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99 reviews for:
Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power
Anna Merlan
3.88 AVERAGE
99 reviews for:
Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power
Anna Merlan
3.88 AVERAGE
really solid look at American conspiratorial thinking of all types
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
dark
sad
fast-paced
Republic of Lies
Author: Anna Merlan
=======================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Why this book:
Considering that we swim in a sea of conspiracy theories and theorists now, this book hits the spot.
_________________
The Feel:
Makes me sad about my fellow human beings. The sadness of this is a bit overwhelming.
We Can’t Go On Together With Suspicious Minds:
Lotta people who think they're critical thinkers…and they're not.
Favorite Quote:
Considering the times we live in the Jonathan Swift quote that starts this off is so very, very apropos. “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late.”
Favorite Concept:
The idea of going on a conspiracy theorist cruise and being trapped on a boat at sea with a shipload of them is horrifying to me. Surprised “they” would go on one considering the repeated outbreaks of norovirus and such that seem to happen on them.
Uhm Moments:
The entire anti-vaccine movement is based on Andrew Wakefield’s measles vaccine study linking it to behavior problems. Not autism. And the whole thing is based on a study of just 12 subjects. But it gave “them” something to hold onto, something to blame, and away we went in the conspiracy whirlwind.
WTF Moments/RUFKM Moments:
The FBI used spy planes to intel gather on protesters inside the US in 2015. The BLM and Standing Rock Sioux protests drew a lot of that focus. In the second half of 2015, the FBI deployed spy planes 3500 times. Not a conspiracy theory. This was admitted to by the FBI at the deputy director level. Things like this is what makes it easier to believe FBI/US surveillance-related conspiracy theories. Taken in context with COINTELPRO and MKUltra, which gets bandied about in the nutso sector a lot, is it hard to imagine that the gung ho among the security/law enforcement apparatus in the US goes too far when they believe they are doing the right thing, regularly.
Meh / PFFT Moments:
The “Loose Change” “documentary”, quotation marks intentional, purported that 9/11 was a false flag. That is STUPID. Reasoning that it was to allow a multigenerational war over oil and power in the Mideast. … … …students of history realize that the Mideast and West have been at war with each other since the Greeks. Now, it may have become a Cold War at various points, and they may have even fought together against outside forces, but the war was always at some point on the temperature scale between Cold and Hot.
Suspension of Disbelief:
Revealed secret operations once dragged into the light of day make conspiracy theories seem more likely and believable.
Wisdom:
When reason truly looks at the underpinnings of conspiracy theory, many fall apart in the cold hard light of day. Some don’t because they have a kernel in them that may be true or that may seem true. Some don’t because they’re so far out there that there isn’t a basis on which they can be judged vs the reality of day-to-day life.
Juxtaposition:
The state-sanctioned forced, coerced, and encouraged sterilizations of the differently abled, African American and First Peoples taking place up until as recently as 1979 compared to the encouragement of Caucasians to have more and more children. Juxtaposition rings hard on this one when as recently as the late 80s-early 90s, a Caucasian friend who wanted her tubes tied for personal reasons was basically bullied to keep her from doing it because she was of child bearing age.
MUFON’s embrasure of the psychic quotient among the believers means that those who are interested in the concrete and genuine unexplained occurrences have to wade through the look-at-mes and the money grabs to get to the encounters that can’t be explained as opposed to those that are only imagined as a way to feed ego or wallet.
Questions and Answers:
The conspiracy theory that the CIA created HIV/AIDS to kill African Americans and gay people was rooted in a Soviet KGB plan called Operation: Infektion which saw the light of day through propaganda newspaper reports in India that, then, spread around the world.
Calling the Ball:
Call it 1 part opportunistic a-holes and 4 parts gullible rubes with loud mouths.
MUFON going all-in on the esoteric, psychic, astral parts of the UFO milieu puts the scientific and investigative aspects out on a limb with any legitimate scientists.
