Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies ✒ Executive Summary: The coronavirus pandemic has sparked widespread conspiracy theories. Such theories are an integral part of contemporary Western culture, even in places that are purportedly enlightened. The irrational elements in Western society are very significant, and it will take serious study to begin to understand the many ways in which this irrationality affects Western attitudes.


 Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

The public’s reactions to the coronavirus pandemic illustrate that conspiracy theories continue to be an integral part of contemporary Western culture. One might have thought the Enlightenment had dealt a devastating blow to the power of conspiracy theories to capture the minds of Westerners. It had, after all, promised a future in which people base their judgment on rational thought, not prejudice and stereotype as taught by religions (monotheistic and non).

When Christianity became the dominant religion of the West, it spread antisemitic stereotypes about Jews through the use of conspiracy theories. For centuries, Catholicism in particular falsely and criminally held that all Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. Even worse, unborn Jews of later generations would all be guilty of the same past crime.  

Continue reading @ BESA.

Conspiracy Theories Are An Integral Part Of Western Culture

Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies ✒ Executive Summary: The coronavirus pandemic has sparked widespread conspiracy theories. Such theories are an integral part of contemporary Western culture, even in places that are purportedly enlightened. The irrational elements in Western society are very significant, and it will take serious study to begin to understand the many ways in which this irrationality affects Western attitudes.


 Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld

The public’s reactions to the coronavirus pandemic illustrate that conspiracy theories continue to be an integral part of contemporary Western culture. One might have thought the Enlightenment had dealt a devastating blow to the power of conspiracy theories to capture the minds of Westerners. It had, after all, promised a future in which people base their judgment on rational thought, not prejudice and stereotype as taught by religions (monotheistic and non).

When Christianity became the dominant religion of the West, it spread antisemitic stereotypes about Jews through the use of conspiracy theories. For centuries, Catholicism in particular falsely and criminally held that all Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus. Even worse, unborn Jews of later generations would all be guilty of the same past crime.  

Continue reading @ BESA.

26 comments:

  1. That's an interesting subject, poorly analysed though. That was just a reminder that Jews were treated appallingly. I find it fascinating that conspiracy theories have went from back rooms to main stream. Hilary Clinton said live on tv that she thought Trump was on the phone to Putin on the 6th of January. Whoever was interviewing her just nodded, I'm sitting laughing, thinking don't nod you're a journalist, ask why she thinks that, has she evidence of nefarious communication.
    I wonder if this was a strategy, if they thought, their believing conspiracy theories we'll go blatant with a few of our own or it snowballed under Trump. I realised they have used them before, the Kuwaiti minister's niece pretending to be a nurse, WMDs, but recently they went bananas, Trump has been an an asset since 89, Putin has pee tapes, I was just waiting on David Ice appearing on CNN and saying I told you Trump is a shape shifting reptilian. I read a book of Icke on shape shifting reptilians, I don't know what people's problems are with Icke, he's great fun, how is he hurting anybody? It's not as if we're going to start hunting inter dimensional shape shifting aliens, I mean where would you start? The Royal family? Turns out we never actually got Mountbatten, he just went home, hahaha

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    1. David

      "Turns out we never actually got Mountbatten, he just went home, hahaha"

      Along with the two children who were blown up on that boat non that day.

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    2. David

      "I was just waiting on David Ice appearing on CNN and saying I told you Trump is a shape shifting reptilian."

      Icke moved from being a harmless eccentric writing about reptilians to a toxic disseminator of dangerous lies when he stated raving about the "Rothschild Zionists" and about the "dangers" of vaccination.

      There is a conspiracy theory about Trump and Putin all right.

      The conviction of six members of Trump's 2016 election campaign team; the ten counts of possible obstruction of justice by Trump identified in the Mueller Report; Trump's grovelling towards Putin at the Helsinki Summit on 2018 and now the revelations by Craig Unger in American Kompromat that Trump may have been cultivated as an asset by the KGB as long as 1978 all head up as solid evidence of this particularly "conspiracy theory"

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  2. No conspiracy needed when you got leaders like Dido Harding in a ministerial roll on health during a national mess, over a severe flu virus, who knows NOTHING about a virus. Especially the when a quick google can clear up the basics.

    Very easy to syphon off 22 billion sterling (not to be confused with million) when all you need are two basic steps..

    1. Terrorise the sick, invalid , geriatric sections of society and ...
    2. call anyone who attempts to rationalise the situation a conspiracy theorist and granny killer.

    Hail the Messaiah... Dido Harding.. I suspect there is a silent 'L' in her first name.
    https://www.thenational.scot/news/19062017.covid-uk-scientists-rubbish-dido-hardings-claims-variant/

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  3. Excellent summary of the role of conspiracy myths (I abjure the word "theory" in this context in Western discourse and of the historic part played by their greatest super-spreader - the Christian Church.

