Kelly Weill
Appearances
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Are these private companies you're implying or is this non-human intelligence?
It's Been a Minute
UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
I think Mike is exactly right. And there's another element, too, in that conspiracy theories are almost like a team sport. People use them to form in-group, out-group ideas. identification. And so if you're part of the elite subset who knows a secret truth, that can be kind of a good feeling.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
People get drawn into conspiracy theories like QAnon, where they feel like I'm with the team and we're deciphering clues, we're uncovering mysteries and holding power to account. People really like that. And so I think if people feel alone and alienated and disenfranchised, sometimes conspiracy theories can help them feel like they're in more control and they're with their friends.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Yeah. And if I can flip that around too, I remember talking to someone who said that they had a family member who was super into conspiracy theories. And what got her out was not debunking them. It was finding another fandom to be a part of. She got super into K-pop fandom. And that doesn't necessarily work for everyone.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
But for some people, you know, they're here for the belonging, like you said, Brittany.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Absolutely. I think we also underestimate how much these conspiracy theories had saturated the right-wing media ecosystem long before we were really reporting on them. Figures like Alex Jones are certainly considered fringe, but he had a really big reach. I think, again, it's a little underestimated how central these conspiracy theories were
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
in allowing folks on the right to rationalize losses, rationalize Barack Obama's victories. So these are beliefs that people are holding onto very strongly, and they only needed an authority figure like Trump to really legitimize them and make them part of the allowable discourse.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
I think it's totally plausible that there's life elsewhere. The question is whether there is a large government cover up. hiding it from us. And I think that is what conspiracy theorists are really invested in.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Well, I think, I mean, these are some of the things that are most central to our well-being. They're always at the front of our mind, our health, our bodies. I think a lot of maybe woo-woo wellness used to be really the domain of the left. But there were still kernels of it that I think really aligned well with conspiracy thinking. There was always a mistrust of authority.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
There was always the sense that you know better than maybe your doctor does. And certainly, we should advocate people to be skeptical and to be critical thinkers about their health. But I think with the more mainstreaming of conspiracy, these more crunchy granola beliefs really became part of the streamlined anti-vax movement.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
They were suddenly able to attach their beliefs onto right-wing grievance in a way that the left wasn't quite able to capitalize on. Yeah.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Hmm. One piece of advice that I got from an expert is she said that, you know, a certain level of skepticism is healthy. It's normal. I think we don't all want to be gullible rubes. But she had this idea of what she called operating in the gray, understanding that there are things that are going to be out of your control. There are going to be lingering doubts in your life and that those are okay.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Those are healthy, but they don't have to rule your life either. And so allowing some comfort with the unknown, and that can be way scarier than I think we tend to accept. But giving yourself some space, giving yourself some acceptance, and honestly, some lack of control. It's hard, but it's, I think, ultimately healthy.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
Okay. Here's the thing. It's like... If they live underwater, I'm calling them earthlings. I don't care if they're like a few thousand years. Those are my neighbors. That is my neighbor in the Mariana Trench. Final answer.
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UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
I feel like hating Cats was kind of fun. I feel like it's a movie that only exists on Twitter. Like I've basically seen the sum total of Cats, but never in a theater, just in like 20 second intervals.
It's Been a Minute
UFOs to RFKs: How conspiracy theories went mainstream
I'll go with what everyone in Mike said just to split the difference.