Here's how to debunk disinformation, conspiracy

By David Cason / For The Conversation

I teach a course at the University of North Dakota on debunking conspiracy theories. What prompted the idea for the course?

I am interested in how people internalize or learn about political beliefs they go on to adopt. This interest coincided with my concerns about the seeming ease with which some far-right conservatives and supporters of former President Donald Trump peddled patently bogus conspiracies about election fraud in 2020.

One of the outcomes of these schemes was Trump supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Sadly, the belief that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has remained one core element of the Trump 2024 campaign. I remembered the work of historian Richard Hofstadter, who coined the term the “paranoid style” in politics in a Harper’s Magazine essay in 1964. His main idea was that some politicians were using fear and a paranoid style of thinking to sway voters. They refused to accept the current state of society and wanted to make it appear that there was a looming threat to the country.

Hofstadter’s work was prompted by the actions of an extreme right-wing movement called the John Birch Society. I had a feeling of déjà vu with Trump.

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