The Truth About Conspiracy Theories
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2021
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you’re listening to this podcast, the odds are that you’ve heard a lot about QAnon recently—and you might even have read some alarming reporting about how belief in the conspiracy theory is on the rise. But is it really?
This week on Arbiters of Truth, the Lawfare Podcast’s miniseries on our online information ecosystem, Evelyn Douek and Quinta Jurecic spoke with Joseph Uscinski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Miami who studies conspiracy theories. He explained why conspiracy theories in America aren’t actually at a new apex, what kinds of people are drawn to ideas like QAnon and what role—if any—social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter should have in limiting the spread of conspiracy theories.
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Transcript
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| 0:25.6 | no bull and the aftermath. |
| 0:34.0 | So oftentimes people on the left will hold up QAnon as if that's some, you know, oh my |
| 0:38.0 | god, only far right people believe that. |
| 0:40.5 | Well, yeah, according to the media, but what evidence do they have of that? |
| 0:45.1 | I mean, one thing that's going on is this problem of observational equivalence where |
| 0:49.2 | anything we don't like, we call far right. |
| 0:52.9 | And that's just trying to squish something that isn't on a left right continuum onto a single |
| 0:58.2 | dimensional left right continuum. |
| 1:01.1 | You know, QAnon is born of a lot of stuff, but it's not national review style conservatism. |
| 1:08.0 | It's not like somebody was like, oh my god, I got into Ronald Reagan and then read some |
| 1:11.6 | William F. Buckley and now satanic baby eaters. |
| 1:15.1 | I mean, the people who buy into this hate both parties writ large. |
| 1:20.2 | They're detached from the political system for the most part. |
| 1:25.1 | I'm Quinteturassic and this is the LawFair podcast April 8th, 2021. |
| 1:32.9 | We're bringing you another episode of Arbiter's of Truth, the LawFair podcast's mini series |
| 1:37.2 | on our online information ecosystem. |
| 1:40.2 | If you're listening to this podcast, the odds are that you've heard a lot about QAnon |
| 1:44.6 | recently. |
... |
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