What is this supposed to represent 04 Nov20

What is this supposed to represent?

04 -Nov-20

04 -Nov-20 Conspiracy theories and extremism What does this picture show? Does anyone believe that this group exists?

Talk with the people near you, what theories have you heard about the illuminati? You have 3 minutes What things about this conspiracy have you heard? 3 minutes End • • • Jay Z and Beyoncé are members It’s the New World Order They worship the anti-Christ Barack Obama is the anti-Christ They are financed by wealthy Jews It’s secret organisation that has been running things for years

Objectives Conspiracy theories and extremism By the end of this lesson you should be able to… Explain how conspiracy theories work Explain how conspiracy theories have similarities to extremist narratives Create your own conspiracy theory Keywords Conspiracy theories, extremism, extremist narratives, evidence, scrutiny

THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI. . . The first piece of Illuminati theory is based on a real group called the “Order of Illuminists. ” The Illuminists were founded in May 1776 in Bavaria, part of present-day Germany by Adam Weishaupt. His Order aimed to get rid of the kings and the churches that had ruled Europe since the Middle Ages, and make room for new forms of commerce, science, and democratic government that were struggling to emerge at the time. Now it’s a vast conspiracy theory that involves pretty much anything you could think of. ADAM WEISHAUPT, 1748 -1830

Whatever letter you put in comes up with a huge amount of results. Some of which are truly bizarre.

“About a third of Encouragingly, Uscinski Americans, for example, and Parent found that believe the “birther” education makes a conspiracy theory that difference in reducing Obama is a foreigner. conspiratorial thinking: 42 About as many believe percent of those without a that 9/11 was an “inside high school diploma are job” by the Bush high in conspiratorial administration. ” predispositions, compared with 23 percent with postgraduate degrees.

How does this link to extremism? A conspiracy theory is defined by four characteristics: 1. a group - 2. acting in secret 3. to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, 4. at the expense of the common good.

How does this link to extremism? 1. 2. 3. 4. a group - acting in secret to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, at the expense of the common good. Far- right groups like Britain First have the following sort of narrative: 1. 2. 3. 4. Muslims are conspiring to take over the UK and stop ‘British’ people from being able to live their lives as they choose.

How does this link to extremism? 1. 2. 3. 4. a group - acting in secret to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, at the expense of the common good. Islamist extremist groups like ISIS have the following type of narrative 1. The West 2. are planning 3. to take over Muslim countries (like during the Crusades) 4. and destroy the Islamic way of life.

Make your own conspiracy! As a class you will be given four pieces of information. The group that can make the most convincing conspiracy theory with what you’re given wins 1. As a class choose a group by clicking on a box below

2. Now choose a celebrity they are having secret meetings with.

3. What are they trying to do? Change Hide the truth from… Take power from… Get rich by exploiting…

4. At the expense of (these people are the victims) Atheists Europeans Business owners Labour supporters Christians Vegetarians School children At the end of the lesson we will see if any group has been able to make a convincing conspiracy theory using the choices you made. If you can, add some evidence to try to back up your conspiracy (maybe something you’ve heard about in the news recently).

Conspiracy theories offer people ‘knowledge’ that most people are ignorant of. It’s exciting to think that you know the truth whereas the majority are ignorant of it. What they don’t do though is consider all the evidence. They only put forward evidence, however convoluted, to back up their position. Extremist narratives do exactly the same. They pick and choose ‘evidence’ which supports their idea and dismiss anything which goes against their single-minded world view. Just like this headline these narratives and theories really don’t stand up to serious scrutiny.

It can be easy to completely misread a situation when you don’t have all the facts. When the massacre of 38 people in Tunisia happened people were quick to react to images like this: “I count nine men standing or walking behind him why didn’t they all attack him? ” But then the truth came out. But John Yeoman, who was on holiday with his wife at a neighbouring resort when the shooting began, tweeted: “Those in the background formed a human shield to protect another hotel they are not watching they saved many lives. ”

What we see less of are things like this We see media headlines like these all the time.

Who is willing to share their conspiracy theory with the class?

The next slides are classroom resources.

In the box write down what some people believe about this group In the box write down the symbolic images you see in this picture

Can you add any additional evidence to make it more convincing? Make a list below of the information you have to include in your conspiracy. A conspiracy theory is defined by four characteristics: 1. a group - 2. acting in secret 3. to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, 4. at the expense of the common good. Make your own conspiracy