r atin • • 1r1 lit nowledge and Empowerment on the David Icke Discussion Forum Niels de Jong Master thesis for the research master Religion & Culture 1 February 2013 First Advisor: Kocku.von Stuckrad (University of Groningen) Second Advisor: Stef Aupers (Erasmus University Rotterdam) NIELS DE JONG Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1 Research questions ................................................................................................................ 9 1.2 Sociology of knowledge ...................................................................................................... 10 1.3 Preliminary definitions ........................................................................................................ 11 1.4 Davidicke.com/forum .......................................................................................................... 15 1.5 Method ................................................................................................................................ 16 1.5.1 Lurking ......................................................................................................................... 17 1.5.2 Ethics ............................................................................................................................ 17 1.5.3 Selecting the data .......................................................................................................... 19 1.5 .4 Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 21 1.6 David Icke: a conspirituality guru ....................................................................................... 22 1. 7 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 26 2. Understanding conspirituality ................................................................................................... 29 2.1 Conspiracy theories: a literary overview ............................................................................. 31 2.2 New Age spirituality ........................................................................................................... 38 2.3 Conspirituality ..................................................................................................................... 41 2.3.1 Cultic milieu ................................................................................................................. 43 2.3.2 Stigmatized knowledge claims ..................................................................................... 45 2.3.3 Improvisational millennialism ...................................................................................... 48 2.4 Understanding conspirituality through the discourse of the esoteric .................................. 50 3. Legitimation through science .................................................................................................... 57 3 .1 Scientistic rationality ........................................................................................................... 59 2 CREATING CONSPIRITUAL/TY 3.1.1 Providing evidence ....................................................................................................... 59 3.1.2 "Connecting the dots" ................................................................................................... 61 3.2 Scientistic terminology ........................................................................................................ 64 3.2.1 Methodological scientism ............................................................................................. 64 3.2.2 Content-based scientism ............................................................................................... 73 3.3 Scientistic theories ............................................................................................................... 76 3.3.1 Natural sciences ............................................................................................................ 77 3.3.2 Psychology .................................................................................................................... 79 4. Legitimation through personal experience ................................................................................ 85 4.1 First person narratives ......................................................................................................... 87 4.1.2 Personal experience as legitimizing force .................................................................... 87 4.1.2 Privileged experience ................................................................................................... 90 4.2 Third person narratives ........................................................................................................ 94 4.3 Second person narratives ..................................................................................................... 97 4.3.1 Sharing knowledge ....................................................................................................... 98 4.3.2 Practical advice ............................................................................................................. 99 4.3.3 Awakening .................................................................................................................. 100 5. Legitimation through dualism ................................................................................................. 104 5 .1 Dualistic historical imagination ........................................................................................ 105 5.2 Dualistic traditions ............................................................................................................ 109 5.3 Dualistic sources ............................................................................................................... 113 6. Conclusion: Knowledge and Empowerment on the David Icke forum .................................. 122 6.1 Hammer's categories and the fluidity of the esoteric discourse ........................................ 122 6.2 The empowering effect of knowledge creation ................................................................. 124 3 NIELS DE JONG 6.2.1 Democratization of knowledge: empowerment of the individual .............................. 124 6.2.2 Empowerment through community ............................................................................ 125 6.2.3 Empowerment through dualism .................................................................................. 127 6.3 Further research ................................................................................................................. 129 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 131 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................... 140 4 CREATING CONSPIR/TUAL/TY Preface Before I started the project of which this written piece is the final result, I was told that a master thesis is both ''just a big paper" and "your worst nightmare." Graduated students told me that I would love and hate my thesis at the same time. I found out they were right. Having written many papers and essays over the course of my study, as well as a bachelor thesis, I considered myself well prepared and ready to take on a project that would be my master thesis. But nothing could prepare me for a project that took me more than 1.5 year to finish and of which the result would cover almost 150 pages. Choosing a subject with which I was relatively familiar, conspiracy theories on the Internet, I soon found out that there is a significant difference between reading about conspiracy theories on discussion forums for entertainment, and studying this phenomenon with academic tools. Despite the ever-growing literature on online research methods, its approaches are as diffuse as the Internet itself. Despite the ever-growing academic interest in conspiracy theories, comprehensive studies to this phenomenon are still limited with regard to their material as well as their interpretations. And on top of these limitations, the topic I became most interested in, namely the spiritual side of conspiracy theories, has hardly been researched in an academic setting. On many levels, this academic undertaking felt like a pioneer study. I had to familiarize myself with the methods, modes of analysis, and previous research on the subject, while at the same time employing these academic approaches to the field under scrutiny. Because of the versatility of the subject I have chosen I was forced to elaborate on the academic discussions in various fields of research. Where possible, I limited myself to the basic consensus on the topic. When consensus is not yet established these topics required a more elaborated discussion, such as the approaches to conspiracy theories and the concept of esotericism. Besides the need for a discussion of the literature, in order to answer my research question it was also necessary to provide lengthy quotes from the discussion forum as