A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America (Comparative Studies in Religion & Society) [Paperback]

Michael Barkun is a Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University whose research speciality is the social history of fringe belief systems outside the mainstream. His previously published works include `Disaster and the Millennium' (1986) and `Religion and the Racist Right' (1997).

In `A Culture of Conspiracy' Barkun has written an excellent (if short and incomplete) academic study on the origins and history of grand conspiracy theories and their eventual dissemination into contemporary American society. He documents the origins of CTs to be variously: self-published pamphlets by single obscure individuals in the pre-internet age; flamboyant exaggerations (by two British women writers in the 1800s) of the significance of the brief appearance of Adam Weishaupt's small self-styled `Bavarian Illuminati' group in the 1780s - retrospectively painted as anti-Royalist, socialist bogey-men who `masterminded' the French Revolution; and blatant forgeries like `The Protocols of the Elders of Zion' which even today, in some quarters, are still given credence as real (makes you despair of humanity, don't it?).

Barkun's essay covers the process whereby these fringe ideas, initially held by a tiny number of believers on the edges of society, gradually cross-pollinated, wove together and broke into the mainstream to become, in the current century, a more visible polyglot of sub-cultures populated by those who seek simplistic and overarching narratives to explain historical events. What the phenomenon is not, for example, is a specific political leader's documented deceit about the presence of WMD in Iraq in 2003, or the notorious 1964 `Gulf of Tonkin' incidents: these are not really `conspiracies', just the everyday reality of political subterfuge in the modern world. CT `superconspiracies,' by contrast, postulate a universe dominated by scheming evil-doers who control our minds and oversee everything that moves. It has been said by others - though not by Barkun - that the superficially odd belief-system about a cabal of evil-doers conspiring to bring about a `New World Order' on Earth to serve themselves and enslave everyone else is in fact a direct descendant of, and substitute for, the narrative of Satan plotting to rule the Earth which did so well for centuries in creating a bogey-man for a supine population to fear and rail against, but which in these more enlightened and secular times needs updating.

Barkun defines his terms thus:

"The essence of CT beliefs lies in attempts to delineate and explain evil...at their broadest, CTs view history as controlled by massive, demonic forces." (p3). If you have been personally exposed to the incoherent ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, you will recognise Barkun's essential list of CT characteristics:

1. Nothing happens by accident: accident and coincidence have been removed, a fantasy world far more coherent than the real world

2. Nothing is what it seems: the great conspirators deceive in order to disguise their IDs and intentions (so they can therefore be made into whatever you choose to believe)

3. Everything is connected: because the CT world has no room for accident, pattern is believed to be everywhere ...hence the conspiracy theorist must engage in a constant process of linkage to map the hidden connections

The author further categorises CTs into three distinct types:

1. Event conspiracies, focusing on a single event like the 1963 JFK assassination

2. Systemic conspiracies, focusing on the imagined machinations of identifiable groups like the Jews, the Masons or the RC Church

3. The aforementioned `superconspiracies' in which event-conspiracies are nested inside greater systemic conspiracies, with an overarching group of super-conspirators at the apex, puppet-masters who supposedly control the course of history

Barkun quotes Richard Hofsdater's classic 1965 work `The Paranoid Style in American Politics' where the author points out that conspiracist literature mimics the habit of source citation found in mainstream academic scholarship in order to court legitimacy, but:

"...CTs are at heart non-falsifiable...they resist traditional canons of proof because they reduce highly complex phenomena to simple causes...belief ultimately becomes a matter of faith rather than proof."

