Anatomy of a 'conspiracy loop': Do we need a new way of looking at the spread of fake claims?

[Michie]

In US politics, conspiracies are rife – and many more emerged in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Tackling them requires us to see conspiracism differently, says researcher Sophia Knight.

Within minutes of Saturday's attempted assassination on former US President Donald Trump, conspiracy theories started to swirl online.Without any evidence, people spread claims that the incident was everything from a hoax to a plot. Swept up in a divisive presidential campaign, online voices spun up explanations to fill in the details of the day's shocking events.

Conspiracy theories are not new in American politics. Adherents of QAnon – a wide-ranging political conspiracy movement – were among those who caused chaos at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, while there are many still invested in conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of former President John F Kennedy more than 60 years ago. From such experiences, we know the division, discord and disintegration of trust they breed can be extremely damaging to a democracy's health.

So, what do we do about this rising tide of conspiracism? Most importantly, the answer is not to just try and prove people wrong. Any attempt to debunk a conspiracy has a good chance of backfiring, playing into established narratives of "the elite" or "deep state" censoring the truth.

Continued below.

Anatomy of a 'conspiracy loop': Do we need a new way of looking at the spread of fake claims?

Researchers say they understand how fake claims and wild theories surface – and then take hold. But can anything be done about them?

www.bbc.com

 

[BobRyan]

In US politics, conspiracies are rife – and many more emerged in the wake of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Tackling them requires us to see conspiracism differently, says researcher Sophia Knight.

Within minutes of Saturday's attempted assassination on former US President Donald Trump, conspiracy theories started to swirl online.Without any evidence, people spread claims that the incident was everything from a hoax to a plot. Swept up in a divisive presidential campaign, online voices spun up explanations to fill in the details of the day's shocking events.

Conspiracy theories are not new in American politics. Adherents of QAnon – a wide-ranging political conspiracy movement – were among those who caused chaos at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, while there are many still invested in conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of former President John F Kennedy more than 60 years ago. From such experiences, we know the division, discord and disintegration of trust they breed can be extremely damaging to a democracy's health.

So, what do we do about this rising tide of conspiracism? Most importantly, the answer is not to just try and prove people wrong. Any attempt to debunk a conspiracy has a good chance of backfiring, playing into established narratives of "the elite" or "deep state" censoring the truth.

Continued below.

Anatomy of a 'conspiracy loop': Do we need a new way of looking at the spread of fake claims?

Researchers say they understand how fake claims and wild theories surface – and then take hold. But can anything be done about them?

www.bbc.com

Step 1. Wait for balancing info to come out - don't assume every conspiracy claim is true until proven false. Wait a bit.
Step 2. Tend to believe what you actually see on the screen - without dismissing everything you see as fake or conspiracy. Then watch for info that might indicate that the video is manipulated in some way where the information trying to debunk the video - is itself very credible.
Step 3. Use critical thinking when extreme claims show up. The most reasonable option is usually the right one.
Step 4. don't be led like sheep to discount evidence just because someone "claims" to have debunked it with their own "I prefer not to believe that" argument. Preference is not proof of something other than proof of free will and the ability to have a preference.