Conspiracy Culture
“What we need to do as science educators, journalists and historians is to educate the public — not necessarily on the specifics of each and every case but on the rules of evidence, the burden of proof and how experts come to an understanding of what something is or what it could be. That’s a difficult task. It’s a lot easier to say, “Could be aliens,” or “Maybe not aliens,” than to say, “There are a range of possibilities. Some are more likely than others.”
– Jason Colavito, Salon, 6-21-2021
The need to learn critical thinking has never been more apparent. Going Further adds a link to an article in the New Republic by Colavito exploring the connection with UFOs and right wing conspiracies. Although he does not mention the cast of characters that are often discussed on this site, it is important to understand the rise of this movement.
Right wing conspiracy and UFO culture have never been entirely separate. The far right ideas of William Cooper (Behold a Pale Horse) and the early Patriot movement were embraced by many in the UFO world and are still influential — although Cooper eventually rejected the UFO portion of his ideas. That connection has grown through a common idea that there is a secret body of knowledge that explains how the world really works, which is being hidden from the public.
The idea of a secret group has long been part of the basic stable of the UFO conspiracy culture. NICAP grew out of the belief that the military had secret knowledge. From the far end of the scale, George Adamski promoted the idea of a silence group that kept the secrets of alien contact hidden from the public. Today, Richard Dolan and others promote the idea of a secret breakaway civilization. Meanwhile, disclosure advocates offer the hope that soon everything will be revealed.
It is not too far of a stretch to move from a UFO conspiracy to the idea that a secret cabal could have political or economic control. This has become even more problematic as consistently darker UFO conspiracies push the boundaries further. It is one reason why belief in UFOs is subject to manipulation. (See Adam Gorightly, Saucers, Spooks, and Kooks: UFO Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius.)
For some, the conspiracy itself is what is important. Once that path is taken, it is only a small leap to embrace any number of things. As Tucker Carlson said in 2016, in light of Trump’s improbable success could other things be true? In light of his defeat, the improbable has taken on new meaning for many. There are those like Carlson or Juan Savin who weave even more tales to move their followers even further to the right
Kerry Cassidy and Project Camelot have long echoed the belief that “insiders” can explain what happening in the world and virtually every event is a false flag. This led her to Mark Richards. This also led her deeper into the world of Q and she has gone far beyond the earlier interviews with Captain Mark Richards to embrace Trump, Melania, and Savin – a belief in the restoration of the Trump dynasty because they could not have been wrong about it from the beginning.
We may return to that topic in future articles, but Trump is a strange pick if you are against the either New World Order or the vaccine. Trump has claimed credit for the vaccine being developed under Operation Warp Speed and he promoted a world order based solely upon his profits and power. So what do Kerry and the conspiracy culture see in him?
