A Lot of People Are Saying by Russell Muirhead

At the same time, traditional conspiracism is inclusive and empowering in encouraging people to embark on detective work to uncover hidden things. The authors espouse the well-established view that traditional conspiracism provides a tool for dealing with shock, anxiety, insecurity and disbelief by providing order and certainty by way of allegedly uncovering hidden truths, world orders and nasty plots that can be blamed for something. Effectively, if traditional conspiracism relies on conspiracy theories, then new conspiracism is best defined as conspiracy without theory. The new conspiracism for the authors is precisely what it says on the tin: a new type of conspiracist thinking, distinguishable through its lack of sense. Rosenblum aim to do in their new book, A Lot of People Are Saying, through conceptualising what they call the ‘new conspiracism’. That is precisely what Russel Muirhead and Nancy L. Hence, it is the task for academics and commentators postulating such seismic shifts to demonstrate where and in what ways the change has taken place. Obviously, lies, appeals to something other than fact and truth, as well as conspiracy theories, have been around before the present moment. Not least among the concerns leading to such dire insights is the emergence of conspiratorial, fake news or post-truth campaigning as a mainstream political tool. 2019.ĭuring the past few years at least, there has been a growing discourse on the ‘end’ or ‘crisis’ of democracy. Ī Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy.

While questioning whether the book ascribes too much intentionality to those engaging in ‘the new conspiracism’, this is nonetheless a timely and important conceptualisation, writes Ignas Kalpokas.

Rosenblum identify and outline the emergence of a new type of conspiracist thinking in our contemporary moment, showing it to pose a fundamental threat to democratic functioning. In A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, Russell Muirhead and Nancy L.

A Lot of People Are Saying by Russell Muirhead