I am grateful to Kensal Kilburn Better 2021 for permission to embed this video on a very important subject. They would welcome any comments so please leave them below and I will pass them on or Tweet to @KKBetter2021
This is a video of the 26th March 2021 talk "Conspiracy Theories and the Digital Dark Arts: How Worried Should We Be?" Hosted by Tom Lennard @To_Murse.
How worried should we be about conspiracy theories, and are they a threat to democratic norms and digital freedoms? Who benefits from these theories, and how do we help to stem their proliferation and draw people away from such destructive beliefs? How can we distinguish between "conspiracy fact", such as Watergate or MKUltra, and "conspiracy fiction", such as chemtrails and vaccine-microchipping?
Joining the discussion were: - Jitarth Jadeja, a former QAnon believer-turned-spokesperson for those re-emerging from conspiracy-led beliefs. - Booker Prize long-listed James Meek, author of the recent LRB essay Red Pill, Blue Pill that looks at the power of conspiracy theories in the UK. - QAnon Anonymous Podcast's UK correspondent and researcher Annie Kelly, writer of the article Mothers for QAnon. - Educator and social psychologist Alexandra Stein, author of Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachments in Cults and Totalitarian Systems.
Stay tuned for future events! You can find Kensal and Kilburn Better 2021 on Twitter at @KKBetter2021 :) Thanks for watching.
