The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

What Is a ‘Conspiracy Theory’?

Posted on | August 26, 2024 | Comments Off on What Is a ‘Conspiracy Theory’?

Why is Russell Brand mocking Kamala Harris? At what point did Brand, a lifelong leftist, become “right-wing,” and why? Those thoughts occurred to me after I accidentally watched a YouTube video of Brand (blame the algorithm) and then skimmed through his Wikipedia page. It appears that COVID-19 policy was the start of his shift away from leftism, as he didn’t like the vaccine mandates — a highly relevant point, given that RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine attitude was a major part of his appeal, first as a Democratic Party primary challenger to Joe Biden, then as an independent candidate, and now a Trump endorser.

It is easy to ignore or minimize or laugh off that segment of the American electorate who, in 2024, are still fuming with rage about COVID-19 policies. I mean, that was three or four years ago now and it didn’t really disrupt my life in any serious way, so why should I care? But there were many people whose lives were seriously disrupted, especially those who lived in states like New York or California where the Maximum Emergency Lockdown regime was extended far past any reasonable date, merely to soothe the fears of germophobic hypochondriacs. Some people lost jobs or had their small businesses destroyed by the dubious policies enacted in reaction to pandemic hysteria, and if 2024 is their Year of Retribution — their chance to enact some long overdue payback for all that — well, hey, awesome! Vote Trump, and let’s send Fauci to federal prison or whatever. That’s not the ax I’m grinding, however.

As I was contemplating Russell Brand’s rightward deviation, I noticed how he is now accused of “promoting conspiracy theories”:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brand’s YouTube channel underwent an increase in activity and change in political direction, and was accused of promoting COVID denial and conspiracy theories. According to culture reporter Louis Chilton, his videos are usually “framed with some sort of contrarian take or calling out hypocrisy in the mainstream media”, and often hint “at a vague, world-altering conspiracy.” . . . In March 2023, Finn McRedmond of the New Statesman . . . described Brand as having now melded his “trad-socialist values” with “all the suspicions and anxieties of the new American right.” . . .
Columnist Charlotte Lytton accused Brand of following Joe Rogan “down the rabbit hole of online misinformation” by pandering to the anti-vaccine movement and spreading pro-Russian conspiracy theories about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for example promoting unfounded claims of US bioweapon labs in Ukraine.

Permit me to point out that socialism is itself based on a conspiracy theory, a paranoid fear of “capitalism.” This is especially true of Marxism. The whole appeal of Bernie Sanders is that he panders to the anti-corporate paranoia of his supporters, and if you’ve spent any time at all with “Bernie Bros,” you know how kooky they are. So by going from a socialist/Labour perspective to embracing “all the suspicions and anxieties of the new American right,” Russell Brand did not become more paranoid. He simply shifted the focus of his paranoia, and so now he’s labeled a “conspiracy theorist.” In other words, it would seem, “conspiracy theory” is now defined as any belief that might cause someone to support Donald Trump. Funny how that works.



 

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Category: Conspiracy Theories

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