Web of Lies is a fascinating and far-reaching examination of the rising threat of far-right extremist thought in Ireland and internationally, and looks at how these movements utilise the online world to spread disinformation, polarising society in the process. From the Illuminati to the Red Scare, Save the Children to QAnon, research analyst Aoife Gallagher shows that there are many pathways to radicalisation - most of them benign and unassuming - and demonstrates that we are all susceptible to conspiratorial thinking and at risk of falling down the rabbit hole. In an accessible and entertaining style, Web of Lies presents a history of conspiracy theories and their roots in anti-Semitism, xenophobia and white supremacy; the role social media plays in spreading these theories; how they can proliferate during times of crises; and what we can do to protect ourselves and others from falling victim to these messages. 'Ever wondered how good people get trapped in their worst nightmares? Web of Lies is an unforgettable journey through the upside-down world of conspiratorial thinking. Aoife Gallagher has written the definitive account of how global lies have changed Irish lives, in a book full of personal empathy, unrivalled expertise and captivating storytelling. It shines a light on the real-world harm of our darkest online fantasies and it shows how each of us can fight back.' Mark Little 'At a time of fractious discord in discourse, Gallagher provides a vital context to and education in the strange and alarming world of conspiracy theories. Anyone interested in truth and facts should read this book.' Una Mullally 'Aoife Gallagher can plumb the depths of the internet and come up to the surface to explain what she's found with levity, empathy and humour. Wise without lecturing; sharp but always maintaining compassion for those caught up in misinformation. A fantastic global overview of trends while having one eye on how these things have come to Ireland.' Brianna Parkins

The Earth is flat, the World Trade Center collapse was a controlled demolition, planes are spraying poison to control the weather, and actors faked the Sandy Hook massacre.... All these claims are bunk: falsehoods, mistakes, and in some cases, outright lies. But many people passionately believe one or more of these conspiracy theories. They consume countless books and videos, join like-minded online communities, try to convert those around them, and even, on occasion, alienate their own friends and family. Why is this, and how can you help people, especially those closest to you, break free from the downward spiral of conspiracy thinking? In Escaping the Rabbit Hole, author Mick West shares over a decade's worth of knowledge and experience investigating and debunking false conspiracy theories through his forum, MetaBunk.org, and sets forth a practical guide to helping friends and loved ones recognize these theories for what they really are. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the most successful approaches to helping individuals escape a rabbit hole aren't comprised of simply explaining why they are wrong; rather, West's tried-and-tested approach emphasizes clear communication based on mutual respect, honesty, openness, and patience. West puts his debunking techniques and best practices to the test with four of the most popular false conspiracy theories today (Chemtrails, 9/11 Controlled Demolition, False Flags, and Flat Earth) - providing road maps to help you to understand your friend and help them escape the rabbit hole. These are accompanied by real-life case studies of individuals who, with help, were able to break free from conspiracism. With sections on: the wide spectrum of conspiracy theories avoiding the "shill" label psychological factors and other complications (and concluding with) a look at the future of debunking Mick West has put forth a conclusive, well-researched, practical reference on why people fall down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole and how you can help them escape.

More than half of American adults and more than seventy-five percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. American Cosmic examines the mechanisms at work behind the thriving belief system in extraterrestrial life, a system that is changing and even supplanting traditional religions. Over the course of a six-year ethnographic study, D.W. Pasulka interviewed successful and influential scientists, professionals, and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who believe in extraterrestrial intelligence, thereby disproving the common misconception that only fringe members of society believe in UFOs. She argues that widespread belief in aliens is due to a number of factors including their ubiquity in modern media like The X-Files, which can influence memory, and the believability lent to that media by the search for planets that might support life. American Cosmic explores the intriguing question of how people interpret unexplainable experiences, and argues that the media is replacing religion as a cultural authority that offers believers answers about non-human intelligent life.

