From ‘Data Dumping’ to ‘Webbing’: How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sells Misleading Ideas - The candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination uses logical leaps and rhetorica... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/technology/robert-f-kennedy-jr-antivaccine-rhetoric.html #ethicsandofficialmisconduct #vaccinationandimmunization #presidentialelectionof2024 #rumorsandmisinformation #brookingsinstitution #conspiracytheories #kennedyrobertfjr

Where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Delivers His Fringe Views: Not on the Trail - The Democratic presidential challenger continues to espouse extreme ideas, but has dialed... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/technology/rfk-jr-campaign-vaccines.html #vaccinationandimmunization #fringegroupsandmovements #rumorsandmisinformation #computersandtheinternet #coronavirus(2019-ncov) #childrenshealthdefense #conspiracytheories #kennedyrobertfjr #research

The move also comes as the #Biden admin & #Congress are grappling w/how to push back on #China w/o tipping the 2 countries into open conflict, & w/how to reduce the risk that #AI is used to magnify #disinformation.

The impact of the Chinese campaign — identified by researchers from #Microsoft, #RecordedFuture, the #RANDCorp, #NewsGuard & the #UofMaryland — is difficult to measure, tho early indications suggest that few social media users engaged w/the most outlandish of the #ConspiracyTheories.

NFL and MLB brands next to toxic hate ads on X to commemorate 9/11
#Elmo #musk #HateSpeech #conspiracytheories #antisemitism

https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/x-placing-ads-brands-nfl-and-mlb-next-unhinged-conspiracy-theories-about-jewish-people-and

As Covid-19 Cases Tick Higher, Conspiracy Theorists Stoke New Fears - A late-summer rise in Covid-19 infections is bringing with it a wave of conspiracy theori... - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/11/technology/covid-19-uptick-conspiracy-theorists.html #right-wingextremismandalt-right #vaccinationandimmunization #fringegroupsandmovements #rumorsandmisinformation #coronavirus(2019-ncov) #kaiserfamilyfoundation #conspiracytheories

New Yorker: Naomi Klein Sees Uncanny Doubles in Our Politics https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/naomi-klein-sees-uncanny-doubles-in-our-politics #NewYorker #Culture/TheNewYorkerInterview #ConspiracyTheories #PoliticalParties #Doppelgangers #Books

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2023/09/05/i-saw-blue-oyster-cult-play-the-penny-pan-festival-in-doveland/

Been a while since I've posted #Slacktivist on here.

Quote(s):
"Jumping off of Washington’s nose on Mount Rushmore would be fatal. [...] But Bloom did not jump off anything when the band played the Mount Rushmore festival [...] because no band has ever played the Mount Rushmore festival...

...because it does not exist." (emphasis mine)

"Yet [...] fans over the years told Bloom they remembered seeing him make that leap."

#BlueOysterCult #ConspiracyTheories #Patheos

Inside a #Michigan #sheriff's unsuccessful campaign to find #ElectionFraud

by Craig Mauger

A years-long investigation by a rural Michigan sheriff's office into #ConspiracyTheories of #VoterFraud failed to uncover wrongdoing that would have affected the results, according to a #DetroitNews review of internal reports about the probe.

#DarLeaf
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/08/barry-county-sheriff-dar-leaf-unsuccessful-campaign-to-find-2020-election-fraud-tabulators-ballots/70795629007/

Aspernäs, J., Erlandsson, A., & Nilsson, A. (2023). Misperceptions in a post-truth world: Effects of subjectivism and cultural relativism on bullshit receptivity and conspiracist ideation. Journal of Research in Personality, 104394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2023.104394 #OpenAccess #OA #Journal #Article #BehaviouralSciences #Learning #Education #Truth #Culture #Misinformation #Conspiracy #ConspiracyTheories #Theories
#Bullshit #Subjectivism #PostTruth #Relativism #Thinking #Academia #Academic #Academics

That report cited the platform’s decision to #reinstate influential #users it had once #banned because of #posts deemed #antisemitic, which resulted in some 5,000 #conspiracy-laden #antisemitic posts. Those posts included #disinformation about George Soros & the Rothschild banking family, often repeating long-standing #ConspiracyTheories about #Jews controlling #global #politics, #finance & #media, as well as statements about Jews pushing a radical agenda to destroy “the West.”

