The bearded wonder of Islington is many things, but he’s patently not part of a secretive globalist cabal made of nefarious institutions looking to control the world. The transparent democracy of Labour party members voting him in as leader, along with that of the Brexit vote that followed, led Brent Lee to question his obsession with the Illuminati conspiracy.
Brent was a galloping Conspiracist (he calmly explains this is someone whose entire world view is shaped by their conspiratorial beliefs, as opposed to the common or garden conspiracy theorist, who has a tendency to believe some obscure narratives). Amongst a myriad of complex beliefs and obsessions, Brent railed against the institutions that he was convinced were conniving to control the world, an end game whose wheels were being greased by a complicit mainstream media; he considered democracy a fix and sham, it was all preordained. But Corbyn’s astonishing rise and then Britain’s vote to leave what truthers consider a walking mini-me Superstate (the EU) went entirely against the narrative grain. The penny dropped, seditious thought waned, and Brent regained perspective. One actual ‘benefit of Brexit’ then…
Brent’s story was fascinating, he told us of significant family trauma in his development being a factor in the start of his journey and he was open and honest as he recounted his life without judging others. He was joined on our panel by the feminist advocate, author and journalist Sian Norris and Dr. Alessandro Miani of Bristol Uni’s School of Psychological Science, who specialises in the construct and language of conspiracies.
The conspiracy clusterfuck that fuelled the Farage riots last month had set up our talk and Trump’s full-on racist BS about Haitian immigrants eating domestic pets in Ohio was raging as we met. So within this context an interested crowd of all ages came to the Hen & Chicken to hear from our authoritative panel.
Which came first, the conspiracy chicken or the far-right egg? Brent’s journey from liberal musician’s worldview to full blown paranoia and delusion is not unusual. Alessandro told us how conspiracies can take hold and how they provide validation and justification for decisions in people’s lives, particularly in moments of stress. He explained how eccentric entry level conspiracies will often lead to all consuming obsessions. But the era of David Icke and his lizards seems a world away from today’s real-world consequences that Sian powerfully recounted; new breeds of misogynists feed off the decline of the white population that Great Replacement Theorists are fixated by. Sian chronicled Satanic Ritual Abuse, a medieval mindset that contends that abortion is a diabolical sacrifice intended to further stifle caucasian birth rates. It sounds preposterous, but Sian went undercover and infiltrated a cell for her research. The GRT birth rate bollocks is now appearing in mainstream political discourse on the conspiratorial right in the UK as well as the USA, and this is contributing to reduced rights and violence towards women and girls.
The toolkit focused on what we can do in the face of this wave that is weaponised by how we digitally consume news. Ignoring Russell born-again Brand and his cynical monetisation of conspiracies, Alessandro pointed out that banning the likes of Tommy Robinson from one social media site means he just moves to another. As we did in the AI talk, we heard about pre bunking and training people to look for telltale signs. Brent pointed out that mocking and sarcastic responses to truthers won’t work given that some conspiracies turn out to be true (VW emissions and Iraqi WMD) and that we all know politicians lie and that the BBC can royally cock it up. He appealed for understanding, that we should recognise that a lot of these narratives involve people thinking they’re trying to help others or expose bad actors. He explained that the family member down the rabbit hole will need nurture and understanding in order to win their trust to then help them climb back out. Sian was clear: support good journalism, read it and share it.
Our ‘highlights’ podcast, The Altered State, will feature the best bits of the panel’s brilliant talk about all things conspiratorial. Coming shortly.
Links:
Alessandro’s colleague Professor Stephan Lewandowsky’s booklet The Conspiracy Theory Handbook
As always, we spun a themed playlist on night, featuring:
Arcade Fire ‘Rebellion (Lies)'
Cabaret Voltaire ‘Crackdown’
R.E.M. ‘Man on the Moon’
Beck ‘Chemtrails’
Boomtown Rats ‘Someone’s Looking at You’
Fleetwood Mac ‘Little Lies’
Dr. Alimantado ‘Poison Flour’
Heaven 17 ‘(We don’t this) Fascist Groove Thang’
The Clash ‘Red Angel Dragnet’
Blink-182 ‘Aliens Exist’
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ‘I’ve Got a Theory’
Woody Guthrie ‘All You Fascists’
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