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A Lot of People Are Saying : The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy / Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Description: 1 online resource (232 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691188836
  • 9780691190068
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 320.973 23
LOC classification:
  • JK275 .M85 2020
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Introduction -- SECTION I. THE NEW CONSPIRACISM -- 1. Conspiracy without the Theory -- 2. It's True Enough -- 3. Presidential Conspiracism -- SECTION II. DELEGITIMATING DEMOCRACY -- 4. Political Parties -- 5. Knowledge -- 6. Who Owns Reality? -- SECTION III. DEFENDING DEMOCRACY -- 7. Speaking Truth -- Conclusion. THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY -- NOTES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INDEX
Summary: How the new conspiracists are undermining democracy-and what can be done about itConspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new-conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum show how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.Classic conspiracy theory insists that things are not what they seem and gathers evidence-especially facts ominously withheld by official sources-to tease out secret machinations. The new conspiracism is different. There is no demand for evidence, no dots revealed to form a pattern, no close examination of shadowy plotters. Dispensing with the burden of explanation, the new conspiracism imposes its own reality through repetition (exemplified by the Trump catchphrase "a lot of people are saying") and bare assertion ("rigged!").The new conspiracism targets democratic foundations-political parties and knowledge-producing institutions. It makes it more difficult to argue, persuade, negotiate, compromise, and even to disagree. Ultimately, it delegitimates democracy.Filled with vivid examples, A Lot of People Are Saying diagnoses a defining and disorienting feature of today's politics and offers a guide to responding to the threat.

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Introduction -- SECTION I. THE NEW CONSPIRACISM -- 1. Conspiracy without the Theory -- 2. It's True Enough -- 3. Presidential Conspiracism -- SECTION II. DELEGITIMATING DEMOCRACY -- 4. Political Parties -- 5. Knowledge -- 6. Who Owns Reality? -- SECTION III. DEFENDING DEMOCRACY -- 7. Speaking Truth -- Conclusion. THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY -- NOTES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- INDEX

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How the new conspiracists are undermining democracy-and what can be done about itConspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new-conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum show how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, why so few officials speak truth to conspiracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.Classic conspiracy theory insists that things are not what they seem and gathers evidence-especially facts ominously withheld by official sources-to tease out secret machinations. The new conspiracism is different. There is no demand for evidence, no dots revealed to form a pattern, no close examination of shadowy plotters. Dispensing with the burden of explanation, the new conspiracism imposes its own reality through repetition (exemplified by the Trump catchphrase "a lot of people are saying") and bare assertion ("rigged!").The new conspiracism targets democratic foundations-political parties and knowledge-producing institutions. It makes it more difficult to argue, persuade, negotiate, compromise, and even to disagree. Ultimately, it delegitimates democracy.Filled with vivid examples, A Lot of People Are Saying diagnoses a defining and disorienting feature of today's politics and offers a guide to responding to the threat.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Jun 2021)