Notes on Reverse Edgelordism. By Freddie deBoer

Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries, from witch trials and antisemitic campaigns to beliefs that Freemasons were trying to topple European monarchies. In the mid-20th century, historian Richard Hofstadter described a “paranoid style” that he observed in right-wing U.S. politics and culture: a blend of “heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy.”

Houston Judge Christopher M. López reportedly ended a stay preventing Sandy Hook families from collecting a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. In a ruling on Monday, López granted an order to lift a stay that was automatically put in place when Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections.

A new study published in Social Psychology investigated if there was a relationship between workplace bullying and belief in conspiracy theories. In a two-part study, one part correlational and one part experimental, the findings indicate that when someone is a victim of workplace bullying, they become more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. This research provides new clues into how people begin to believe in conspiracy theories.

Infowars host Alex Jones faces the possibility of having more steep penalties heaped onto the vast amount he already owes for spreading conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as the punitive damages phase began Friday in a lawsuit filed by the victims’ families.

Jones says his enemies want him off the air. US bankruptcy law is on his side, for now.

Alex Jones must pay $US965 million ($1.5b) in damages to numerous families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting for falsely claiming they were actors who faked the tragedy.

A recent study explores the psychology behind labeling ideas as conspiracy theories. The findings, published in the British Journal of Psychology, suggest that labeling a statement as a conspiracy theory does not make it less believable.

For weeks now, followers of the fringe conspiracy group QAnon have been spinning theories and falsehoods about Walt Disney Co. online, whipping up a frenzy of negative sentiment against one of America’s best-known corporations.

In the wake of the US Capitol riot and the COVID-19 pandemic, conspiracy theories are running rampant. Whether it’s the idea that the world is being run by Satan-loving paedophiles or that coronavirus is spread by 5G technology, for those of us for whom such claims seem outlandish and ridiculous, it is extremely difficult to understand why anyone would believe them. However, psychology researchers have uncovered a range of explanatory factors, from basic perceptual processes to emotional issues.

In the information era, a lie can make its way around the world and, in short order, make millions of people sympathetic to an unjustifiable war of aggression. False claims that Russia has been targeting sinister U.S.-backed “biolabs” in Ukraine were popularized among conspiratorial American audiences by QAnon believers shortly after Russia launched its invasion in late February. Mainstream Republican voices have since dragged the old Russian propaganda at its roots across the forefront of the U.S. political stage.

With help from machine learning software, computer scientists may have unmasked the identity of Q, the founder of the QAnon movement..

In a ‘Cosmo’ exclusive report, women on both sides—the former believers and the doctors they’re turning to—show us what it takes to escape.

In the wake of the failed Jan. 6 insurrection, the event’s amalgamation of sovereign citizens and alt-truthers has taken on a new meaning.

Joyce Jones’ Facebook page is almost an archetype of what the social network is supposed to look like: Pictures of her kids, her kids’ friends, her sports teams, her kids’ friends’ sports teams. Videos of her husband’s sermons at New Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Memes celebrating achievement and solidarity, holiday greetings, public health messages. It’s what Mark Zuckerberg extols when he talks about how his company is all about “bringing people together.”

Almost half the world’s 2.2 billion children are already at “extremely high risk” from the impacts of the climate crisis and pollution, according to a report from Unicef. The UN agency’s head called the situation “unimaginably dire”. Nearly every child around the world was at risk from at least one of these impacts today, including heatwaves, floods, cyclones, disease, drought, and air pollution, the report said. But 1 billion children live in 33 countries facing three or four impacts simultaneously. The countries include India, Nigeria and the Philippines, and much of sub-Saharan Africa.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday sent a notice to local and state authorities regarding recent online activity calling for violence in relation to several 2020 election conspiracies.

I watched a “documentary” a few days ago called End of the Road: How Money Became Worthless. One statement in the documentary stuck in my mind.

The scandals, jagged-edged judgmentalism and culture war mentality that have enveloped significant parts of American Christendom over the last several years, including the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, have conditioned many of us to expect the worst. Which is why the annual meeting of the convention this week was such a pleasant surprise.

Religion, education, race and media consumption are strong predictors of conspiracy theory acceptance among Americans, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute. The survey of 5,149 adults living across the United States released on Thursday finds a strong correlation between consuming right-wing media sources and accepting conspiracy theories such as QAnon.