LOCAL NATIONAL
AN ERA OF POLITICAL CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Exploring how conspiracy theory groups enable the spread of misinformation and how it plays a role in politics of past and present. WORDS BY TYLER STRACHAN | ART BY AMANDA O’BRIEN
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onspiracy theories are usually defined as a belief that some covert, but influential organization is responsible for certain events. They influence many individuals and could even be considered quite common. Furthermore, conspiracy theories have always had some influence in politics. Some famous conspiracies include faking the moon landing, that Lee Harvey Oswald
didn’t act alone in assassinating former President John F. Kennedy, the belief in the Illuminati, and the birther conspiracy that President Barack Obama isn’t a U.S. citizen. More recently, there has been a rise in the beliefs surrounding QAnon, along with the widely circulated belief that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax. QAnon is an umbrella term for multiple conspiracy theories that all lead back to one principle
theory: The world is run by a set of elites including celebrities, top Democrats, and prominent religious figures who are all Satan-worshipping pedophiles. According to a description from The New York Times, QAnon follows the idea that Donald Trump was elected president to break up this pedophile ring and bring forth justice. QAnon began in 2017 and has evolved over the years. DRAKE POLITICAL REVIEW
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