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- This study does not claim that all people who promote conspiracy
theories are antisemitic, anti-Muslim, racist, on the political right,
on the political left, or secretly encouraging people to believe in the
Protocols. Nor is it meant to imply these things. This slide show
illustrates the underlying paradigm of conspiracism; and shows how the
named scapegoats and feared outcomes can be replaced, while retaining
the same basic set of frames and narratives.
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- Barkun
- Boyer,
- Brasher,
- Cohn,
- Fenster,
- FitzGerald,
- Fuller,
- Goldberg,
- Gorenberg,
- Griffin,
- Harding,
- Landes,
- Lyons,
- O’Leary,
- Pipes,
- Rhodes,
- Quinby,
- Strozier.
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- Barkun
- Boyer,
- Brasher,
- Cohn,
- Fenster,
- FitzGerald,
- Fuller,
- Goldberg,
- Gorenberg,
- Griffin,
- Harding,
- Landes,
- Lyons,
- O’Leary,
- Pipes,
- Rhodes,
- Quinby,
- Strozier.
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- Barkun
- Boyer,
- Brasher,
- Cohn,
- Fenster,
- FitzGerald,
- Fuller,
- Goldberg,
- Gorenberg,
- Griffin,
- Harding,
- Landes,
- Lyons,
- O’Leary,
- Pipes,
- Rhodes,
- Quinby,
- Strozier.
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- Frames are ways to organize a perspective on the world that highlights
a specific grievance and suggest a specific solution.
- --A bunch of very clever sociologists
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- The belief in an approaching confrontation, cataclysmic event, or
transformation of epochal proportion, about which a select few have
forewarning so they can make appropriate preparations. From a Greek root
word suggesting unveiling hidden information or revealing secret
knowledge about unfolding human events.
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- Central to Christianity, the tradition also exists in Judaism, Islam,
and other religions and secular belief structures. Believers can be
passive or active in anticipation; and optimistic or pessimistic about
the outcome.
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- In Christianity there are competing apocalyptic prophetic traditions
based on demonization or cooperation. The dualist or demonized version
involves a final show-down struggle between absolute good and absolute
evil.
- One version of Christianity that currently generates a high volume of
apocalyptic excitement is called premillennial dispensationalism.
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- Although in Western Culture apocalypticism is rooted in religious
beliefs, it has influenced secular society and popular culture; from
Moby Dick to Dick Tracy to Tracy Chapman.
- Movies such as Apocalypse Now and
TV programs such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer have made the
apocalyptic genre ubiquitous.
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- A binary division of the world into competing factions: one good and
one evil.
- Also called Manichaeism.
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- The portrayal of individuals and groups as agents of pure evil, perhaps
even in league with Satan.
- A precursor to scapegoating and conspiracism which encourages
discrimination and violence against the target.
- Acts as a form of dehumanization or objectification.
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- A distinct narrative form of scapegoating, that uses demonization to
justify constructing the scapegoats as wholly evil; while reconstructing
the scapegoater as a hero.
- Sees secret plots by tiny cabals of evildoers as the major motor
powering important historical events.
- Often employs common fallacies of logic in analyzing factual evidence
to assert connections, causality, and intent that are nonexistent.
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- The conspirators are internationalist in their sympathies.
- Nothing is ever discarded. Right-wing mail order bookstores still sell
the Protocols of the Elders of Zion...[and] Proofs of a Conspiracy.
- Seeming enemies are actually secret friends. Through the lens of the
conspiracy theorists, capitalists and Communists work hand in hand.
- The takeover by the international godless government will be ignited by
the collapse of the economic system.
- It's all spelled out in the Bible. For those with a fundamentalist bent,
the New World Order or One World Government is none other than the
international kingdom of the Antichrist, described in the Book of
Revelation.
- --George Johnson, “The Conspiracy That Never Ends”
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- Jews are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Jews work through Masonic lodges,
- Jews use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Jews control the press,
- Jews work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Jews manipulate the economy, especially through banking monopolies and
the power of gold,
- Jews encourage issuing paper currency not tied to the gold standard,
- Jews promote financial speculation and use of credit,
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- Jews are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Jews work through Masonic lodges,
- Jews use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Jews control the press,
- Jews work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Jews manipulate the economy, especially through banking monopolies and
the power of gold,
- Jews encourage issuing paper currency not tied to the gold standard,
- Jews promote financial speculation and use of credit,
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- Freemasons are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Freemasons work through Masonic lodges,
- Freemasons use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Freemasons control the press,
- Freemasons work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Freemasons manipulate the economy, especially through banking monopolies
and the power of gold,
- Freemasons encourage issuing paper currency not tied to the gold
standard,
- Freemasons promote financial speculation and use of credit,
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- Plutocrats are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Plutocrats work through Masonic lodges,
- Plutocrats use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Plutocrats control the press,
- Plutocrats work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Plutocrats manipulate the economy, especially through banking monopolies
and the power of gold,
- Plutocrats encourage issuing paper currency not tied to the gold
standard,
- Plutocrats promote financial speculation and use of credit,
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- Agents of the Antichrist are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Agents of the Antichrist work through Masonic lodges,
- Agents of the Antichrist use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Agents of the Antichrist control the press,
- Agents of the Antichrist work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Agents of the Antichrist manipulate the economy, especially through
banking monopolies and the power of gold,
- Agents of the Antichrist encourage issuing paper currency not tied to
the gold standard,
- Agents of the Antichrist promote financial speculation and use of
credit,
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- Secret Elites are behind a plan for global conquest,
- Secret Elites work through Masonic lodges,
- Secret Elites use liberalism to weaken church and state,
- Secret Elites control the press,
- Secret Elites work through radicals and revolutionaries,
- Secret Elites manipulate the economy, especially through banking
monopolies and the power of gold,
- Secret Elites encourage issuing paper currency not tied to the gold
standard,
- Secret Elites promote financial speculation and use of credit,
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- “Rule No. 2: In a conspiracy theory, nothing is ever discarded.
Right-wing mail order bookstores still sell the "Protocols of the
Elders of Zion," the anti-Semitic fantasy hatched in Russia a
century ago. Another big seller is "Proofs of a Conspiracy, "
a 1797 book reprinted by the John Birch Society, which fueled
speculation that a Freemasonic group called the Order of the Illuminati
plotted with the Jeffersonians to turn over the fledging United States
to followers of French Enlightenment philosophy -- the 18th century
equivalent of secular humanism.”
- --George Johnson, “The Conspiracy That Never Ends”
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- Growing antisemitism on the political left prompted this special issue
of the
New Internationalist magazine in October 2004
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- Growing antisemitism on the political left prompted this special issue
of the
New Internationalist magazine in October 2004
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- Michael Kelley: “Fusion Paranoia.”
Michael Barkun: “Improvisational.”
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- All conspiracist theories start with a grain of truth, which is then
transmogrified with hyperbole and filtered through pre-existing myth and
prejudice,
- People who believe conspiracist allegations sometimes act on those
irrational beliefs, which has concrete consequences in the real world,
- Conspiracist thinking and scapegoating are symptoms, not causes, of
underlying societal frictions, and as such are perilous to ignore,
- Scapegoating and conspiracist allegations are tools that can be used by
cynical leaders to mobilize a mass following,
- Supremacist and fascist organizers use conspiracist theories as a
relatively less-threatening entry point in making contact with potential
recruits,
- Even when conspiracist theories do not center on Jews, people of color,
or other scapegoated groups, they create an environment where racism,
antisemitism, and other forms of prejudice and oppression can flourish.
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Notes