Many Americans believe that their own government is guilty of shocking crimes. Government agents shot the president. They faked the moon landing. They stood by and allowed the murders of 2,400 servicemen in Hawaii-or 3,000 civilians in New York. In their zeal to cover up their crimes, they killed witnesses, faked evidence, and stole into secure offices to snatch incriminating documents from the files. Although the paranoid style has been a feature of the American scene since the birth of the Republic, in Real Enemies, Kathryn Olmsted shows that it is only in the twentieth century that strange and unlikely conspiracy theories have become central to American politics. While Americans had worried about bankers, Jews, and Catholics for decades, Olmsted sees World War I as a critical turning point for conspiracy theories. As the federal government expanded, Americans grew more fearful of the government itself-the military, the intelligence community, and even the President. Perhaps more important, Olmsted examines why so many Americans believe that their government conspires against them, why more people believe these theories over time, and how real conspiracies by government officials-such as the infamous Northwoods plan-have fueled our paranoia about the government. She analyzes Pearl Harbor, Cold War and anticommunist plots, the JFK assassination, Watergate, and 9/11. Along the way, she introduces readers to a lively cast of characters, from the Nobel prize-winning scientist who became a leading conspiracist to a housewife who believed she could unlock the secrets of the JFK assassination. Polls show that thirty-six percent of Americans think that George W. Bush knew in advance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Real Enemies, an engaging work on a timely, important topic, sheds light on such theories, revealing how the rampant fear of conspiracy at once invigorates and undermines American democracy.

Pursuing his investigations of high financial fraud, international banking, hidden systems of finance, black budgets and breakaway civilizations, author and researcher Joseph P. Farrell continues his examination of the post-war Nazi International, an “extra-territorial state” without borders or capitals, a network of terrorists, drug runners, and people in the very heights of financial power willing to commit financial fraud in amounts totaling trillions of dollars.

Breakaway civilizations, black budgets, secret technology, occult rituals, international terrorism, giant corporate cartels, patent law and the hijacking of nature: it’s all in this book where Farrell explores what he calls ‘the business model’ of the post-war Axis elite.

It is Farrell at his best―uncovering the gargantuan financial fraud and hidden technology of the breakaway civilization.

Taking a global and interdisciplinary approach, the Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories provides a comprehensive overview of conspiracy theories as an important social, cultural and political phenomenon in contemporary life. This handbook provides the most complete analysis of the phenomenon to date. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. It maps out the key debates, and includes chapters on the historical origins of conspiracy theories, as well as their political significance in a broad range of countries and regions. Other chapters consider the psychology and the sociology of conspiracy beliefs, in addition to their changing cultural forms, functions and modes of transmission. This handbook examines where conspiracy theories come from, who believes in them and what their consequences are. This book presents an important resource for students and scholars from a range of disciplines interested in the societal and political impact of conspiracy theories, including Area Studies, Anthropology, History, Media and Cultural Studies, Political Science, Psychology and Sociology.

Bang up to date with fresh cover-ups relating to Barack Obama, Michael Jackson and Afghanistan The 100 military, medical, religious, alien, intelligence, banking and historical cover-ups 'they' really don't want you to know about: The Military-Industrial Complex's fomentation of war with Iraq; the construction of concentration camps in the United States by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency); the use of alien 'Foo Fighters' by the Nazis and the Japanese during the Second World War; the miracle natural drug suppressed by Big Pharma; the Israelis' responsibility for the bombing of USS Cole; the real reason why CERN broke down; the murder of Paul McCartney - and you didn't even know he was dead. Entertainingly written and closely documented, The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies uncovers the 100 most secret cover-ups in an accessible A-Z format. It covers 95 new conspiracies even more fiendish than those detailed in The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups by the same author, and provides fresh revelations regarding the five furthest-reaching conspiracies in that book, including the assassination of JFK and 9/11. The book includes a full bibliography and introduction.

Conspiracy theorists claim impossible knowledge, such as knowledge of the doings of a secret world government. Yet they accept this impossible knowledge as truth. In effect, conspiracy theories detach truth from knowledge. Knowledge without power is powerless. And the impossible knowledge claimed by conspiracy theorists is rigorously excluded from the regimes of truth and power - that is not even wrong. Yet conspiratorial knowledge is potent enough to be studied by researchers and recognized as a risk by experts and authorities. Therefore, in order to understand conspiracy theories, we need to think of truth beyond knowledge and power. That is impossible for any scientific discipline because it takes for granted that truth comes from knowledge and that truth is powerful enough to destroy the legitimacy of any authority that would dare to conceal or manipulate it. Since science is unable to make sense of conspiracy theories, it treats conspiracy theorists as individuals who fail to make sense, and it explains their persistent nonsense by some cognitive, behavioral, or social dysfunction. Fortunately, critical theory has developed tools able to conceive of truth beyond knowledge and power, and hence to make sense of conspiracy theories. This book organizes them into a toolbox which will enable students and researchers to analyze conspiracy theories as practices of the self geared at self-empowerment, a sort of political self-help.