_________________
Pacing:
Fairly fast paced.
Last Page Sound:
Closing with Russiagate, QAnon, and Trumpism leaves a horrid taste in the mouth of the reader.
Disappointed.
Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
The 24-hour news cycle, the rise of the internet, and the media powers that be not acting with integrity have lead us to where we are vis-a-vis conspiracy theories and theorists. They gave the crackpots a bullhorn and it has morphed into platforming.
The author’s treatment of Russiagate throws the whole book in the pooper. While the book does cover conspiracies, both real and imagined, and treats them fairly properly, Russiagate isn’t treated in the same way. The author takes the bloviating aspects of modern media and uses it as a tool to nick at the balloon…problem being Russiagate was real and isn’t treated in concert with the other “true” conspiracy theories in the book.
Things I'd Like To Unsee:
Very disappointed in the revelation that MUFON has a racist bent at the highest levels that has left a stink on the organization driving some of those interested in investigation of the unknown away.
[This review is both for Il mondo sottosopra, by Massimo Polidoro, and for Republic of Lies, by Anna Merlan. Alas, Polidoro's book is not available in English, and Merlan's is not available in Italian.]
In this times of COVID negationism, I'm more and more convinced that the spread of conspiracist thought is one of the main, if not the main problem advanced societies have to solve if they want to continue to function. I don't know if it's a solvable problem, almost certainly not in the short term, but I welcome any and all sources that can, at the very least, help define and describe where conspiracy theories come from, why they are so attractive and what can be done to limit their dissemination.
Both these books do all these things (and much more): Polidoro tackles the argument more from a psychological and historical perspective, while Merlan's point of view is more journalistic and more focused on the American current situation; and both authors do so without passing judgement on the people who fall victim of conspiracism, but also being very clear that in many cases there are not two sides to every story. Vaccines very emphatically do not cause autism; Hillary Clinton did not run a human trafficking and child sex ring from the basement of a DC pizzeria (in fact, the pizzeria does not even have a basement); Apollo 11 did go to the Moon and back in 1969; the trails from jet planes are not the means for spraying world population with mysterious and nefarious chemical agents; and, of course, no, Donald Trump is not a white knight who is secretly working to dismantle the pedo-satanist élite that rules the US and the world.
Both books are highly recommended, even if I'm afraid both are a bit preaching to the choir: I very much doubt that a person who sincerely believe in QAnon or in chemtrails would change her mind, even if faced with hard facts, and more importantly, I doubt that such a person would ever even read books like these. But there are always doubters, or people who simply have only ever heard the conspiracist version of reality: and to them these might be precious books indeed, and a chance to see at least some little part of the world as it really is, and not as it is is narrated by paranoid, ignorant, or worse, disingenuous manipulators.
[The final third or so of Il mondo sottosopra is dedicated to analysing and debunking the mother of all conspiracy theories: the Kennedy assassination. It would be worth buying the book for those pages alone.]
//
[Questa recensione copre sia Il mondo sottosopra, di Massimo Polidoro, che Republic of Lies, di Anna Merlan. Purtroppo il libro di Polidoro non è disponibile in inglese, e quello di Merlan non è disponibile in italiano.]
In questi tempi di negazionismo del COVID, mi sto sempre più convincendo che la diffusione del pensiero complottista sia uno dei principali problemi, se non il principale che le società avanzate devono risolvere se vogliono continuare a funzionare. Non so se è un problema risolvibile, quasi sicuramente no nel breve periodo, ma sono grato a qualunque fonte possa almeno aiutare a definire e descrivere da dove vengono le teorie del complotto, perché sono così attraenti, e che cosa si può fare per cercare di limitare la loro circolazione.
