LEC 6 Gatekeepers PDF

GATEKEEPERS: Lecture 6 Part 1: What Explains Political Paranoia? - have had massive impact on politics - Burst of political paranoia in the US Trust in Government & Politics of Paranoia - If they do matter, what explain the rise? - Different ways of thinking about conspiracy theories —> Sort of nor...

GATEKEEPERS: Lecture 6 Part 1: What Explains Political Paranoia? - have had massive impact on politics - Burst of political paranoia in the US Trust in Government & Politics of Paranoia - If they do matter, what explain the rise? - Different ways of thinking about conspiracy theories —> Sort of normative dilemma Collapse of trust in politics - Trust In politics in NL has declined in the last 10 years - Trust in government in US has declined since late 1960s Political Paranoia and the Rise of Populism - writing in the 1950s and talking about rise of populism in their era USSR, Nazis, Antisemitism - Form of politics that helps authoritarian dictators and dividing people and lead to polarisation Popper said they were “dangerous” The World According to Trump - Birtherism - 2016 election might be rigged - 2020 election was stolen - Google fixing search results - Bill Ayers wrote Obama’s book - Obama never attended Columbia University - Obama wears a secret Muslim ring - Was Vince Foster murdered? - Was Rafael Cruz involved in the JFK assassination? - 9/11 Attackers had girlfriends who fled to Saudi Arabia - Christmas has disappeared because of progressives - Obama manipulated immigration numbers - CDC lying about Ebola - Vaccines cause autism - Climate change a hoax - Cover-up of 42% unemployment rate —> not all theories are in the US, also in Nigeria, Turkey, situ africa, Egypt, Mexico, south africa 1 of 6 - Belief government planned 9/11 - 75% thinks JFK was killed —> not just some random theories! Conspiracy Theories and Dutch Politics - AIVD is looking into this as a threat because they are undermining democracy Baudet - This government is enthusiastically co-operating with the Islamization of the Netherlands What are the Main Narrative Features of Conspiracy Theories? - Good vs. Evil - Secret cabal Small group somewhere controlling things “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” has become an “ur-text” of conspiracy theory narratives, alleging a secret globalist Jewish cabal Many contemporary conspiracy theories share its narrative features - Powerful elite - Agency individuals controlling history rather than structural explanations or simple incompetence - Status anxiety alien threat to traditional values/culture - Only all out crusade can defeat conspiracy Do conspiracy theories beget real conspiracies in response to percieved conspiracies? Smoke Without Fire? How can we try to understand conspiracy theories? - Pathologize its advocates? (Richard Hofstadter) Shaped modern thinking of conspiracy theories Focusses in on the psychology of conspiracy theories - Dangerous? (Hofstadter/Popper) - A symbolic response to real social problems? (Turner, Knight, Olmsted) - Immature/simplistic interpretation of complex social phenomena? (Jameson) Restoration of agency in a world increasingly defined by large impersonal structures? - A consequence of government secrecy? (Olmsted) - How do you interpret the rise of conspiracy theories in modern times? CIA CrackCocaine - big in the 1990s - Gary Webb —> printed story that linked CIA to drugs - Involved in Nicaragua (and that is true) 2 of 6 - That group did finance itself by selling drugs, the CIA knew but they turned an eye (also true) - Story goes in the world and gets turned around —> Planting drugs in more black neighbourhoods CIA responsible for bring drugs into the country - huge backlash against Webb —> his career gets destroyed, even though there was nothing untrue Commits suicide - CIA director at the time (John Deutch) has to go into those neighbours and tell that they didn0t do anything African Americans vs. Real Government Conspiracies - Numerous studies reveal high rates of belief in conspiracy theories about US government among African Americans. Why? - Real history of US government conspiracies against African Americans? History/legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws Tuskegee Experiments COINTELPRO 1/100 Crack Cocaine law - Can African American conspiracy theories be understood as rhetoric of resistance? - But: do conspiracy theories prevent real solutions to real social problems? Drug abuse/ HIV, etc..? - Is it hypocritical to defend belief in conspiracy theories among African Americans but condemn other conspiracy theories as dangerous and deranged? 