Aliens. Ley lines. Water dowsing. Conspiracies and myths captivate imaginations and promise mystery and magic. Whether it's arguing about the moon landing hoax or a Frisbee-like Earth drifting through space, when held up to science and critical thinking, these ideas fall flat. In Weird Earth: Debunking Strange Ideas About Our Planet, Donald R. Prothero demystifies these conspiracies and offers answers to some of humanity's most outlandish questions. Applying his extensive scientific knowledge, Prothero corrects misinformation that con artists and quacks use to hoodwink others about geology-hollow earth, expanding earth, and bizarre earthquakes-and mystical and paranormal happenings-healing crystals, alien landings, and the gates of hell. By deconstructing wild claims such as prophesies of imminent natural disasters, Prothero provides a way for everyone to recognize dubious assertions. Prothero answers these claims with facts, offering historical and scientific context in a light-hearted manner that is accessible to everyone, no matter their background. With a careful layering of evidence in geology, archaeology, and biblical and historical records, Prothero's Weird Earth examines each conspiracy and myth and leaves no question unanswered.

How did a conspiracy theory reshape global politics? How did it tear families apart, inspire an insurrection and convince millions that a shadowy cabal was hellbent on eating children, and only Donald Trump could stop them? On the 6th of January, 2021 thousands of Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol. Their banners read, Trust the Plan, a reference to an alarming conspiracy theory that had gained unstoppable momentum over the last four years: these were followers of QAnon. Decoding online clues from a mysterious figure - who has claimed to be a high-level government insider - QAnon adherents believe that Donald Trump has been anointed by God to stop a depraved deep state government, that sexually abuse, kill, and eat children. But QAnon has also become a broad church of out-there beliefs, offering a welcoming community to anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, eugenicists and white nationalists. With first hand access to the leading figures in the movement, investigative journalist Will Sommer unpacks the bizarre story of how a post from one of the darkest corners of the internet, became a belief system for millions; how politicians cozied up to extremists; how an unwavering trust in these ideas tore apart families, caused a mafia boss's assassination, and threatened democracy. Trust the Plan is a timely and essential look on how the internet radicalised our politics, and how millions were convinced to believe the unbelievable.

The controversy surrounding the publication of the Zinoviev letter in The Daily Mail in October 1924 has close parallels with events today: Was it leaked by British officials or fake news to influence the outcome of the forthcoming election? On the basis of compelling evidence this book overturns the generally accepted view about the authenticity of the Zinoviev letter, proving it was genuine. The minority Labour government under Ramsay MacDonald had called an election for November. In the last days of the election campaign the press broke the news of a letter purporting to have been sent from Moscow by Grigory Zinoviev, Chairman of the Soviet-controlled Communist International, to the Communist Party of Great Britain. The letter urged members of the Party to increase their efforts to gain power by manipulating the Labour Party, which was hostile to Communist aims, so as to move the Labour Party to a revolutionary position, and by recruiting disenchanted military personnel to form the basis of a British `Red Army'. The Zinoviev letter had reached the Foreign Office via the Secret Service. It caused a storm, with accusations that it was a fabrication by White Russians or by British elements hostile to Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Government, and possibly lost Labour the election. It has never been established whether it was leaked to the Daily Mail by British officials or by someone from the British Communist Party. The author reveals that Zinoviev's letter, sent to British Communists by the Comintern, was not a fabrication, as has been widely believed for almost a hundred years. The evidence to show that this is so has been publicly available since 1930. The book ends with the question, was it overlooked or deliberately concealed by those with an allegiance to the Soviet Union? That is the new and real mystery of the Zinoviev letter.

