a broad rejection of expertise and show the need for historians to engage the public. 

  • SOURCE: The New Yorker
    10/29/2020

    How America Escapes Its Conspiracy-Theory Crisis

    by David Rhode

    Trump's indulgence of conspiracy theorists risks casting the government as the enemy of the people. A new social contract is needed to ensure that this breach doesn't widen. 

  • SOURCE: Boston Review
    10/29/2020

    When Democracy Ails, Magic Thrives

    by Samuel Clowes-Huneke

    A new book by historian Monica Black suggests that the irrational was never absent from the postwar order—and, moreover, that florid eruptions of mystical thinking often accompany periods of extreme political upheaval. 

  • SOURCE: Saturday Evening Post
    10/26/2020

    The Conspiracy Theory That Spawned a Political Party

    "The question of the Anti-Masonic Party’s legacy is anything but settled among political historians. Was it all a righteous democratic force for justice or a cynical conspiracy cult?"

  • SOURCE: Vanity Fair
    10/14/2020

    How QAnon Crept Into the Mind of Donald Trump

    by Jeff Sharlet

    Jeff Sharlet has long examined the role of true believers in politics. As the influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory among Trump's base comes in for scrutiny, he asks what if "he isn’t selling a dream, he’s dreaming it?"

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    9/16/2020

    Where Conspiracy Reigns

    Historians Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta and Federico Finchelstein offer insight into how the political right has used rumors of communist plots to maintain power in Brazil, and why the country's political culture today is vulnerable to fake news and conspiracy theories. 

  • SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
    8/27/2020

    Qanon Misdirects Our Attention Away From The Real Threats To Children

    by Paul M. Renfro

    "Moral panics like QAnon work to distract from less outrageous, far more insidious sources of harm. Even worse, they contribute to punitive policies that separate and hurt families, perpetuate mass incarceration and keep people in a state of fear."

  • SOURCE: JSTOR Daily
    8/21/2020

    The Text That Stoked Modern Antisemitism

    The FBI recently tweeted out its archival copy of the notorious antisemitic conspiracy tract "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" without any context or explanation. Here's where it came from and a summary of its influence.

  • SOURCE: New York Review of Books
    7/27/2020

    A Brief History of Dangerous Others

    by Richard Kreitner and Rick Perlstein

    Wielding the outside agitator trope has always, at bottom, been a way of putting dissidents in their place. The allegation is not even necessarily meant to be believed. It is simply a cover story, intended to shield from responsibility not only the authorities implicated in crimes or abuses of power, but also society as a whole. 

  • SOURCE: +972 Magazine

    How the GOP Brought Antisemitism from the Margins to the White House

    A new website tracking incidents of right-wing antisemitism finds that rarely a week goes by without the Republican Party boosting white nationalism. A long history of conservative maneuvering to portray Democrats and the left as antisemitic helps explain the lack of political consequences.

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    5/29/2020

    The Conspiracy Theories That Fueled the Civil War

    The most powerful people and institutions in the South spread paranoia and fear to protect slavery, leading the country to war, as historians Matthew J. Clavin and Manisha Sinha explain. 

  • SOURCE: The Atlantic
    5/15/2020

    The Conspiracy Museum: A Speculative Address

    by Robin Sloan

    Where might the spread of conspiratorial thinking and evidence-free discourse lead? Read the opening address for the Smithsonian Museum of American Conspiracy from the year 2041. 

  • SOURCE: Saved by History
    5/13/2020

    A Response to "Alternate" Explanations

    by L.D. Burnett

    How should a professor respond to a student's journaling project if it reflects unfounded conspiracy theories about Covid-19?