Conspiracy Theories

Modern conspiracy theories echo deadly lies from the past, historian Edna Friedberg says.

QAnon exploits the well-known rules of "alternate reality games," science columnist Faye Flam says.

QAnon is huge and dangerous because social media platforms empowered it for their own profits and power, tech author and investor Roger McNamee says.

A plague of conspiracy theories is attacking scientific facts about the pandemic, and replacing them with fake theories that will undermine efforts to tame it, columnist Trudy Rubin says.

What makes this so scary is that these politicians don't see the risk of mainstreaming conspiracy delusions as the basis for White House policy.

He's learning the difference between promoting myths that are merely incendiary or hateful and more broad-based conspiracy theories that test the limits of the law.

Access to the highest levels of intelligence in the world can't seem to deter the president of the United States from depending on unreliable right-wing sources to inform his decisions in high office.

When we approach an ancient object such as the Voynich Manuscript, we tend to bring our preconceptions with us to the table. The more we burden the manuscript with what we want it to be, the more buried the truth becomes.

In journalism, speed kills. Be skeptical. Don't spread shaky information. Find reputable news sources; compare and contrast what they are reporting. We know this. But it's not easy advice to follow.

Understanding who believes fake news and why touches on the very foundations of American democracy. The view that we're all equally clueless plays into the post-truth rabbit hole dug by the Trump campaign and administration.

His name has become a synonym for a well-worn anti-Semitic canard: The idea that Jews are malevolent fomenters of social dissent, agitators slyly funding and masterminding protest, seeking to undermine a white, Christian social order.

Conservatives have been trained by the people they trust most to believe that everything is a conspiracy. And not just a conspiracy; a conspiracy against them.