Why do Americans believe conspiracy theories? Misinformation is threatening the U.S.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories have been part of American politics since at least the presidential election of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

Then, and throughout most of our political history since, rumors, half-truths and outright lies were spread to a relatively small percentage of mostly literate citizens. Indeed, the term “fake news” was first used in the 1890s to describe sensational newspaper reports. With the advent of radio and television in the 20th Century, potential audiences grew, but news outlets tried hard to validate the information they offered and the general public generally trusted their content.

Today we live in a different communications universe. Talk radio, cable television, the 24-hour news cycle, the internet, and social media expose us to an overwhelming number of sources purporting to provide us with news and analysis — much of it false. The result has been a dramatic rise in the public’s awareness and consumption of conspiracy theories and fake news. And now many of us interact only with those outlets that share our own views and values, resulting in dramatic political polarization, or “siloization.”

Fake news and conspiracy theories are not just an American phenomenon. State actors have used them to weaken governments and influence elections all over the world. The current Russian invasion of Ukraine is at least partially based on the false narrative that Ukraine was home to neo-Nazis threatening the very existence of Russia.

On May 26, the Columbia Basin Badger Club will present an online forum featuring Dr. Seth Weinberger, professor of politics and government at the University of Puget Sound, who has studied these phenomena closely. He will discuss what makes people believe fake news and conspiracy theories. What factors lead individuals to be predisposed to believe — and even act on as in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol ― such ideas? Does the explosion of misinformation and conspiracy theories threaten the health of our republic?

Seth Weinberger is a specialist in international relations and security. His research includes examining congressional-executive war powers and reconsidering the laws of war in the armed conflict against ISIS and al Qaeda. He is a regular speaker on international conflict, including topics such as the 2015 Paris attack, Arab Spring, and War on Terror. Weinberger is author of Restoring the Balance: War Powers in an Age of Terror (Praeger Press, 2010), which provides a policy-based exploration of the question of war powers in the age of international terror.

His academic degrees include a BA from the University of Chicago; a masters from Georgetown University; and a Ph.D. from Duke University.

The Badger Club program is based on a class Weinberger developed for his UPS students in 2020. He felt it is essential for citizens of a democratic community to be able to identify the psychological, social, and political factors that lead to belief in misinformation, how to critically evaluate news sources for bias and reliability, to explain why political elites intentionally disseminate misinformation, and to understand how to advance their own arguments.

Weinberger has also studied and written about the incongruencies between the original intentions of the Founding Fathers and Supreme Court rulings and the actions of Congress and the president. His expertise in this area should shed some interesting light on the upcoming Supreme Court decision on abortion rights.

This Badger Club program will be presented on Zoom at noon on Thursday, May 26. Go to www.columbiabasinbadgers.com to register. The program is free for Badger Club members and $5 for non-members.