Entrambi i libri riescono a fare tutte queste cose (e molto di più): quello di Polidoro affronta l'argomento da una prospettiva più psicologica e storica, mentre il punto di vista di Merlan è più giornalistico, e più centrato sulla situazione attuale in America; inoltre, entrambi gli autori riescono ad affrontare l'argomento senza giudicare le persone vittime del cospirazionismo, ma essendo estremamente chiari su una cosa: in molti casi non ci sono due versioni ugualmente valide di una vicenda. I vaccini, senza alcuna ombra di dubbio, non provocano l'autismo; Hillary Clinton non gestiva una rete di traffico di esseri umani e di prostituzione minorile dalla cantina di una pizzeria di Washington DC (anche perché quella pizzeria non ha una cantina); Apollo 11 è andata sulla Luna ed è tornata sulla Terra nel 1969; le scie dei jet non sono strumenti per irrorare il mondo con misteriose e malefiche sostanze chimiche; e ovviamente, no, Donald Trump non è un guerriero della luce che sta lavorando in segreto per sconfiggere la cricca pedo-satanista che governa gli Stati Uniti e il mondo.
Raccomando calorosamente entrambi i libri, anche se temo che entrambi corrano il rischio di predicare ai convertiti: dubito sinceramente che una persona che crede davvero a QAnon o alle scie chimiche possa cambiare idea se messa davanti ai fatti, e anzi, credo che non vorrebbe mai nemmeno avvicinarsi a un libro come questi. Ma c'è sempre qualcuno che ha dei dubbi, o semplicemente che ha avuto accesso solo alla versione complottista della realtà: e per persone del genere questi potrebbero essere libri davvero preziosi, una possibilità di vedere almeno una piccola parte del mondo per come è davvero, e non per come viene raccontata da paranoici, ignoranti o, peggio, manipolatori in malafede.
[La parte finale di Il mondo sottosopra è dedicata ad analizzare e smontare pezzo per pezzo la madre di tutte le teorie di complotto: l'assassinio Kennedy. Vale la pena acquistare il libro anche solo per quelle pagine.]
In this times of COVID negationism, I'm more and more convinced that the spread of conspiracist thought is one of the main, if not the main problem advanced societies have to solve if they want to continue to function. I don't know if it's a solvable problem, almost certainly not in the short term, but I welcome any and all sources that can, at the very least, help define and describe where conspiracy theories come from, why they are so attractive and what can be done to limit their dissemination.
Both these books do all these things (and much more): Polidoro tackles the argument more from a psychological and historical perspective, while Merlan's point of view is more journalistic and more focused on the American current situation; and both authors do so without passing judgement on the people who fall victim of conspiracism, but also being very clear that in many cases there are not two sides to every story. Vaccines very emphatically do not cause autism; Hillary Clinton did not run a human trafficking and child sex ring from the basement of a DC pizzeria (in fact, the pizzeria does not even have a basement); Apollo 11 did go to the Moon and back in 1969; the trails from jet planes are not the means for spraying world population with mysterious and nefarious chemical agents; and, of course, no, Donald Trump is not a white knight who is secretly working to dismantle the pedo-satanist élite that rules the US and the world.
Both books are highly recommended, even if I'm afraid both are a bit preaching to the choir: I very much doubt that a person who sincerely believe in QAnon or in chemtrails would change her mind, even if faced with hard facts, and more importantly, I doubt that such a person would ever even read books like these. But there are always doubters, or people who simply have only ever heard the conspiracist version of reality: and to them these might be precious books indeed, and a chance to see at least some little part of the world as it really is, and not as it is is narrated by paranoid, ignorant, or worse, disingenuous manipulators.
[The final third or so of Il mondo sottosopra is dedicated to analysing and debunking the mother of all conspiracy theories: the Kennedy assassination. It would be worth buying the book for those pages alone.]
//
[Questa recensione copre sia Il mondo sottosopra, di Massimo Polidoro, che Republic of Lies, di Anna Merlan. Purtroppo il libro di Polidoro non è disponibile in inglese, e quello di Merlan non è disponibile in italiano.]