3 of 6  Part 2: “The Deep State” and US Politics - Qualcuno che da up there is pulling the strings - Taps into a real debate on intelligence Who controls intelligence? Have they dictated American foreign policy or do they just do what te executive tells them to do? Trump’s Relationship With His Intelligence Community - All his tweets - Visits the CIA HQ and tries to make the speech kind of apologising but incoherent Sense of unease in the CIA - Tensions even before he was president! - Russia investigations – Robert Mueller and CIA’s Russia House - Leaks! 7x more leaks in first 100 days than previous two presidents e.g. Michael Flynn’s discussions with Russian ambassador e.g. FBI leak that Trump pressured Bureau to deny Russia allegations e.g. CIA covert action in Syria e.g. Khashoggi investigation ‣ Journalist killed in the Saudi embassy - Steve Bannon & Trump’s National Security Council Where was the CIA? Trump and Ex-Spies - A number of retired intelligence officers, including former heads of intel services have been publicly very critical of Trump, fueling ”deep state” narratives E.g. John Brennan, Michael Hayden and James Comey - all really critical of trump Historical Parallels: Nixon and the CIA - Nixon had a very frosty relationship with Helms and the CIA, especially after Helms refused to cooperate in the Watergate cover-up - Nixon stopped reading the CIA giornalino Trump’s Impeachment and the “Deep State” QAnon - Far-right conspiracy theory —> Deep State plot to overthrow Trump - Began on 4Chan message boards 4 of 6 - Sprawling conspiracy theory accusing Hollywood liberals of paedophilia, the Robert Müller investigation as a “false flag” operation to expose paedophilia ring, and accuses Obama, Clinton and George Soros of being involved in a coup conspiracy against Trump - Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against President Donald Trump - “QAnon extremists” identified as a domestic terrorism threat by FBI Weaponizing the “Deep State Narrative” - Upon taking office Trump has promised to clean up the “deep state” by making tens of thousands of federal employees “at will” employees, removing their employee protections - Trump has nominated numerous advocates of the “deep state” and other conspiracy theories to his administration - Tulsi Gabbard, nominated as Director of National Intelligence (DNI), shared numerous conspiracy theories on Russian involvement in Ukraine and on Syria Origins of Intelligence as “Deep State” - David Wise and Thomas Ross, The Invisible Government (1964) - First bestseller on the CIA JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories and the Deep State - What leads to a lot of the paranoid thinking in the US Active measure and disinformation - The first conspiracy theory in print: 23 November 1963 published by CIA-backed Cuban Student Directorate - Joachim Joesten, Oswald: Assassin or Fall Guy? (1964) - published with assistance of KGB The Culture of Paranoia: Literature - Robert Shea and Robert Anton: The Illuminatus Trilogy (1975) - Thomas Pynchon - Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) - Don DeLillo, Libra (1988) - Dan Brown, Angels and Demons (2000) The Culture of Paranoia: Film - The Parallax View (1974) - The Conversation (1974) - Three Days of the Condor (1975) - All the President’s Men (1976) 5 of 6 Oliver Stone and the Deep State - Hollywood director Oliver Stone - His 1991 movie J.F.K. alleged a conspiracy theory involving the CIA. It sparked a huge national debate and reignited public anxieties around secrecy and the CIA The Military Industrial Complex - President Eisenhower coined the term “Military Industrial Complex” in his Jan. 1961 Farewell Address - Eisenhower was a General and the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe in WW2, which makes his speech all the more Is there an “Intelligence-Industrial Complex”? - US Intelligence budgets classified, but Snowden leaks revealed some details: 2011 - $54.6 billion = peak CIA receives largest share 16 US spy agencies employ about 107,000 people. This does not include contractors Post-9/11 - 60-70% to private contractors e.g. Booz Allen Hamilton 1.4 million Top Secret clearances Double Government - Michael Glennon wrote the book to explain remarkable continuity in US foreign policy from Bush to Obama Walter Bagehot (1826-1877): - “Dignified” institutions –-> link to the past, pomp, theatre, symbolism. E.g. House of Lords & Monarchy - “Efficient” institutions –-> do the real work of governing. E.g. House of Commons, Prime Minister, Cabinet Glennon: - “Madisonian” institutions – Congress, President, Courts - “Trumanite” institutions – National Security Council, Intelligence Agencies, DoD, 6 of 6