Are conspiracy theories everywhere and is everyone a conspiracy theorist? This ground-breaking study challenges some of the widely shared assessments in the scholarship about a perceived mainstreaming of conspiracy theory. It claims that conspiracy theory underwent a significant shift in status in the mid-20th century and has since then become highly visible as an object of concern in public debates. Providing an in-depth analysis of academic and media discourses, Katharina Thalmann is the first scholar to systematically trace the history and process of the delegitimization of conspiracy theory. By reading a wide range of conspiracist accounts about three central events in American history from the 1950s to 1970s - the Great Red Scare, the Kennedy assassination, and the Watergate scandal - Thalmann shows that a veritable conspiracist subculture emerged in the 1970s as conspiracy theories were pushed out of the legitimate marketplace of ideas and conspiracy theory became a commodity not unlike pornography: alluring in its illegitimacy, commonsensical, and highly profitable. This will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in American history, culture and subcultures, as well, of course, to those fascinated by conspiracies.

Who believes in conspiracy theories, and why are some people more susceptible to them than others?

What are the consequences of such beliefs?

Has a conspiracy theory ever turned out to be true?

The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories debunks the myth that conspiracy theories are a modern phenomenon, exploring their broad social contexts, from politics to the workplace. The book explains why some people are more susceptible to these beliefs than others and how they are produced by recognizable and predictable psychological processes.

Featuring examples such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and climate change, The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories shows us that while such beliefs are not always irrational and are not a pathological trait, they can be harmful to individuals and society.

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 –Psychology of Conspiracy Theories

Chapter 2 – When do People Believe Conspiracy Theories?

Chapter 3 – The Architecture of Belief

Chapter 4 – The Social Roots of Conspiracy Theories

Chapter 5 – Conspiracy Theories and Ideology

Chapter 6 – Explaining and Reducing Conspiracy Theories

Further Reading

Notes

References

The 37th Parallel tells the true story of a computer programmer whose investigations into alien activity lead him deep into a vast conspiracy stretching 3000 miles across America. Chuck Zukowski is obsessed with tracking down UFO reports, but this innocent hobby takes on a sinister urgency when he makes a horrifying discovery. As he traces a series of incidents across Utah, Colorado and Kansas, a pattern emerges: a horizontal line of unexplained activity stretching right across America, a line some are calling the 'UFO Highway' or the '37th Parallel'. His extraordinary journey takes him from El Paso to the Pentagon, into secret underground military caverns and Indian sacred sites. This terrifying account will keep you awake at night, pondering some of the biggest and most inescapable questions humanity faces: are we really alone in this vast universe? And if not, who are our neighbours?

'A first class, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Fast-paced, flawlessly executed and hugely entertaining, it'll leave you breathless.' Sara Lotz A missing plane. A cabin full of suspects. One woman's quest for the truth. When Atlantic Airlines Flight 702 disappears mid-flight between London and New York, the world is stunned. With the public clamouring for answers, authorities seem at a loss as to how to explain the plane's disappearance. There were 256 passengers on Flight 702, with many carrying dark secrets on board with them. Could one of them hold the truth behind the plane's disappearance? College student Kaitlin Le's beloved twin brother Conor was on that plane. She refuses to believe the official statements, or to join her parents in their blind acceptance of Conor's death. But as she journeys deeper into the murky heart of what really happened on board that plane, it becomes clear she's drawing attention to herself. And there are some people who would rather the truth behind the fate of Flight 702 stayed buried...

Ruthless killers and murderers for hire: they are here, there, and everywhere. They lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce. They terminate on command. They change the course of the world. From the cunning, calculating, government-trained warriors to the psychopathic, homegrown freelancers, Assassinations: The Plots, Politics, and Powers behind History-Changing Murders exposes the hidden agendas, the open warfare, the cynical preparations, and devastating aftermaths of history's assassinations. You will be immersed in a world that is filled with killings made to seem like suicides, murders that were designed to look like heart-attacks or overdoses, and accidents that, in reality, were carefully orchestrated deaths. Covering 28 assassinations, attempts, and plots, this absorbing book takes an in-depth look at why so many famous and influential figures just had to go. With more than 120 photos and graphics, this tome is richly illustrated. A helpful bibliography and index add to its useful

