Conspiracy Theory Expert Experiences Eaton Fire Disinformation Firsthand

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Journalist Mike Rothschild has for the last decade studied and written about the rise and spread of conspiracy theories, hoaxes and scams. But after he lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton fire, Rothschild witnessed firsthand how conspiracies take hold of people in the throes of a traumatic event. We talk to him about why his community was vulnerable to disinformation about the causes of and responses to the fire — and why conspiracy theories spread when major disasters strike. His new piece for MIT Technology Review is “What it’s like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert).” Guests: Mike Rothschild, journalist and expert on conspiracy theories and disinformation, author, “The Storm Is Upon Us" and “Jewish Space Lasers"; His new article in MIT Technology Review is “What it’s like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory (according to a conspiracy theory expert)” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:15.2	If you had the smartest Wi-Fi, it'd be Xfinity. It would boost speeds to the devices that needed them most,
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0:30.7	From KQED.
0:34.3	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. What happens when an expert on conspiracy theories finds himself caught up in one?
0:41.7	That's what happened to Mike Rothschild when he survived the Eden fire in Altadena, one of the devastating L.A. area fires that broke out in January.
0:50.4	After losing his home and trying to get information about what happened and what to do next,
0:55.3	Rothschild was met with dizzying disinformation, rumors, and conspiracy theories that even he,
1:01.6	someone who spent years studying them, like the rise of QAnon, felt at times helpless against.
1:07.4	Listeners, have you ever lived through disinformation about your own experience?
1:12.3	Rothschild's new piece for MIT Technology Review is what it's like to be in the middle of a conspiracy theory,
1:18.4	according to a conspiracy theory expert.
1:21.6	Mike, welcome to Forum.
1:23.3	Thank you for having me.
1:24.7	Thank you for being here.
1:26.0	You open your piece at a May support group
1:29.2	meeting for Eaton, fire survivors. What happened during that meeting? So this meeting was held
1:35.8	at a church in Pasadena, and it was a listening session for the third party report that
1:41.8	L.A. County had commissioned on all of the things that had gone wrong during
1:46.3	the fire evacuation. And because so many things went wrong during the fire evacuation, it was a
1:52.7	rather heated meeting. There wasn't so much listening as there was a lot of yelling. And
	...

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