Conspiracies of Conspiracies

Conspiracies of Conspiracies
Author: Thomas Milan Konda
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 451
Release: 2019-03-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 022658576X

It’s tempting to think that we live in an unprecedentedly fertile age for conspiracy theories, with seemingly each churn of the news cycle bringing fresh manifestations of large-scale paranoia. But the sad fact is that these narratives of suspicion—and the delusional psychologies that fuel them—have been a constant presence in American life for nearly as long as there’s been an America. In this sweeping book, Thomas Milan Konda traces the country’s obsession with conspiratorial thought from the early days of the republic to our own anxious moment. Conspiracies of Conspiracies details centuries of sinister speculations—from antisemitism and anti-Catholicism to UFOs and reptilian humanoids—and their often incendiary outcomes. Rather than simply rehashing the surface eccentricities of such theories, Konda draws from his unprecedented assemblage of conspiratorial writing to crack open the mindsets that lead people toward these self-sealing worlds of denial. What is distinctively American about these theories, he argues, is not simply our country’s homegrown obsession with them but their ongoing prevalence and virulence. Konda proves that conspiracy theories are no harmless sideshow. They are instead the dark and secret heart of American political history—one that is poisoning the bloodstream of an increasingly sick body politic.

The Delusions of Crowds

The Delusions of Crowds
Author: William J. Bernstein
Publisher: Grove Press
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2021-02-23
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0802157114

This “disturbing yet fascinating” exploration of mass mania through the ages explains the biological and psychological roots of irrationality (Kirkus Reviews). From time immemorial, contagious narratives have spread through susceptible groups—with enormous, often disastrous, consequences. Inspired by Charles Mackay’s nineteenth-century classic Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, neurologist and author William Bernstein examines mass delusion through the lens of current scientific research in The Delusions of Crowds. Bernstein tells the stories of dramatic religious and financial mania in western society over the last five hundred years—from the Anabaptist Madness of the 1530s to the dangerous End-Times beliefs that pervade today’s polarized America; and from the South Sea Bubble to the Enron scandal and dot com bubbles. Through Bernstein’s supple prose, the participants are as colorful as their “desire to improve one’s well-being in this life or the next.” Bernstein’s chronicles reveal the huge cost and alarming implications of mass mania. He observes that if we can absorb the history and biology of this all-too-human phenomenon, we can recognize it more readily in our own time, and avoid its frequently dire impact.

The Mormon Delusion

The Mormon Delusion
Author: Jim Whitefield
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2009-03-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1409259056

The first in a series of books comprising an exposé of the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). This volume concentrates on polygamy and little known polyandry which is hidden from rank and file Mormons. Historical evidence proves the Mormon Church has rewritten its own history through lies, suppression, omission and interpolation; such that the truth is so well hidden from members; unless they look outside the Church for information; they will never know of the continued conspiracy to deceive them. Contains over 120 pages of appendices, including complete lists and analysis of all the wives and families of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, highlighting polyandrous relationships and children born into those unions; plus details of over a hundred children born post 1890 to polygamous wives of General Authorities who violated their own canonised Manifesto after they had covenanted to stop the practice. Visit www.themormondelusion.com for further information.

Why Delusions Matter

Why Delusions Matter
Author: Lisa Bortolotti
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2023-07-13
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1350163325

When we talk about delusions we may refer to symptoms of mental health problems, such as clinical delusions in schizophrenia, or simply the beliefs that people cling to which are implausible and resistant to counterevidence; these can include anything from beliefs about the benefits of homeopathy to concerns about the threat of alien abduction. Why do people adopt delusional beliefs and why are they so reluctant to part with them? In Why Delusions Matter, Lisa Bortolotti explains what delusions really are and argues that, despite their negative reputation, they can also play a positive role in people's lives, imposing some meaning on adverse experiences and strengthening personal or social identities. In a clear and accessible style, Bortolotti contributes to the growing research on the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, offering a novel and nuanced view of delusions.

