conspiracy

15Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, POLITICS

Alex Jones Is Being Held Accountable For Spreading Conspiracy Theories 10 Years After The Sandy Hook Shooting – But Those Sorts Of Lies Now Plague The US

Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the U.S. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the U.S. While American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media now regularly achieve mainstream acceptance and are echoed by people in power. Recently, one of the most popular American conspiracy theorists faced consequences in court for his part in spreading viral lies. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones and his company, Infowars, were ordered by juries in Connecti...

Proud Boys Indicted For Conspiracy Over January 6 U.S. Capitol Riots

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IMPACT, POLITICS

Proud Boys Indicted For Conspiracy Over January 6 U.S. Capitol Riots

A Washington D.C. grand jury today indicted Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, former chairman of the Proud Boys, and four other members of the far-right U.S. organization on charges of seditious conspiracy regarding the January 6, 2021 insurrection. On that day, a large crowd of Donald Trump supporters stormed into the United States Capitol to prevent the US Congress from certifying the votes from the 2020 United States presidential election. The charges state the riot was not a spontaneous or impromptu act but rather deliberately planned. Tarrio has faced other charges related to January 6 before, but today's are the most serious: the charges state Tarrio and fellow Proud Boys Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola criminally conspired to prevent then-President-elect Joe Bi...

Are People Of Color Being Replaced – Replacement Theory Isn’t New

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IMPACT

Are People Of Color Being Replaced – Replacement Theory Isn’t New

3 Things To Know About How This Once-Fringe Conspiracy Has Become More Mainstream - Replacement Theory Isn’t New. The recent grocery store mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, is placing a spotlight on white supremacy. Eighteen-year-old Payton Gendron drove three hours from his home in Conklin, New York, to the Tops grocery store on May 14, 2022, and shot 13 people – most of them Black – killing 10 shoppers. Gendron’s gun had racist expletives written on it, and his 180-page online manifesto also repeated key elements of replacement theory. This conspiracy theory, with roots in French nationalism of the 20th century, falsely warns that Western elites and Jews are bringing immigrants into a country to replace white people. Since the shooting, several Republican politicians and commentator...

After The Sandy Hook Shootings, Conspiracy Theories In The US Became More Personal, More Cruel And More Mainstream

10Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN011 Comment

POLITICS

After The Sandy Hook Shootings, Conspiracy Theories In The US Became More Personal, More Cruel And More Mainstream

Conspiracy theories are powerful forces in the U.S. They have damaged public health amid a global pandemic, shaken faith in the democratic process and helped spark a violent assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021. These conspiracy theories are part of a dangerous misinformation crisis that has been building for years in the U.S. American politics has long had a paranoid streak, and belief in conspiracy theories is nothing new. But as the news cycle reminds us daily, outlandish conspiracy theories born on social media now regularly achieve mainstream acceptance and are echoed by people in power. As a journalism professor at the University of Connecticut, I have studied the misinformation around the mass shooting that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. I c...

A Conspiracy Theory Or A True Conspiracy – An AI Tool That Can Distinguish Between The Two

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

AI, TECHNOLOGY, VIDEO REELS

A Conspiracy Theory Or A True Conspiracy – An AI Tool That Can Distinguish Between The Two

The audio on the otherwise shaky body camera footage is unusually clear. As police officers search a handcuffed man who moments before had fired a shot inside a pizza parlor, an officer asks him why he was there. The man says to investigate a pedophile ring. Incredulous, the officer asks again. Another officer chimes in, “Pizzagate. He’s talking about Pizzagate.” In that brief, chilling interaction in 2016, it becomes clear that conspiracy theories, long relegated to the fringes of society, had moved into the real world in a very dangerous way. Conspiracy theories, which have the potential to cause significant harm, have found a welcome home on social media, where forums free from moderation allow like-minded individuals to converse. There they can develop their theories and propose acti...

Bots Spread Conspiracy Theories And QAnon Talking Points On Twitter

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL MEDIA

Bots Spread Conspiracy Theories And QAnon Talking Points On Twitter

Americans who seek political insight and information on Twitter should know how much of what they are seeing is the result of automated propaganda campaigns. Nearly four years after my collaborators and I revealed how automated Twitter accounts were distorting online election discussions in 2016, the situation appears to be no better. That’s despite the efforts of policymakers, technology companies and even the public to root out disinformation campaigns on social media. In our latest study, we collected 240 million election-related tweets mentioning presidential candidates and election-related keywords, posted between June 20 and Sept. 9, 2020. We looked for activity from automated (or bot) accounts, and the spread of distorted or conspiracy theory narratives. We learned that on Twitte...

A Conspiracy Of Silence Led By Baseball’s First Commissioner To Preserve The Color Line

16Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

A Conspiracy Of Silence Led By Baseball’s First Commissioner To Preserve The Color Line

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America recently announced that it would remove former Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ name from the plaques awarded to the American and National League MVPs. The decision came after a number of former MVPs, including Black award winners Barry Larkin and Terry Pendleton, voiced their displeasure with their plaques being named for Landis, who kept the game segregated during the 24 years he served as commissioner from 1920 until his death in 1944. The Brooklyn Dodgers ended the color line when they signed Jackie Robinson to a contract in October 1945, less than a year after Landis’ death. Landis has had his defenders over the years. In the past, essayist David Kaiser, baseball historian Norman Macht, Landis biographer David P...