Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power in The Majority Report Podcast Goodreads Group

Jul 01, 2019 Jacob rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, politics, history, sociology, digital, zgarland-lib, zrichardson-lib, american-history, narrative-nonfiction

Buried deep within most conspiracy theories is some element of truth, that's why almost all of us are conspiracy theorists, at least on one thing or another. Merlan explores some of the bigger conspiracy theories and the history that might make you a little more sympathetic to some of them. Especially interesting were the chapters on race: the bombing of the levees in New Orleans in the 20's leading to the conspiracy taking hold that they were bombed again during Katrina... And why not. The hurr Buried deep within most conspiracy theories is some element of truth, that's why almost all of us are conspiracy theorists, at least on one thing or another. Merlan explores some of the bigger conspiracy theories and the history that might make you a little more sympathetic to some of them. Especially interesting were the chapters on race: the bombing of the levees in New Orleans in the 20's leading to the conspiracy taking hold that they were bombed again during Katrina... And why not. The hurricane and subsequent gentrification of New Orleans was a quintessential example of the shock doctrine.

Even more disturbing was the chapter about medical conspiracies. Not the conspiracies themselves (even though they are quite harmful in many cases), but the origin. The government's experiments on unwilling participants or people is frightening. Combined with our capitalist system of commodifying medicine, it's not hard to see why someone would fear the doctor.

Among the other compelling parts, we see the other end of these silly conspiracy theories. One of the Sandy Hook parents who is harassed incessantly. In one of the most chilling lines, a demented former professor demands that his child's be dug up from his grave to prove he's not a "crisis actor". Still, it's clear that this would not satisfy him, it just shakes you to your core to realize that the Sandy Hook parents had their children killed in one of the most tragic and horrifying events in modern US history only to have to deal with these people for the past seven years of twisted perpetual hell. It should be noted, shortly before this book came out, one of the parents of a Sandy Hook victim and one of the claimants on the defamation lawsuit against Alex Jones, committed suicide.

Basically every conspiracy in this book stems from government secrecy. As unreasonable (maniacal in some cases) as many of the conspiracists are, we the people should demand a transparent government that doesn't periodically have to apologize for trying to do mind control, psyops, false-flags, medical experimentation on unwilling participants, bomb levees and flood poor neighborhoods, lock people in concentration camps, and treats people humanely so they don't decide to pin all their problems on something like Jews or immigrants. ...more

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