Category Archives: conspiracy theory

Questioning The Official Story About Official Stories: A Role for Citizen Investigations

Official stories, according to the official story about them, are (nearly) always true. The ‘nearly’ gets mentioned just because, on rare occasions, an official story is acknowledged to have been wrong, as, for instance, with Iraq’s falsely alleged weapons of … Continue reading

Posted in conspiracy theory, disinformation, media, propaganda, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Peer Review Vs Trial By Twitter

This past week has seen some unedifying academic-on-academic hostility on Twitter, with a storm of haughty criticism being whipped up in response to publication in the journal Alternatives of a paper by Dr David A. Hughes. Perhaps because I know … Continue reading

Posted in bullying, conspiracy, conspiracy theory, disinformation, Uncategorized | 140 Comments

Conspiracy Theories and Epistemic Fluency: understanding the challenge

Conspiracy Theories have become an object of considerable academic research lately. Yet they present a particular conundrum for scholars. At present, there is a significant rift within the field of studies relating to conspiracy theories. Much of the most prominent … Continue reading

Posted in conspiracy, conspiracy theory, disinformation, doublethink, political philosophy, propaganda, UK Government, Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Integrity: Grasping The Initiative

This post provides links to discussions of the Institute for Statecraft’s “Integrity Initiative”. Most recent update is 5 November 2019 – the first anniversary of the original post – when verdict of Scottish Charity Regulator on the operation was announced. … Continue reading

Posted in conspiracy theory, constitutional politics, disinformation, inter-media, journalism, media, propaganda, Russia, UK Government, Uncategorized, war | 62 Comments

Who’s Afraid of Conspiracy Theory?

‘Conspiracy theory’ is frequently used as a derogatory term, a term of disdain and implicit criticism. An effect of this is to discourage certain kinds of legitimate critical inquiry. But surely, in a world where conspiracies happen, we need good … Continue reading

Posted in bullshit, conspiracy, conspiracy theory, disinformation, inter-media, journalism, media, political philosophy, propaganda, Uncategorized, war | 61 Comments