Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat

by Derek Beres

The problem is not just communications. Conspiritualists intent on undermining the credibility of scientific institutions on COVID did not have to look far for fair evidence. They could point to the racist medical atrocity at Tuskegee, doctors in the 1950s paid to endorse cigarettes, the US military pouring Agent Orange over the jungle canopies of Vietnam, or Merck scientists hiding the cardiac risk factors of Vioxx. They could flag egregious errors committed by respected members of the medical establishment and perpetuated for generations—such as the eugenicist attitudes that generated diagnoses like feeble-mindedness in the early days of clinical psychology.