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  4. Noah was a conspiracy theorist until it started raining.

    UFO's were loony tune conspiracy theories until the Yanks admitted they took it very seriously indeed.

    I see the author is always trying to paint the Jews as the victims but it's easy to do when you see how many Jews are in the new US administration, senior players in financial powerhouses and all this when they number less than 6 million in the US and less than 10 million in Israel.

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    1. Steve R


      "I see the author is always trying to paint the Jews as the victims but it's easy to do when you see how many Jews are in the new US administration, senior players in financial powerhouses and all this when they number less than 6 million in the US and less than 10 million in Israel."

      The same logic has also been used to highlight the disproportionate amount of Jews in the leadership of the Bolshevik and other revolutionary movements without questioning the historical reasons why; namely centuries of persecution and systemic social and economic exclusion.

      There may also be historical reasons for so many Jews are senior players in financial powerhouses; namely that their exclusion from major professions from the Middle Ages onwards led to them to becoming involved in usury and other marginal trades. The antisemitic trope of the "money lending", exploitative Jew became embedded in populist consciousness through the character of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice and has mutated throughout the ages with your comment being part of its modern reincarnation.

      As for the amount of Jews in the Biden administration. Coincidence maybe? Genuine talent maybe? Or a maybe an attempt to level up with an ethnic demographic which like others (African Americans, Latinos, Irish etc.) were subject to exclusion by the WASP establishment in the US. Something that Joe as only the second RC ever to hold office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would be acutely aware of.

      The inverse logic of your comment would be to say that it is easy to always paint African American as victims because twice as many (or whatever the exact figure is) African Americans languish in the prison system (and on death row) than whites.

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  5. Barry,
    I don't know if the two children were inter dimensional shape shifting reptilian alien entities, they might just have died, I'll email Icke and ask him.

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  6. Why some people don't like Icke and try to silence him is because a lot of what he has been saying over the past 30yrs is simply truth (Barry save your Zionist bullshit for some other Quiller, I've heard it all before).

    As for Uncle Dickie, I was told on the Sandy Row that the real reason security was lax the day he was blown up was some wanted him out of the way due to his antics in Kincora, India and other places. He didn't get the nickname Dickie because his name is Richard.... If it is true or not, I have no idea. Sounds plausible.

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    1. Frankie

      An MRI scan of the brain circuitry of people who believe the rubbish that Icke and other conspiracy mongers churn out would make for interesting analysis.

      You can rename my "Zionist bullshit" as "antiantizionist bullshit" as Gentiles cannot be Zionists; philozionists maybe.

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  7. Frankie and Steve R

    The real conspiracy theorists are the LGBT activists and extreme/fascist Fems who lurk in the shadows and behind the scenes and pull strings banning any comment that could offend their anti men world view. There's one not very far away you know.

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  8. Barry,
    That's correct. The definition of a conspiracy theory is circumstantial evidence, gossip, exactly what we had with Trump and Putin. Think about what you cite as evidence, an inquiry that couldn't find evidence to convict, charges that had vague associations with Russia and supposed groveling, c'mon man.
    I'm antiantiantiZionist, conversation sake, Biden would disagree with your definition of Zionism, he's on tape saying you don't have to be Jewish to be Zionist. The amount of prominent politicians who are on tape proclaiming loyalty to Zionism is certainly worthy of scrutiny, the fact we can't do it without anti-Semitism being discussed is, in my opinion, more to do with the organisation of Zionist propaganda than actual racism.

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    1. David

      Ten counts of obstruction of justice was no small finding in the Muller report were no small findings nor were the Russian connections of Paul Mannefort, Roger Stone, Mike Flynn and others. It was no small matter that Trump encouraged Russia to hack the email server of the Democratic National Committee.

      There is no point in us debating this matter to and forth. I believe that at some level Trump was a Russian asset. It was certainly in Putin's interest that Trump be elected to the White House. I will continue to believe this until definitive proof emerges to the contrary. You have your opinions and you are entitled to them.

      As regards antizionism, it is distinct from sui generis antisemitism but is often a variant of it. The antizionism parroted by the Iranian mullahs; so prevalent in the former Soviet bloc and in the Labour Party under Corbyn and expressed by far right figures like Nick Griffin and David Duke offers convincing evidence of how antizionism can easily segue into antisemitism.

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  9. Barry,
    Whether you believe Trump was an asset or whether I believe he wasn't, isn't the point, they had no evidence and couldn't prove it therefore a conspiracy theory. We could analyse the charges brought against the aforementioned and we both know it wouldn't amount to espionage, collusion with a foreign country.
    Anti-Zionism never has been or will be a form of anti-Semitism. I don't think we'll learn anything from each other on this subject, which makes debate a points scoring exercise. I will say, the fact they, you're party, took, arguably, the most anti racist politician and portrayed him as racist is evidence of their allegiance.