The Great Delusion

The Great Delusion
Author: Raphael Israeli and Moshe Yegar
Publisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2021-08-06
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1682355179

The Great Delusion explores the gap that persists between the Zionist ambition to implement its project among the neighboring Arab world peacefully, achieving recognition and acceptance amicably, and the reality of a century-old permanent state of war and hostility towards Jews, Zionism, and Israel, which has been cultivated among the Arab populace. In recent decades, and especially since President Donald Trump’s administration, American mediation has helped break that wall of enmity, at least on the governmental level. But on emotional and popular levels, the long years of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli propaganda seem much more difficult to eradicate. This volume discusses the frustration on the part of Israel to attain a permanent peace with the Arab world.

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion
Author: Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 599
Release: 2024-11-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 104013338X

Delusions play an important and fascinating role in philosophy and are a particularly fertile area of study in recent years, spanning philosophy of mind and psychology, epistemology, ethics, psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion explores the conceptual and philosophical issues in the study of delusion and is the first major reference source of its kind. Comprising 38 chapters by an international team of contributors, the Handbook is divided into six clear parts: The Nature of Delusion Delusion in Disorders Epistemology of Delusion Delusion’s Place in the Mind Delusion Formation Responsibility, Culture, and Society. Within these sections, key topics are discussed including delusions and wellbeing, delusions as they occur in wider mental disorder, the epistemic profile of delusions (evidence, justification, rationality), how delusions are formed, delusions and folk psychology (how they relate to belief, self-deception, imagination, and so on), and delusions in the wider social and cultural context. An outstanding resource for both students and researchers, The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Delusion is essential reading for those working on delusion in philosophy departments, and also suitable for those in related disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science.

The Technical Delusion

The Technical Delusion
Author: Jeffrey Sconce
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1478002441

Delusions of electronic persecution have been a preeminent symptom of psychosis for over two hundred years. In The Technical Delusion Jeffrey Sconce traces the history and continuing proliferation of this phenomenon from its origins in Enlightenment anatomy to our era of global interconnectivity. While psychiatrists have typically dismissed such delusions of electronic control as arbitrary or as mere reflections of modern life, Sconce demonstrates a more complex and interdependent history of electronics, power, and insanity. Drawing on a wide array of psychological case studies, literature, court cases, and popular media, Sconce analyzes the material and social processes that have shaped historical delusions of electronic contamination, implantation, telepathy, surveillance, and immersion. From the age of telegraphy to contemporary digitality, the media emerged within such delusions to become the privileged site for imagining the merger of electronic and political power, serving as a paranoid conduit between the body and the body politic. Looking to the future, Sconce argues that this symptom will become increasingly difficult to isolate, especially as remote and often secretive powers work to further integrate bodies, electronics, and information.

Belief, Imagination, and Delusion

Belief, Imagination, and Delusion
Author: Ema Sullivan-Bissett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2024-01-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0198872224

This volume brings together recent work on the nature of belief, imagination, and delusion, and seeks to get clearer on the nature of belief and imagination, the ways in which they relate to one another, and how they might be integrated into accounts of delusional belief formation.

Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy

Changing Conceptions of Conspiracy
Author: Carl F. Graumann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1461246180

The contents of the first two volumes were, we gladly admit, at once more familiar and easier to handle. We were concerned with mass and leadership psychology, two factors that we know from social and political life. They have been much studied and we can clearly trace their evolution. However, since actions by masses and leaders also have an intellectual and emotional side, we were obliged, in some way or other, to deal with this topic as well. It was obviously necessary, it seemed to us, to approach this study from a new and significant angle. One cannot escape the realiza tion that "conspiracy theory" has played, and continues to play, a central role in our epoch, and has had very serious consequences. The obsession with conspiracy has spread to such an extent that it continuously crops up at all levels of society. The fol lowing paradox must be striking to anyone: In the past, society was governed by a small number of men, at times by one individual, who, within traditional limits, imposed his will on the multitude. Plots were effective: By eliminating these individuals and their families, one could change the course of events. Today, this is no longer the case. Power is divided among parties and extends throughout society. Power flows, changes hands, and affects opinion, which no one controls and no one represents entirely.