Iconoclashes
Conspiracy theories are rife with esoteric motifs. But what do those symbols actually represent?
19367 Articles by: Ryan Switzer
Ryan Switzer is a PhD candidate in sociology at Stockholm University. He researches right-wing politics in welfare states.
The Vichy Conspiracy
In 1940, did French elites roll out the welcome mat for Nazi Germany?
Help Jacobin Hire a Rising Star of Journalism
I have ten vital projects ready to go. I need your help to bring them to the world.
Is QAnon Destroying American Democracy?
Conspiracy theories are common and dangerous, but they probably can’t explain why Americans don’t trust the government.
The X-Files: The Truth Was Out There
The classic show The X-Files celebrated and satirized America’s love of conspiracy theories before they became an all-consuming obsession. When the show returned to the air after a long gap, it had to confront a culture of paranoia that made Fox Mulder’s imagination look tame.
Aliens Built the Pyramids
Some people suspect that humanity’s greatest achievements aren’t human achievements at all. Some people suspect that humanity’s greatest achievements aren’t human achievements at all.
Urban Legends, Urban Truths
The 1998 B-list slasher film Urban Legend unleashes on its protagonists a host of horrors from the American folk canon. Some have their roots in real life.
The Family That Slays Together Stays Together
The Manson Family left a trail of bodies in 1969. No one should have been surprised.
The QAnon Shaman Speaks!
And he sounds like . . . a hippie?
Havana Syndrome Can’t Be Cured
Even the CIA has debunked “Havana syndrome” — the belief that hypersonic weapons are making American diplomats sick — but diehards in the media and Congress won’t let it go.
Conspiracy Theory Is Dead
It’s now impossible to distinguish “conspiracy theories” from the day-to-day hysteria of our era of hyperpolitics.
How Lyndon LaRouche Said Goodbye to Marxism and Hello to Crazy
Lyndon LaRouche started off lecturing about dialectics and Rosa Luxemburg. By the 1980s, he was Glenn Beck with a private security force.
Scientists Don’t Say
From lab leaks to mask efficacy, the media enforcement of scientific consensus through a policing of which questions are acceptable to ask is itself unscientific.
The Man Behind the Curtain
How hedge fund manager George Soros became enemy number one of the international right.
Issue 49: Misery Index
Crunching the numbers on the class war.
The South African Blame Game
The colonial history of South Africa lives on in conspiracy theories about the “Third Force,” but it’s not secret external enemies plaguing South Africa today — it’s the country’s own ruling class.
Latin America’s Very Own Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina fueled antisemitic fears of the Andinia Plan, a supposed Jewish plot to create a homeland in Latin America.
The Land of Milk and Honey
The Caribbean has a reputation for its lenient tax laws, but the United States is the second-biggest tax haven in the world.
Ancient Hindu Aeronautics
Hindu nationalists insist that, thousands of years ago, Indians were already equipped with modern knowledge of science and technology, only to be undermined by centuries of foreign invasion.
A Killer in the Castle
What actually happened to Nepal’s royal family on June 2, 2001?