4 ms·

My father in law is a conspiracy theorist and it came a lot more from Fox News and talk radio than YouTube. They were pretty mainstream well before YouTube

• sandworm101 8y ago
  The difference was that 1990s conspiracies were all about secret government agencies doing secret stuff in secret places. Modern conspiracies are out in public. Pizzagate, still belived by many, is different than area 51. This visibility means belief is constantly reenforced.
  • tdb7893 8y ago
    Most of the people I've talked to aren't crazy alien conspiracy theorists so I can't really comment on that brand of conspiracy theorist. Honestly my main experience is the standard 9/11, global warming, and Obama conspiracy theories (which were incredibly racist) from the early to mid 2000s and those were all pretty similar to modern theories and at least for my father in law and his friends were definitely from Fox News and talk radio. Edit: a good example to me was the start of the birther movement, which is a quinessential modern conspiracy theory to me, and I remember that as talk radio and Fox News.
    • sandworm101 8y ago
      Global warming and birtherism were a turning point. It was then than condpiracy theories were directly applicable to politics. Managing them then became a practical political weapon.
      • EamonnMR 8y ago
        The John Birch Society predates both, and was a similar movement by similar people towards similar ends.