Media-studies scholars can cross from studying conspiracy theories to spreading them
Evidence
A father of four, James Tracy was for many years a professor of media studies at Florida Atlantic University. A syllabus for one of Tracy’s classes shows a very thoughtful reading list about the role of conspiracy theories in public life and conspiracy panics—the periodic sense we get in the United States that conspiracies are swamping us, taking over, and warping reality. But something changed for Tracy, and he went from teaching a syllabus related to conspiracy theories to spreading some of the most egregious ones. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 404
Categorization
- QUESTION: The chapter never explains the internal mechanism of Tracy’s conversion — what tipped him from analyst to believer? That unanswered psychological arc is worth chasing.
- XREF: Parallels the researcher’s persona risk in the essays in A Memoir of My Former Self about writing’s dangers — expertise does not immunize one from the object of study. — connects to: Conspiracy theories can be generated about conspiracy theorists themselves. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 958; Left-wing researchers and right-wing media both treated an open campaign as a conspiracy — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 786; Purportedly objective scholarship can function as propaganda against its subject — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 801 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Purportedly objective scholarship can function as propaganda against its subject
#corroborates(0.90) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 801 - Left-wing researchers and right-wing media both treated an open campaign as a conspiracy
#exemplifies(0.85) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 786 - Scholarly theoretical lenses can actively conceal social reality rather than reveal it
#corroborates(0.82) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3491