#Musk #Birdsite

Wired: Unhinged Conspiracies, AI Doppelgangers, and the Fractured Reality of Naomi Klein https://www.wired.com/story/covid-conspiracies-ai-doppelgangers-naomi-klein/ #Tech #wired #TechNews #IT #Technology via @morganeogerbc #conspiracytheories #TheBigInterview #Culture/Books #BigInterview #Backchannel #longreads #Culture #Books

"To ignore Kennedy, or his supporters, on the grounds of their holding such easily falsifiable beliefs seems extremely shortsighted. A lot of Americans believe things that aren’t true—which, given the (literally) whitewashed version of history most of us get taught, shouldn’t be surprising."

~ D.D. Guttenplan

#RFKJr #ConspiracyTheories #AntiIntellectualism #vaccines #antivax

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/rfk-jr-rally-anti-vax-campaign/

Culture, Community and Narratives: Key Elements of Violent Conspiracy Theories by Elise Thomas – GNET

https://gnet-research.org/2023/09/06/culture-community-and-narratives-key-elements-of-violent-conspiracy-theories/

H/T @MAArgentino

#ConspiracyTheories #Extremism #OSINT #Research

#MarjorieTaylorGreene's 15 Minutes of Shame | #TheDailyShow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtrdQ7smIug

#TDSThrowback #DailyShow #comedy
Marjorie Taylor Greene was first elected to #Congress on a platform of some of the craziest #conspiracytheories you've ever heard of. Unfortunately, she's only gotten worse – “#QAnon,” “RBG had a body double,” and even “Jewish space lasers” are actual things that have rolled off her tongue. Here is a collection of #TrevorNoah dissecting some of #MTG's most roast-worthy moments.

"After a lifetime of being told they were on their own, “a subset of the population” doubled down on individualism. It does not, now, seem surprising to Klein that they essentially said, “Fuck you: we won’t mask or jab or stay home to protect people we have already chosen not to see.” Nor that they went looking for pundits and political leaders who reinforced their worldview."
https://newrepublic.com/article/175254/naomi-klein-naomi-wolf-doppelganger-journey-unnerving-world
#conspiracytheories

With pieces like this, I keep coming back to an essay I read years ago by @pluralistic about anti-vaxxers. Their conclusions about the dangers of vaccines may be nonsensical, but their general mistrust of medical, scientific and government institutions is not necessarily misplaced. This #longread makes a very similar point about #conspiracytheories and government secrecy, especially as the internet makes such secrecy impossible to maintain indefinitely.

https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/an-america-of-secrets

"Demokratie-Monitoring: Ein Fünftel der Deutschen hat rechtspopulistisches Weltbild"

Lest you consider the inner-EU as politically stable and sensible, some 20% of Germans are tin-foil helmets. This is from a study led by Frank Brettschneider at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart. Only one percent of Green Party supporters are nutters, he finds.

#RightWingPopulism #ConspiracyTheories #Germany

https://www.uni-hohenheim.de/pressemitteilung?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=59968&cHash=ed53cfefe175adba6bf807eb2bf4ffc9

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/26/naomi-klein-naomi-wolf-conspiracy-theories

TL;DR - Writer Naomi Klein keeps being mistaken for her #QAnon-obsessed 'double', Naomi Wolfe."

Quote(s):
"For years the writer laughed off being mistaken for fellow author Naomi Wolf. Then her ‘double’ drifted into a world of #ConspiracyTheories and became a favoured guest of #SteveBannon and #TuckerCarlson. With the US standing on a political precipice, suddenly the stakes were a lot higher."

#USPol #USPolitics #Conservatives #Misinformation

@maryeffrancis

Your comment reminded me of an essay entitled, "Alex Jones and the kitten burners" which describes some people's need to #hate someone in order to feel good about themselves. And the problems that can lead to.

"They need to feel 'better-than' more than they want to be simply good"
~Fred Clark
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2017/07/03/alex-jones-kitten-burners/
#NoPaywall

Written in 2017, but it's even more relevant now (re: #LGBTQ #WomensRights ...).

#Conspiracy #ConspiracyTheories #Hypocisy #Righteousness #Essay

"The GOP has a crowded field of habitual liars. But Ramaswamy is perhaps the current master of what Kate McKinnon’s SNL version of Laura Ingraham described as 'feel facts, which aren’t technically true but just feel true.'

Ramaswamy’s favorite rhetorical tactic is to label a transparent falsehood as a 'truth,' and to then declare that a corresponding fact is a 'hoax.'”

~ David Lurie

#Vivek #Ramaswamy #lies #ConspiracyTheories

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/vivek-ramaswamy-rise-explained