Modern Conspiracy Culture

Mark Morkos

Professor Oliver 

PHIL1030-10

December 10, 2023

Fantasyland chapter 39 – Mad as Hell, the New Voice of the People

In recent years there has been an explosion of conspiracy theories and misinformation on the internet and social media. While the internet holds more information than you can even imagine, news outlets and social media platforms prioritize engagement and user retention. Algorithms on platforms like Facebook are trained to show you things based on what you previously liked and interacted with, even if it’s misinformation. The problem is these filters can put people into echo chambers that reinforce their existing beliefs and shield them from diverse perspectives. This has caused the spread of conspiracy theories and the broader normalization of radicalized and paranoid thinking in today’s society.

One controversial figure at the center of this phenomenon is Alex Jones, a popular conservative media personality and prominent figure in modern conspiracy culture. Alex Jones, founder of Infowars, has promoted conspiracy theories ranging from the 9/11 attacks being an inside job to bizarre claims like the existence of gay chemical bombs that encourage homosexuality. Other outlandish beliefs Jones subscribes to include but aren't limited to Michelle Obama is secretly a man, existence of weather weapons, the Sandy Hook shooting is a hoax, Robert Mueller is a demon and also a pedophile, pizzagate, and COVID-19 vaccines will give you a beef allergy.

Some of these are so outlandish that you may question if someone could really believe that. Is Alex Jones really just this deluded?  Is it just a persona? These questions first began to arise in 2017 when in a child custody case Jones’s lawyer argued in court that he is just a performance artist. He compared him to an actor playing a character, like Jack Nicholson playing the Joker in Batman. However, in other instances jones has maintained that he genuinely believes in his statements. Recently during his Sandy Hook lawsuit, Jones lied under oath multiple times and stated to the judge explicitly that he believes what he says is true. On Fantasyland page 396 it’s implied that Jones radicalization is deep rooted, as he grew up getting dinner visits from the John Birch Society and has been officially broadcasting his fever dreams since 1996. I personally believe he has been at this too long for him to be just a persona, he might adopt certain ideas for entertainment or to make money off his audience, but there must be a part of him that fundamentally believes in what he says. Either way It wouldn’t absolve him of the responsibility for the misinformation he spreads.

 I think it’s more critical to examine if his audience really believes him and the role he plays in the spread of misinformation. Jones’s influence is no longer confined to a fringe audience. In fact, he has a significant following, just one of his 18 Info Wars channels had a billion views. If Alex Jones were to come out and admit to his viewers that he is in fact just a con man, they wouldn’t believe him. They would just chalk it up with a new conspiracy.

 Alex Jones is a cause, but he is also just a symptom. Even now when Jones has effectively been banned social media, loony tunes conspiracy theories that blur the lines between fiction and reality still persist. His prominence has been indicative of a broader trend in the normalization of radicalization and conspiracy culture.

 Conspiracies are no longer just the harmless ramblings of internet loonies, they can shape public discourse and sometimes have real world consequences. One stark illustration of this danger unfolded during the January 6 attack on the capital in Washington D.C. The primary conspiracy theory that fueled the attack was the 2020 presidential election. Although there was no evidence of voter fraud, theories emerged that the election was stolen from President Trump. The conspiracy was then amplified by social media and right-wing news outlets and resonated with thousands of people who were angry with the election results. The march quickly became a riot as the crowd confronted the law enforcement and breached the capital building. It’s easy to laugh and dismiss this stuff when you see it on the internet but we need to recognize that there can be real world consequences.

 Especially when you consider that the attack was incited and promoted by some of our elected officials such as Rep. Mo Brooks, Rep Paul Gosar, Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Ted Cruz, and of course the former president himself. Currently “Qanon shaman” Jacob Chansley, who wore face paint and horns to storm the capital is running for a seat in Arizona’s 8^th congressional district. Anthony Kern, an Arizona state senator who used his campaign funds to attend Washington DC on January 6 is also running. The other runners include Blake Masters who also leaned into the election fraud conspiracy and former U.S. representative Trent Franks, who was forced to resign in 2017 because he offered millions of dollars to female congressional staffers to serve as surrogate mothers for him and his wife.

 Conspiracies of all kinds are now so widespread that they obscure genuine conspiracy theories and undermine real discourse. For example, Alex Jones’s tantrum about the chemicals in the water making “the friggin’ frogs gay” has some truth to it. A widely cited 2010 research paper found that when male frogs are exposed to atrazine, the second most widely used weed killer in the United States, it can change their sex and they can lay fertile eggs. However, there’s no evidence that these chemicals have the capacity to do the same in humans. Despite that Alex Jones and right-wing media took it and tried to use it to push the rhetoric of white genocide and male extinction. Conspiracies like this undermine the real issues at hand and hinder rational discourse because chemicals really are destroying our biological diversity, which does affect us.