{"id":1884,"date":"2021-03-17T13:36:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/conference-explores-conspiracies-then-and-now\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T17:20:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T00:20:19","slug":"conspiracies-then-and-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/conspiracies-then-and-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Conference explores \u2018Conspiracies Then and Now\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n            \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3425-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3425-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Conference explores \u2018Conspiracies Then and Now\u2019\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The powerful Knights Templar were burned at the stake in 1307, victims of a medieval conspiracy theory. (Image: Courtesy of The British Library.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=social-impact\">Social Impact<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Conference explores \u2018Conspiracies Then and Now\u2019<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  USC Dornsife scholars join international experts at a two-day meeting to discuss conspiracy theories and draw comparisons between today\u2019s, such as QAnon, and those of the Middle Ages. <strong>[4\u00be min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Susan Bell<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">March 17, 2021<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 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<p>They\u2019ve garnered considerable media coverage of late, but conspiracy theories are nothing new: they\u2019ve grabbed people\u2019s attention throughout history.<\/p>\n<p>Residents of ancient Rome spread conspiracy theories by scratching graffiti on the city walls. In 1307, medieval French King Philip the Fair used them to sink the powerful Knights Templar by unleashing a storm of salacious \u2014 and untrue \u2014 rumors.<\/p>\n<p>In the 17th century, mass accusations of witchcraft resulted in the execution of 19 following the Salem Witch Trials. In the 20th century, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Apollo moon landings gave rise to numerous conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p>Today we grapple with ones such as QAnon \u2014 a conspiracy theory spreading on social media that many fear contributes to the undermining of democracy.<\/p>\n<p>USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences\u2019 online conference \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/event\/35865255335299\">Conspiracies Then and Now<\/a>\u201d will explore the history of conspiracy theories dating back to the Middle Ages and draw parallels with contemporary beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Held March 18-19 and sponsored by USC Dornsife\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/\">Center for the Political Future<\/a>\u00a0(CPF) and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/center-for-the-premodern-world\/\">Center for the Premodern World<\/a>\u00a0(CPW), in partnership with the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rmwritersfest.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rancho Mirage Writers\u2019 Festival<\/a>, the conference will also discuss how conspiracy theories have influenced recent political messaging.<\/p>\n<p>The conference will feature 20 experts participating in panel discussions on such topics as heresy, social media, anti-Semitism, the Templars and the Deep State, millennial cults, and QAnon.<\/p>\n<p>Among the scholars taking part are USC Dornsife\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/3097\/from-cushing-crude-to-the-city-of-angels-usc-dornsifes-new-medie\/\">Jay Rubenstein<\/a>, professor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/hist\/\">history<\/a>\u00a0and director of the CPW;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/staff\/robert-m-shrum\/\">Bob Shrum<\/a>,\u00a0Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics, professor of the practice of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/politicalscience\/\">political science<\/a>\u00a0and director of the CPF;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife-center-for-political-future.usc.edu\/staff\/mike-murphy\/\">Mike Murphy<\/a>, co-director, of the CPF;<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/norbert-schwarz\/\">Norbert Schwarz<\/a>, Provost Professor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/psyc\/\">Psychology<\/a>\u00a0and Marketing; and<a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003656\">\u00a0Steve Ross<\/a>, professor of history.<\/p>\n<p>Rubenstein was inspired to organize a conference on conspiracy theories with the CPF after reading about QAnon, which believes that a group of Satanic, cannibalistic pedophiles are running a global sex-trafficking ring.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I read, I thought, \u2018I&#8217;ve heard a lot of these ideas before in the 12th- and 13th-century playbook \u2014 Jewish cabals controlling finances, children being sacrificed, vast conspiratorial movements to control power, with the expectation that a messianic figure will appear to make everything okay,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rubenstein and Shrum agree that many parallels can be drawn between medieval conspiracy theories and those that flourish online today, noting that some recent conspiracists have adopted concepts from the Middle Ages to advance their agenda. For example, medieval prophets believed that a Jewish-born anti-Christ would seize control of world events through nefarious means, much like QAnon believers today imagine Hungarian-born American billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is manipulating world events.<\/p>\n<p>Here the two USC Dornsife scholars answer five questions about conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<h2>What do people find so attractive about conspiracy theories?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>SHRUM:<\/strong>\u00a0Conspiracy theories salve people\u2019s hurt, they reinforce preconceived biases and, in some cases, they serve either their economic interests or their ideologies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RUBENSTEIN:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s a way of making sense of the world, suggesting that \u2014 for better or worse \u2014 someone is in control and if we could only pull back the curtain and see what\u2019s going on, then we can get a handle on the world. That\u2019s an appealing idea to many people.<\/p>\n<h2>How did conspiracy theories spread before the advent of the internet, social media and cable television?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>RUBENSTEIN:<\/strong>\u00a0Much of it was spread by word of mouth. I think there\u2019s an interesting comparison to be made between the way bad ideas travel on social media and the internet and the way they did in the Middle Ages, when editing processes and information filters were also not that strong. You would pull a book off the monastic shelf and the very fact that something was written down in a book invested it with authority.<\/p>\n<h2>Are the Middle Ages and the current era particularly important periods for conspiracy theories? Or are there other periods in history when they were also prevalent?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>RUBENSTEIN:<\/strong>\u00a0The 13th-century was the golden age for medieval conspiracies. The Crusading movement is in disarray, the Church is failing to live up to its ideals, Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor, is widely suspected of being the anti-Christ, Italian prophet Joachim of Fiore is predicting the world will end in 1260 \u2014 there\u2019s lots of fertile ground here for conspiratorial thought. But there are other periods, too, the French Revolution, for instance. I think conspiracy theories tend to flourish during times when massive social change occurs simultaneously with a revolution in the means of producing and recording knowledge.<\/p>\n<h2>Why have conspiracy theories spread in recent times?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>SHRUM:<\/strong>\u00a0The rise of social media means that the capacity to spread conspiracy theories has now become hyper-charged. We\u2019ve lost a lot of the filters that gave us a common knowledge base. John Kennedy and Richard Nixon could disagree about whether or not we should have a program called Medicare, but they disagreed on the basis of the same set of facts. The problem is that now people don\u2019t feel any need to pay attention to any media outlet \u2014 or indeed any source of facts \u2014 that tells them something they don\u2019t want to hear.<\/p>\n<h2>How dangerous do you think conspiracy theories are? And how should we combat them?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>RUBENSTEIN:<\/strong>\u00a0Never underestimate the power of a bad idea. Conspiracies are dangerous because their failure seems ultimately to confirm their existence. Combating them will be a long process.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SHRUM:<\/strong>\u00a0They can be very dangerous. For a Templar in the Middle Ages, they meant you would lose everything, including your life. Today, conspiracy theories are threatening to undermine democracy. As to how to combat them, I\u2019m not sure I have the answer to that, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re holding this conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USC Dornsife scholars join international experts at a two-day meeting to discuss conspiracy theories and draw comparisons between today\u2019s, such as QAnon, and those of the Middle Ages. <strong>[4\u00be min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[502,503,179,71,171,105,112],"class_list":["post-1884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-impact","tag-bob-shrum","tag-center-for-the-political-future","tag-center-for-the-premodern-world","tag-history","tag-jay-rubenstein","tag-politics","tag-psychology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Conference explores \u2018Conspiracies Then and Now\u2019<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"USC Dornsife scholars join international experts at a two-day meeting to discuss conspiracy theories and draw comparisons between today\u2019s, such as QAnon, and those of the 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