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  10. David

    Jeremy Corbyn's personal anti-racist credentials (although his associations, intentional or not, with holocaust deniers and Islamist hate preachers does make him, in the words of Dave Rich, perhaps "the unluckiest anti-racist ever") were never the issue in the sorry recent story of Labour and antisemitism.

    It was the culture of antisemitism (thinly disguised as antizionism in many instances) that developed under Corbyn's leadership; the failure of the Leader's Office to properly deal with the many hundreds of online antisemitic comments posted and shared by Labour members; the vile campaigns of death threats and misoygnist abuse towards women Labour MPs like Ruth Smeeth, Margaret Hodge, Luciana Berger, Louise Ellman and Joan Ryan (the latter three were driven out of the party).

    The failure of the then Labour leadership to really engage with the concerns of Jewish party members and representative organisations led to Labour being referred to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)for institutional racism on the basis of lengthy dossiers by the Jewish Labour Movement, Labour Against Antisemitism, Community Security Trust and other agencies. The EHRC found the party guilty of discriminatory behaviour in failing to deal with the concerns of its Jewish members and mandated proper reporting and disciplinary systems.

    This whole episode cost Labour three marginal North London constituencies with large Jewish populations in GE 19 (Labour canvassers reported doors being slammed in their faces by normally Labour voting Jewish households) as well as feeding into the disdain towards Corbyn that helped Labour's worst election result since 1935.

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  11. Barry
    You could be best mates with a holocaust denier and still be anti racist. Association on its own means nothing.
    They'll be anti-Semitic sentiment in membership of all political parties, address it by all means, using it as a politicking tool is shameful.
    Joan Ryan credibility is questionable. She is on camera lying about being a victim of antisemitism.

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    1. David

      In his long record of pro-Palestinian activity Corbyn shared platforms with Holocaust deniers and 9/11 truthers as well as taking tea with Raed Salah, a notorious Islamist hate preacher, while protesting his deportation from the UK and being "present but not present" at the burial places of the murderers of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. A true anti-racist (and true Palestinian rights advocate) would do due diligence run a million miles from such people.

      There was also the case of the notorious Mear One mural (showing cabal of hook nosed bankers looking down on impoverished workers) in Tower Hamlets which was removed for its antisemitic imagery by the local council; Jeremy defended it on artistic grounds and claimed to see no antisemitic content).

      Labour is addressing its problems with antisemitism properly and comprehensively as a result of the EHRC report. That is not politicking. Would that the Tory party do the same over its anti-Muslim problems articulated by Baroness Warsi.

      Where does Joan Ryan lie on camera about being a victims of antisemitism?

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  12. Barry,

    " Or a maybe an attempt to level up with an ethnic demographic which like others (African Americans, Latinos, Irish etc.) were subject to exclusion by the WASP establishment in the US."

    So you have no issue with minority ruling over the majority then? Very Tory of you.

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    1. Steve R

      No. Just a more equitable share of the cake. Untrammeled minority or majority rule tends to be bad for democracy.

      Delete
  13. Barry,
    That's incredibly poor evidence to denounce a man as racist. Al Jazera did a documentary on the Labour friends of Israel and the undercover reporter caught her on camera lying about being the victim of antisemitism. It's worth a watch

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  14. David

    I am not denouncing Jeremy Corbyn as a racist. But his past associations and his inactions over the culture of antisemitism that grew under his leadership of Labour were just two reasons why he was never cut out to be leader in the first place.

    Would that have been the Al-Jazeera documentary about the Israeli Embassy in London? Corbynites made a shock-horror conspiracist about absolutely nothing when it revealed that the Embassy had given £1m to LFOI to assist with youth group visits to both Israel and Palestine to promote mutual understanding?

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  15. Barry,
    He was a bit weak to be leader. You'll know better than me, but I don't think any racist cult grew about him, to me it seemed a convenient excuse to tarnish his reputation without having to address his ideas.
    I think that's the documentary, I don't know anything about Cornyn supporters and their evaluation of it, I stumbled on it online. All documentaries are agenda driven. The Joan Ryan conversation is all recorded, she lied, there's no other way to interpret it. It wasn't a great documentary, nothing profound or eye opening but worth a watch.

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  16. David

    You only have to check out the social media accounts of Corbyn supporting groups to observe the cult around him. Anyway he is gone and time for Labour to move on and establish an authentic identity.

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  17. Barry,
    If you judge politicians on the social media accounts of their followers, all would be guilty. It's a ridiculous form of morality calculus.
    I'm not being obtuse here, don't follow English politics, what authentic identity? Starmer, to me, comes across as a Blairite without Blair's charisma. What policy differences would he have on lockdown, foreign wars, city of London, so on?

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    1. until Starmer calls for the prosecution of Blair for war crimes, there is no room for confidence that his attitude to war will be different to that of Blair.

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