The author names the eclectic, pick-and-mix character of many contemporary conspiracist beliefs "improvisational millennialism". New World Order conspiracy beliefs (pervasive government mind-control, and control of the financial system, as a prelude to the introduction of a fascist-socialist global super-state) through the 1960s and 1970s were confined to the fringes of right-wing evangelicals and the extreme political right like neo-Nazis, arm-yourself-and-lay-down-food-stocks `survivalists' and members of the John Birch Society. This started to change in the 1980s, when `superconspiracy' ideologies began to incorporate a range of organizations like the Bilderburgers, the Trilateral Commission, the `sinister and controlling UN' which was `planning to invade America from Canada by the year 2000' and incarcerate potential dissenters in concentration camps managed by FEMA, and beliefs in a secret satanic cabal running the world. The author then documents the complex process of how in the 1980s these ideas finally began to infiltrate the `UFO community': around 70% of Americans believe UFOs are not made by human agencies, and 15% of the population have experienced a sighting, so this group was larger, more significant and socially respectable. Promoted by alternative messiah-figures like David Icke and the notorious plagiarist, pathological liar and gun-obsessive Milton William Cooper, traditionally marginalised CTs were blended with (possibly legitimate) concerns about `government cover-ups' of the UFO issue. New-Ageism, environmentalism and advocacy for non-mainstream medicine then entered the `cultic milieu' to give birth to new improvised subcultures where belief in alternative worldviews were exposed to a wider audience. At heart, Barkun is a social scientist and an astute one.

Barkun also discourses on the phenomenon of `stigmatised knowledge:' junk-science ideas of a hollow-Earth containing a subterranean race of evil reptilians as expounded by science-fiction comic-book writers Shaver and Palmer in the 1940s, and the subsequent adoption of this fiction as real by some CT promoters; and how the proliferation of multiple post-9/11 CTs inevitably obey the predictable rules event-CTs always follow. There is a chapter focussing on systemic CTs which target the Jews, the Masons and the RC Church. The phenomenon of `fact-fiction reversal' is discussed, whereby if a CT believer sees something in a Hollywood movie which they feel vindicates their belief-ideology, they cite it as evidence: for example, David Icke (Barkun pays Icke a lot of attention in the book, and has clearly read all Icke's works) citing the TV series `V' as proof that the Earth is secretly controlled by scheming malignant reptilian space aliens disguised as humans, so placing said fictional reptilian aliens at the apex of a superconspiracy as a variant of the `New World Order puppet-masters-controlling-the-world' narrative.

As another reviewer points out, a useful addition to the book might have been a short essay on critical thinking skills, so transparently absent from CT ideologies. However, Barkun's book is not a polemic: it's an academic study, analysing the defining characteristics of a social phenomenon in the modern age.

Barkun packs a lot in. His writing style is highly literate, and readers unfamiliar with the academic style might find his essay hard going. My advice would be: read it slowly and take your time; the book runs to only 189 pages excluding notes, bibliography and index and the effort is well worth it.

Michael Barkun is a professor of political science who studies fringe groups, usually on the far right. His most well known book is perhaps "Religion and the racist right", in which Barkun details the origins and strange beliefs of the Christian Identity movement. "A culture of conspiracy" is a broader book, which tries to make sense of the conspiracist and millenarian subcultures in general. The book succeeds quite well in its task, especially taking into consideration that the subject is vast and very unwieldy!

"A culture of conspiracy" is both a scholarly analysis of contemporary conspiracy beliefs, and an overview of the most important conspiracy writers. David Icke is prominently featured. Barkun then attempts to back track the conspiracy theories to their original sources, a task easier said than done.

One of Barkun's main points is that contemporary conspiracism and millennialism are highly eclectic, a phenomenon he calls "improvisational millennialism". Until the 1980's, millennialism was usually connected to very specific movements or ideologies, such as evangelical Christianity, Marxism or nationalism. Also, New World Order conspiracy beliefs were for a long time associated with a special kind of apocalyptic Christians (such as Pat Robertson) or with fringe groups on the far right (the John Birch Society, Nazis, etc). During the 1980's and the 1990's, all this changed. Today, millenarians and conspiracy believers freely use ideas from many different sources: Christianity, New Age, UFO beliefs, anti-Semitism, or the far right in general. Some even believe in a "fake" millennium, a phoney apocalypse staged by the conspirators! Nor are conspiracists necessarily connected to a sharply delineated organization. Rather, a whole subculture has developed, to a large extent fuelled by the Internet, where ideas can float around freely and make themselves felt without any organized movement at all.

