Conspiracy films provide real-world theorists validating proof for their paranoia

Evidence

The fi lm’s conversion of its seemingly lunatic central character into a seer illuminating the dark side of American life clearly resonated with at least one real-world conspiracy theorist. Michael A. Hoffman II, a Holocaust denier and exponent of multiple conspiracy theories, seemed to fi nd personal vindication as well as a convincing conspiratorial message. The fi lm was, he writes, “a new revelation … which restores credibility to the investigators and validates their concerns.” He acknowledges Gibson’s wild, delusional ideas but concentrates on the awareness that while “much of what he says is nonsense … the kernel of truth is so potentially lethal that it justifi es his paranoia.” — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 218

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘kernel of truth despite nonsense’ reasoning is the signature move of belief perseverance studied across this book’s conspiracy literature. — connects to: Conspiracy worldviews build their plausibility on real, verified forms of abuse — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 248; A TV hoax became real to conspiracy theorists who adopted it — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 314; Conspiracists read mainstream films as secretly encoded Illuminati messages — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 201
• SEED: Angle: how entertainment that humanizes a paranoid protagonist can function as inadvertent propaganda, rehabilitating the very categories we normally dismiss.