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Durham E-Theses Durham E-Theses Truth, Conspiracy Theorists, and Theories: An Ethnographic Study of Truth-Seeking in Contemporary Britain TOSELAND, NICHOLAS,RONALD,EDWIN How to cite: TOSELAND, NICHOLAS,RONALD,EDWIN (2019) Truth, Conspiracy Theorists, and Theories: An Ethnographic Study of Truth-Seeking in Contemporary Britain, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/13147/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Truth, “Conspiracy Theorists”, and Theories: An Ethnographic Study of “Truth- Seeking” in Contemporary Britain Nicholas R. E. Toseland Abstract This thesis is an ethnographic study of a culture comprised of real-life “conspiracy theorists” living in contemporary Britain, based on fieldwork undertaken in 2014-2016. Within much popular and academic discourse, “conspiracy theorist” is a pejorative label that invokes a delusional person who subscribes to distortive, dangerous, and disempowering ideas; these assumptions are justified by viewing such ideas as unwarranted knowledge-claims. This thesis challenges these assumptions by turning instead to a cultural context in which such ideas are fully warranted, using a multi-sited method of participant observation and interviewing to provide a qualitative study of the so-called “Truth Movement”. While this “movement” is shown to lack formal status or structure, I argue that the (un-)likeminded affiliates of this uneasy collective are united by a shared orientation of “truth-seeking”. Across three separate sites, “truth-seekers” wrestle with common ideas, discovering empowering truths amidst a wider world they commonly perceive as conspired by a hidden, malign elite. Interviews reveal what this world looks like from the insider perspective, including the “waking up” narratives of conversion into this subjectively-plausible alternative outlook. In the chapter focussing on alternative health, I argue that “conspiracy theories”, and potential solutions, are embodied in everyday experiences and practices. I investigate the significance of “false- flag” theories about the 9/11 attacks for modern truth-seekers. The internal conflicts of the truth movement are explored in the more contentious fields of the “flat earth” theories, and “freeman” theories about the legal system, where I argue that these topics reveal the essential attraction of contemporary “conspiracy theory”: the recurring affirmation of the sacred character of humankind. 1 Truth, “Conspiracy Theorists”, and Theories: An Ethnographic Study of “Truth-Seeking” in Contemporary Britain Nicholas R. E. Toseland Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Theology and Religion Thesis Submitted to Durham University 2018 2 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Title Page ...................................................................................................................................... 2 Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... 3 Declaration.................................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 5 1.0 Chapter One: Introduction ................................................................................................ 10 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................... 10 1.2 The Pejorative Force of “Conspiracy Theory” and “Conspiracy Theorist” ........ 12 1.2.1. Dangerous, Distortive, and Disabling........................................................ 13 1.2.2. An Unwarranted Generalisation? .............................................................. 17 1.3 An Alternative Approach: Conspiracy Narratives as Religious Phenomena ...... 18 1.4 Working Definitions of Key Terms ..................................................................... 20 1.5 Thesis Outline ...................................................................................................... 23 2.0 Chapter Two: Methodology................................................................................................ 26 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 26 2.2 Thesis Aims and Research Questions .................................................................. 26 2.3 Research Framework ........................................................................................... 27 2.3.1. Social Constructivism .............................................................................. 27 2.3.2. Etic and Emic ........................................................................................... 28 2.3.3. A “Playful” Approach to Truth: Methodological Ludism ....................... 30 2.4 Research Methods ............................................................................................... 32 2.4.1. Ethnography ............................................................................................. 32 2.4.2. Multi-Sited Method .................................................................................. 32 2.4.3. Participant Observation ............................................................................ 34 2.4.4. Interviews ................................................................................................. 35 2.4.5. Discourse and Documents........................................................................ 36 2.4.6. Netnography ............................................................................................. 36 2.5 The Research Process .......................................................................................... 37 2.5.1. Sample Selection: Field Sites ................................................................... 37 3 2.5.2. Data Analysis ........................................................................................... 39 2.5.3. Ethical Considerations ............................................................................. 39 3.0 Chapter Three: A Primer in “Conspiracy Theory” with David Icke ............................. 41 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Icke’s Plot ............................................................................................................ 42 3.3 The Essence of Conspiracy ................................................................................ 43 2.3.1. Nothing happens by Accident: Design and Control ................................. 43 2.3.2. Nefarious Purposes: Evil versus Good .................................................... 45 2.3.3. Nothing happens by accident: Deception and Secrecy ............................ 47 2.3.4. Everything is Connected .......................................................................... 47 3.4 Preliminary Conclusions .................................................................................... 49 4.0 Chapter Four: To what extent does the “Truth Movement” resemble an actual Movement? .......................................................................................................................... 51 4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 51 4.2 A (so-called) Truth Movement? .......................................................................... 53 4.2.1. The (9/11) Truth Movement that Stopped Existing ................................. 54 4.2.2. Introducing the Truth-Seekers ................................................................. 57 4.2.3. “Free-Thinking” Truth-Seekers ............................................................... 59 4.2.4. An Emic Typology: “The Sane”, “the Unsane”, and “the Insane” .......... 61 4.3 A Site of the Cultic Milieu ................................................................................. 65 4.3.1. Truthjuice Hull, Open Mic Night ............................................................. 65 4.3.2. The Cultic Milieu ..................................................................................... 68 4.3.3. Identity and Belonging: Networks and Webs .......................................... 69 4.3.4. Public Enactment and Private Belonging................................................. 71 4.3.5. Truth Movement as an Invisible Church of Mysticism ........................... 73 4.4 Conspiracy Unbound: Strands of Influence ........................................................ 73 4.4.1.
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