You will be asked to identify and research a conspiracy theory (Snopes.com provides many options, and they even have a special ‘collection‘ of coronavirus conspiracisms). You’ll need to investigate and understand:

1. The ‘theory’ – a brief description
2. Its origins – don’t rely on just one source here
3. Principles of persuasion/propaganda – which were used to make the theory compelling, and how?
4. How the ‘theory’ spreads—among what groups, what social or other kinds of mass media, what individuals (e.g., influential talk show hosts, presidents), how it may have changed as it spread, etc.
5. Critical analysis – Describe the process you used to attempt to disprove or debunk the theory.
6. How the untruthful / unproven elements of the ‘theory’ could be addressed (in other words, how to keep bogus information from spreading). This is not simple, it could involve public education and awareness, it could involve more watchdog functions among social media sites, etc.

So basically, what is it, how did it originate, how did it spread (and how did propaganda aid its spread), what kinds of media or individuals aided in that process, how (un)truthful it is, and how to reach fervent believers that it’s not real theory—which is governed by testing of ideas, logical coherence, and verifiable supporting evidence from credible sources—it’s conspiracy.

The Points

Context

There’s a lot of coverage of conspiracy theories in recent memory (and of course, that’s exactly what they want you to think!). Conspiracy theories are akin to fake news, except they tend to spread more pervasively, and often involve an overarching narrative about the unsavory forces we’ve always suspected operate in the shadows. And their converts may be deeply committed to them. Personalities like Alex Jones, once on the fringe, attracted a large following before claiming any harm caused by his untethered conspiracies was because he suffered from ‘psychosis‘. Which didn’t help him avoid civil penalties in court. President Trump exploited conspiracy theories–the most infamous included the so-called ‘birther movement’, which helped Trump’s appeal among the political right wing–but there was also QAnon, and the ‘Big (2020 election) Lie’, and more recently vaccines, Tylenol, autism (this began back in his first term, actually), etc. Not to be outdone, Robert F Kennedy built a presidential campaign around conspiracism. Belief in a flat earth has waxed in recent years. Some conspiracies have sustained their persuasiveness over decades, such as JFK’s assassination, 9/11 attacks as an inside job, various incarnations of the so-called ‘Deep State,’ etc. There’s the current state of the deep state. Covid-19. Vaccines causing autism. Pizzagate. Taylor and the Dems. And really, who doesn’t want to believe that The Man is at the root of most of our social problems (when we all know it’s Alex Jones or aliens)?? Recently President Trump has threatened prosecutions for his stolen 2020 election conspiracy (the election where Trump lost the electoral college vote by a margin of 70+ and the popular vote by 7 million, lost 60 court cases (despite capable attorneys making noise), and later claimed the riot on January 6 was a peaceful protest. Among others (holocaust denial, great replacement, ‘patriot/militia‘ movements, the ‘tree of revolution‘ (channeled by Jon Stewart), chemtrails sez Dane,  the guvmint controls the weather, Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories and Trump’s role in keeping it alive (before trying to distract ).

Purpose

To learn how conspiracy ‘theories’ are created, how they spread, how they influence, persuade, and how they insert themselves into political debates and dialogue.

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

1. Choose one conspiracy theory to research (one that is recent or current, but you can make the case to me for something more historical—only if you let me know in advance)
2. Knowledge base. Describe what is known about it. In other words, summarize the narrative and discuss how the theory is spread (talk radio/TV, social media, political events, etc.). Be specific.
3. Address the logic and supporting evidence of the theory. In doing so, you should be looking for use of propaganda and persuasion principles, techniques that ‘involve’ people (get them committed to it). What makes the theory compelling enough to spread? Has it been taken up by the news business? Illustrate their use, in so doing demonstrating your understanding of how conspiracy theories seek to persuade and gain believers. An incomplete list of persuasion principles you might consider and have read about is available in lecture material on the site, and will prove invaluable. Use credible sources).
4. Discuss ways to combat the theory’s unsupportable elements:
   1. Evaluating source credibility
   2. Does the story seek out multiple sources and perspectives? What’s left out?
   3. Does the story make sense—how do conspiracists make it seem believable? What efforts are made to confirm and verify claims and evidence?
   4. Are propaganda techniques important to the story’s credibility or attraction? Some possible resources (from the lecture material):
      • Stratagems of persuasion
      • Framing war for public consumption (note the four stratagems of persuasion)
      • Mass persuasion  
      • ‘Rules’ of ‘Idiot America‘
      • Principles of persuasion
   5. Are there images used, any way to verify their truthfulness?
5. Conclusion—a concluding paragraph laying out what you learned from this process. I would hope this would include your conclusion about the truthfulness of the theory, as well as the potential consequences of its spread and belief.

The paper

Should be: 4-5 pages in length, double-spaced; include the elements above; and be submitted by midnight in Canvas, February 27. I will evaluate students’ work based on adherence to the assignment guidelines, your use of quality, credible source material, and your ability to demonstrate a knowledge of the theory and principles of persuasion—in other words, can you apply principles and concepts from class to a conspiracy theory and show what you learned? Use APA citation style (many more resources here), just be consistent and include citations in the text in some form like this: (Rumpelstiltskin 2020).

Required reading

• Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum. 2019. A Lot of People are Saying. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapter 1, ‘Conspiracy without the Theory.’ In Canvas.

Optional background reading

(sources below are provided to prompt thinking about conspiracism and how it develops,  persuades, and spreads)

• Trump’s birther movement six-week ‘tour‘ (other historical examples of playing the ‘race card’), and the speech (and reveal) that some believe inspired his 2016 presidential run
• Maggie Koerth-Baker. 2013. Why rational people buy into conspiracy theories. May 21, New York Magazine.
• Elizabeth Kolbert. 2019. Why facts don’t change our minds. Feb 27, New Yorker Magazine.
• Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum. 2019. A Lot of People are Saying. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chapter 6, ‘Who owns reality?’ In Canvas.
• Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook. 2020. The Conspiracy Theory Handbook. George Mason University: Center for Climate Change and Communication.

Resources

• Tools for doing research (useful in de-bunking)
• Columbia Journalism Review (the search bar is in the menu, top right)
• USA Facts 
•  
•  

work: Clearly demonstrated through your answers to the questions that you did the readings, followed the guidelines of the assignment, provided supporting evidence, did outside research, cited sources, and put some thought and intellectual effort into this. And be careful, occasionally a student will be taken in by a conspiracy theory, roundly debunked in available media. Which at the least justifies some class exposure to this novel genre of persuasion. We’re trying to learn about confirmation bias, not model it.

80 points possible, due February 27^th