The most important development, according to Barkun, has been the introduction of New World Order beliefs (typical of the far right) into the UFO subculture, which tends to be apolitical and less stigmatized. By connecting their conspiracy theories with a belief in UFOs, far right-wing authors have gained a broader audience than previously possible. By a curious process, this blend of conspiracy theory and UFO beliefs then re-entered the conspiracist milieu, in the form of superconspiracies with space aliens at the apex. It should be noted that the UFO subculture is well established in the United States, and that millions of Americans take UFOs seriously. Also, many believe that the government known more about the UFOs than they are letting on. Indeed, it's remarkable that it took the conspiracists so long to discover this fertile ground!

New Age ideas have also been combined with conspiracy beliefs. And New Age is a broad subculture with a certain degree of social respectability. By blending into the UFO and New Age milieus, millenarians and conspiracists can mainstream their ideas and take them to new audiences. The Australian magazine Nexus (which has an international circulation) takes exactly this approach. The magazine freely blends New World Order ideas with UFOs, "alternative" science, spirituality, and so on. Barkun also mentions the remarkable fact, that conspiracy beliefs have become part of mainstream culture. One example out of many is the popular movie "The X Files", where the obscure far right-wing idea that FEMA is an important part of the world conspiracy is introduced to a potential audience of millions. (Other examples not mentioned by the author are the TV series "Dark Skies" and "First Wave". Of course, "The X Files" were originally a TV series as well.)

Further, the author discusses the general character of conspiracy beliefs. In contrast to regular religious believers, conspiracists don't demand that their views be taken simply on faith. Rather, their approach is seemingly empirical: by presenting a load of purported facts, they actually attempt to prove that the conspiracy exists. Often, conspiracist tracts mimic the apparatus of scholarly works (footnotes, references) and look well researched. Indeed, conspiracists have a love-hate relationship with the academic world. On the one hand, universities are seen as part of the conspiracy, since they deny or don't care about conspiracy theories. On the other hand, conspiracists mimic the outer strappings of academic works, as if they wanted to become part of the academic milieu themselves. (Incidentally, this love-hate relationship to academe seems to be typical of "alternative" groups in general. It's also common that religious groups attempt to sound scientific, while actually rejecting the methods of modern science.)

As Barkun is at pains to point out, however, the empirical foundation of the conspiracy beliefs is actually very shaky and elusive. Often, the various authors simply quote each other! This cross referencing is also extremely common on the Internet, where the sheer number of times a certain rumour appears is taken as validation. At a certain point, a leap of faith is necessary to believe the conspiracy theories. I noticed this phenomenon when reading David Icke's earlier books, which present both real conspiracies, possible conspiracies, and completely absurd claims. Perhaps the existence of the two former makes it easier to take that leap of faith and also believe the latter?

That conspiracy theories aren't really based in empirical facts is also shown by a curious phenomenon Barkun dubs fact-fiction reversal. Novels, movies and even hoaxes might be interpreted as true, and hence as "empirical proof" that the conspiracy theory is real. This kind of thinking is indeed very widespread, and I suppose it's a necessary corollary to the idea that the world is in the thrall of a gigantic conspiracy. If "facts" are merely illusions, why can't fiction actually be fact? Barkun mentions several examples of science fiction stories that have been interpreted as true by conspiracy believers, including Bulwer-Lytton's novel "Vril: The Power of the Coming Race" and the Shaver Mystery (which may have been inspired by the ravings of a lunatic who actually believed in aliens). Another example, which I think Barkun misses, is David Icke's reference to the series "V" as proof that the world is indeed under attack by reptilians posing as humans. Even hoaxes can be accepted as genuine. I don't think Barkun mentions "Report from Iron Mountain" - actually a parody of conspiracy beliefs but accepted as true by many conspiracy believers - but he does mention an April Fool's hoax shown on British television, "Alternative 3". It seems conspiracists have a pretty strange view of what counts as an empirical fact!

"A culture of conspiracy" might be too tedious and detailed for the general reader. It's easy to get lost in this unwieldy, eclectic world. Barkun painstakingly tracks down the origins of even the strangest notions, and these often turn out to be obscure self-published pamphlets. Some of them can't even be dated with certainty. However, for those seriously interested in New Religious Movements or fringe politics, this book is a must.

Five stars.

The greatest pleasure in thought arises from: anything which puts responsibility/blame on a few (preferably mythical entities) and makes the rest of us irresponsible, yet free.