In questi tempi di negazionismo del COVID, mi sto sempre più convincendo che la diffusione del pensiero complottista sia uno dei principali problemi, se non il principale che le società avanzate devono risolvere se vogliono continuare a funzionare. Non so se è un problema risolvibile, quasi sicuramente no nel breve periodo, ma sono grato a qualunque fonte possa almeno aiutare a definire e descrivere da dove vengono le teorie del complotto, perché sono così attraenti, e che cosa si può fare per cercare di limitare la loro circolazione.
Entrambi i libri riescono a fare tutte queste cose (e molto di più): quello di Polidoro affronta l'argomento da una prospettiva più psicologica e storica, mentre il punto di vista di Merlan è più giornalistico, e più centrato sulla situazione attuale in America; inoltre, entrambi gli autori riescono ad affrontare l'argomento senza giudicare le persone vittime del cospirazionismo, ma essendo estremamente chiari su una cosa: in molti casi non ci sono due versioni ugualmente valide di una vicenda. I vaccini, senza alcuna ombra di dubbio, non provocano l'autismo; Hillary Clinton non gestiva una rete di traffico di esseri umani e di prostituzione minorile dalla cantina di una pizzeria di Washington DC (anche perché quella pizzeria non ha una cantina); Apollo 11 è andata sulla Luna ed è tornata sulla Terra nel 1969; le scie dei jet non sono strumenti per irrorare il mondo con misteriose e malefiche sostanze chimiche; e ovviamente, no, Donald Trump non è un guerriero della luce che sta lavorando in segreto per sconfiggere la cricca pedo-satanista che governa gli Stati Uniti e il mondo.
Raccomando calorosamente entrambi i libri, anche se temo che entrambi corrano il rischio di predicare ai convertiti: dubito sinceramente che una persona che crede davvero a QAnon o alle scie chimiche possa cambiare idea se messa davanti ai fatti, e anzi, credo che non vorrebbe mai nemmeno avvicinarsi a un libro come questi. Ma c'è sempre qualcuno che ha dei dubbi, o semplicemente che ha avuto accesso solo alla versione complottista della realtà: e per persone del genere questi potrebbero essere libri davvero preziosi, una possibilità di vedere almeno una piccola parte del mondo per come è davvero, e non per come viene raccontata da paranoici, ignoranti o, peggio, manipolatori in malafede.
[La parte finale di Il mondo sottosopra è dedicata ad analizzare e smontare pezzo per pezzo la madre di tutte le teorie di complotto: l'assassinio Kennedy. Vale la pena acquistare il libro anche solo per quelle pagine.]
informative
My favorite conspiracy theory is that everything will be okay.
“There are no immediately obvious, foolproof brakes available. There is no mechanism to prevent another Edgar Welch storming into a pizza place or another James Fields getting behind the wheel, speeding toward Heather Heyer. Welch’s fiancée and his closest friends couldn’t talk him out of taking that drive. People who have journeyed to the dangerous far end of conspiratorial extremism are not amenable to the reason that might resonate with the rest of us. Countering an idea that has taken root is incredibly hard. Studies suggest that trying to argue someone out of a conspiratorial belief does not work, likening conspiracy theories to religious faith, which helps us see how they can be similarly fixed in the mind.”
“There are no immediately obvious, foolproof brakes available. There is no mechanism to prevent another Edgar Welch storming into a pizza place or another James Fields getting behind the wheel, speeding toward Heather Heyer. Welch’s fiancée and his closest friends couldn’t talk him out of taking that drive. People who have journeyed to the dangerous far end of conspiratorial extremism are not amenable to the reason that might resonate with the rest of us. Countering an idea that has taken root is incredibly hard. Studies suggest that trying to argue someone out of a conspiratorial belief does not work, likening conspiracy theories to religious faith, which helps us see how they can be similarly fixed in the mind.”
Absolutely compelling, and an essential read for anyone interested in American conspiracy theories.
A great primer on relavant pervasive conspiracy and conspiracy theories
informative
reflective
medium-paced