'Damning' - Mail on Sunday 'Utterly horrific and compelling' - The Guardian 'This investigation rings true' - Publishers Weekly On 1 August, 1990, British Airways Flight 149 departed from Heathrow airport, destined for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it there, and neither did its nearly 400 passengers and crew. Instead, Flight 149 stopped in Kuwait, as Iraqi troops invaded - delivering the passengers and crew into the hands of Saddam Hussein. Why did BA Flight 149 land, even as all other flights were rerouted - and even though British and American governments had clear intelligence that Saddam was about to invade? The answer lies in a secret, unaccountable organization - authorised by Margaret Thatcher - carrying out a 'deniable' intelligence operation. The plane was the 'Trojan Horse', and the plan - as well as the horrific consequences for the civilian passengers - has been lied about, denied and covered up by successive governments ever since. Soon to be a major TV drama, this explosive book is written with the full cooperation of the survivors, as well as astonishing and conclusive input from a senior intelligence source. It is a story of scandal, betrayal and misuse of intelligence at the highest levels of UK and US governments - which has had direct impact on terror attacks in the West and the shape of the Middle East today. It is high time the truth is told.

The year 2011 will mark the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, those history-changing events that have come to be known simply as 9/11. In "The Terror Conspiracy Revisited," the world's leading conspiracy writer updates his authoritative dissection of the official story of 9/11. This revised edition is packed with explosive new material including: The revelations of former New Jersey attorney General John Farmer, who served as Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission: "At some level of the government, at some point in time. . .there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened."Commission co-chairman Thomas Kean's suspicions of deceit: "We to this day don't know why NORAD told us what they told us. It was just so far from the truth."The European scientists' determination that there was nano-thermite in the World Trade Center debris, a high explosive generally available only through the US military.Pilots For 9/11 Truth's findings that Flight 77's flight deck door was never opened during flight, and their conclusion that hijackers could not have accessed the cockpit.

What is the truth? It is quite simply that the truth has not yet been presented to the American public. Jim Marrs busts wide open whatever credibility the US government's version of 9/11 ever had and leaves the reader with some unsavory but indisputable conclusions.

Jim Marrs is the "New York Times" best-selling author of "Rule By Secrecy," "The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy: The Plot That Killed Kennedy," and "Above Top Secret."

JFK had won the Presidency in 1960 by a razor thin majority, and his reelection campaign for 1964 was expected to be as close. He began it in November 1963 with a kick-off multi-city, four-day swing across the important state of Texas. It was going unexpectedly well when shots were fired into his triumphant motorcade in downtown Dallas that ripped history apart, changing it forever The assassination of American President John F. Kennedy in 1963 came at the very height of both the Cold War following the Second World War and the Pax Americana that was thought to exist at the war's conclusion in 1945. The United States and its allies possessed a far greater number of nuclear weapons than their Soviet adversaries, but the latter could unleash World War 3 and a nuclear Armageddon that would destroy them all. The sudden and totally unexpected murder in broad daylight in an American city of one of the most popular presidents in history was the murder mystery of the 20th century. The Cold War could have become hot and nuclear within minutes. The murderer had to be found and vital questions had to be answered quickly. Who did it, why and who ordered Kennedy's assassination? Was the deed part of a conspiracy: foreign, domestic or both? Were none of the these questions part of the bloody puzzle and was it entirely possible that only one man was responsible? The questions remain to this very day and Dallas Fifty Years On: The Murder of John F. Kennedy reveals sensational new evidence, eyewitness accounts and top secret documentation.

From the food we eat, the water we drink to the air we breathe, everything these days seems capable of killing us. Recently we have seen an unprecedented number of deaths due to medications for diseases that may not even exist, obscure cancers caused by our modern devices, and brutal police tactics. All a coincidence? Think again. In Population Control, acclaimed journalist Jim Marrs lays out a stunning case for his most audacious conspiracy yet: the scheme concocted by a handful of global elites to reduce the world's population to 500 million by whatever means necessary and make a profit from it. Marrs, the bestselling author of Rule by Secrecy and The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy, pulls no punches in exposing this evil and chillingly effective plan. He explains how a small group of tremendously wealthy and powerful people control virtually every important industry - guns, oil, pharmaceuticals, food, and of course the media - and how it uses this vast network of conglomerates to take actions that lead to the deaths of men and women all over the world. In the explosive Population Control, Marrs lays bare the damning truths corporate owners don't want you to discover: how they've spied on private citizens, intentionally spread disease, and destroyed the planet chasing profits, all to improve the lives of a privileged few while eliminating everyone else. Finally, he offers a citizen's blueprint for fighting back.