American Conspiracism: An Interdisciplinary Exploration

Cover
Half Title
Endorsement Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Contributors
Editor’s Introduction
	References
Chapter 1: Reflections on American Conspiracism
	Homo narrans
	Definitions
	Plan of the Volume
		Part I: Knowledge
		Part II: Function
		Part III: Nation
		Part IV: Meaning
	Conclusion
	Notes
	Suggested Readings
	References
Part I: Knowledge
	Chapter 2: The Epistemology of QAnon
		Make Believe and Fake Belief
		Individualist Explanations of QAnon Belief
			Epistemic Vice
			Agency and Pattern Detection
		QAnon Belief and Social Epistemic Environments
			Epistemic Bubbles
			Echo Chambers
		Beyond Epistemology
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 3: The Devil in the Details: The Memory Wars, Trauma Studies, and the Satanic Panic
		The Spectacle
			Michelle
			McMartin
		The Memory Wars
			Trauma Studies
			Cognitive Science
			False Memory Research
		How to Implant a False Memory
		Professionalizing the Management of Suffering
			Contemporary Trauma Studies
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 4: Viral Belief: The Psychology of COVID Conspiracy Theories
		The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
		Conspiracy Theories and Social Crises
		American Conspiracy Theories during COVID-19
		Findings
		What these Findings Tell Us
			Illness and the Dangers of Social Life
			From Threat to Conspiracy: The Role of Culture
			Objections
		Final Reflections
		Addendum: Methods, Results and Technical Details
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 5: True Conspiracies: The Legacy of J. Edgar Hoover, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Earl Ray
		The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and its Mythology
		James Earl Ray, “The Squid”
		J. Edgar Hoover’s Vendetta
		The Ray Family and the Grapevine Tavern
		The Byers Bounty and HSCA
			Epilogue
		References
Part II: Function
	Chapter 6: Interpersonal Relationships and Online Social Support in the QAnon Age
		QAnon in the Context of (Online) Relationships
		The Staircase Model of Relational Dissolution
		Interpersonal Communication and Online Support Seeking
		Technological Aspects for Online Social Support
		Supportive Communication for Q Believers and Non-believers
		Conclusions
		References
	Chapter 7: Social vigilantism and American conspiratorial beliefs
		Social vigilantism
		Social vigilantism and belief superiority
		Social vigilantism and resistance to persuasion and attitude challenges
		Social vigilantism and the formation and defense of political attitudes
		Social vigilantism and conspiratorial beliefs
		Our goal
		How we collected our data
		What we found
		Our supporting evidence
			Defense of conspiratorial beliefs
		Perpetuation of conspiratorial beliefs
		Conclusion
		References
	Chapter 8: Taking Conspiracies to Extremes: How Extremist Groups Use Conspiracy Narratives to Stoke Violence
		Background
		Who Believes
		Why Believe
		Susceptible Believers
		Destructive Narratives
		A Case in Point: The Boogaloo Bois
			Opportunistic Collapsitarians
			Confiscation Conspiracy Acolytes
			Lost and Found Radicals
			Accidental Conspiracists
			An Authority on Conspiracies
		Discussion
		References
	Chapter 9: Good Conspiracism
		Conspiracism as a Defect of Democracy
		Conspiracism and Regime Theory
		Conspiracism as a Democratic Impulse
		Heroic Conspiracism: Watergate
		Reasonable Doubts: The Kennedy Assassination
		Conclusion: QAnon and Beyond
		Note
		References
Part III: Nation
	Chapter 10: Nativism and the Roman Catholic Plot to Destroy America
		Nativism Defined
		Leaving the Old World Behind
		Conspiratorial Nativism
			Protestant Nation
			Know-Nothingism: Fighting Fire with Fire
		Panic Waves
			Rapid Demographic Change and Territorial Expansion
			Culture War
			Urban Upheaval
			Turbulent Democratic Politics
			Secret Democracy
			Collapse of the Two-Party System
		A Fight Takes Two
		Conclusion
		Notes
		Suggested Readings
		References
	Chapter 11: Ku Klux Konspiracism in the 1920s
		Anti-Catholicism
		Antisemitism
		Defending White Supremacy
		Old and New
		Impact and Legacy
		Suggested Readings
		References
	Chapter 12: Constitutional Conspiracism: Aryans, Alpha Chads, and White Nationalists
		The Constitution’s Two Bodies
		Constitutional Conspiracism
		The Rise of White Nationalist Conspiracism
		Alt-Right Conspiracism
		Alpha Chads and Aryans
		Conclusion
		Notes
		References
	Chapter 13: Of Borders and Disorders: The U.S.–Mexico Border in the Trump Era
		Argument and Theoretical Orientation
		Trump, the Right, and the Flight to Conspiracism
		The U.S.–Mexico Border as Conduit for Conspiratorial Ideations
		The Great Replacement Theory
		QAnon
		Conclusion
		Notes
		References
Part IV: Meaning
	Chapter 14: Grievance tales: On the Affective Resonance of “Crazy” Beliefs
		The folklorist’s perspective
		The grievance tale defined
		Jeffery Amherst’s smallpox blankets
		The death of Bessie Smith
		“No Irish Need Apply”
		The spitting image
		Factors of resilience
		From anxiety to “comfortable victimhood”
		“Truth” vs. lived experience
		References
	Chapter 15: American Flat Earth Belief
		Flat Earth Revival
		Flat Earth as Liberation Theology
		Squaring the Circle
		Spreading the Gospel
		Off the Edge of Memory
		Conclusion: A Swiftly-Tilting Plane
		References
	Chapter 16: Long Live the King: Reviving an American Icarus
		“A thousand funerals at once”
		Elvis and the American Canon
		The Anthropology of Elvis Lives
		What is Elvis Lives?
		The Pillars of Elvis Lives
		Deputizing Special Agent Elvis Aaron Presley
		Elvis Presley in Sympathetic Context
		‘ELVIS IS ALIVE’ and contemporary conspiracy
		Desire, Death, and Dread
			Eroticism and Celebrity
		In the Shadow of an American Icarus
		Notes
		References
Index