Conspiracy theories are not harmless fun—they can do much harm to society because they undermine trust in the institutions that matter the most in an emergency, such as public health agencies and local governments. In an emergency—like the current COVID pandemic—what matters is the truth. To combat an acute crisis such as COVID, or a long-term problem such as climate change, we must rely on evidence and on people who tell the truth. Fortunately, scientific research helps us understand conspiratorial thinking and how to respond.
To explain how best to respond to the epidemic of misinformation and conspiracy theories, University of Bristol professor Stephan Lewandowsky and Mason 4C professor John Cook produced The Conspiracy Theory Handbook. CONT. – pdf
Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason U.
This is a critique of the Lewandowski and Cook article written as an essay in 3 parts. I am a committed environmentalist and have been for decades. I am a 71 year old ecological economist and worked in the mental health services so have a reasonable understanding of paranoid thinking – but I also believe the world is a very unequal place with a high level of elite criminality. I also think that Lewandowski and Cook’s “model” is shot through with contradictions and slopping logic. There is a real danger that the term “conspiracy theorist” is used as a “thought stopper” and a more subtle model is needed than Lewandowski and Cook have provided. I have made known my critique to them, on the Feasta website. It took me two to three weeks to write and they have ignored it. I find this absolutely infuriating and arrogant.
https://www.feasta.org/2020/07/29/conspiracies-theories-of-conspiracy-theories-and-the-limits-to-growth/