BOOK REVIEW
COMPTE RENDU
Among the conspiracy theorists
Jonathan Kay. Among the Truthers: A Journey into the
Growing Conspiracist Underground of 9/11 Truthers,
Birthers, Armageddonites, Vaccine Hysterics, Hollywood
Know-Nothings and Internet Addicts. Toronto and New
York: HarperCollins, 2011.
Review by Adam Daifallah
“
86
Y
ou
can’t
defeat
the
Enlightenment’s
enemies
unless you understand them,”
writes Jonathan Kay in the preface to
this book. It’s an important statement
because anyone looking for a volume
debunking the myriad conspiracy theories floating around talk radio and
the Web will have to look elsewhere.
This is a book that sets out to peek into
the world of the interesting array of
characters who peddle conspiracy theories, to see what makes them tick,
why they believe what they believe
and how the society in which we live
has facilitated a culture where such
beliefs can flourish.
Kay succeeds admirably in blowing the cover off this heretofore underground world. The comment pages
editor of the National Post spent
months travelling and getting to know
these people: talking and debating
with them, attending their conferences and reading their materials.
What he finds will surprise many
readers. Most of us have a preconceived idea of what conspiracy theorists are like, and some of us even
know some. Images of young guys
with the computer geek look, old crazies with Einstein hair or uneducated
OPTIONS POLITIQUES
SEPTEMBRE 2011
hillbillies come to mind. But the character sketches offered by Kay paint
conspiracists as surprisingly sympathetic figures — educated, well-spoken
and in several cases, rather normal
seeming, aside from their bizarre views
on specific subjects.
Kay divides this book into three
parts. First, he takes us through the
history of conspiracy thinking from its
beginnings at the time of the French
Revolution to the present. He then
explains the ideas that motivate the
believers and the means by which they
are spread. Then Kay explains why
conspiracy theories have gained an
increased following in today’s world.
Finally, he offers solutions on how to
stop their spread.
A
typical character Kay encounters
is fringe radio show host Alex
Jones. In Jones’ mind, pretty much
every official account of a major event
in modern history was a cover-up. He
believes the RMS Lusitania, the British
ship sunk by the Germans in 1915, was
allowed to be hit deliberately to bring
the Americans into the First World
War. The US government’s 1993 storming of the Waco, Texas, compound of
David Koresh was a deliberate “PR
stunt” for the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms to justify its
existence. The Oklahoma City bombing was an inside job to kill the states’
rights movement. And of course 9/11
was concocted by the government —
remote controls were used to override
the pilots and drive the aircraft into
the Twin Towers. “The future as I see it
is this: 70 percent Brave New World,
percent Nineteen-Eighty-Four. There’ll
be lots of video games, drugs, Soma,
Prozac, parties — but if you get out of
line, the SWAT team’s coming,” Jones
told Kay.
These are beliefs of the Truthers:
many, or all, of history’s great events
were inside jobs, and powerful, dark
forces have conspired to keep the truth
hidden from the masses.
Beliefs of this sort have mushroomed in the West, particularly
since 9/11. One of the strangest to
take root in the US, and it receives
significant attention from Kay here,
is the notion that President Obama
was born outside the United States.
Some adherents to this conspiracy,
commonly known as “Birthers,” continue to disbelieve that, or at least
question whether, Obama is eligible
to be president. This despite his hav-
Among the conspiracy theorists
BOOK REVIEW
by organized religion in Western
ing produced unimpeachable evisociety.
dence of his birth in Hawaii (includThe problem is how to curtail its
ing, since the publishing of Kay’s
spread. Kay admits it is virtually
book, his long-form birth certificate).
impossible to argue with a Truther.
Even Donald Trump has peddled the
They begin from such a
fundamentally different
These are beliefs of the Truthers: many, or all, of history’s
that it is a chalgreat events were inside jobs, and powerful, dark forces have paradigm
lenge to even have a
conspired to keep the truth hidden from the masses.
thoughtful discussion. He
proposes that anticonspiracist curriculum be taught in schools,
dence in the media, the Internet, talk
idea. There is virtually no evidence to
giving airtime to all the different theradio and even academia. Relying on
show that Obama isn’t a native-born
ories in the hope that sunlight will be
his own research and some of his
American, yet the myth continues to
the best disinfectant. I’m not conexperiences at Yale Law School, Kay
have traction.
vinced that would actually work — if
concludes that political correctness,
Kay interviews Joseph Farah, the
anything, it may attract more followracial identity politics and the pervafounder of the populist right-wing Web
ers — but given the increasing pervasive belief on campuses in a Marxist
site WorldNetDaily, whom Kay saw give
siveness of these irrational views, any
world view that divides society neata speech outlining how the birth story
effort to roll back their spread should
ly into oppressors and the oppressed
of Jesus Christ was better documented
be welcomed.
has contributed to the rise of conthan Obama’s. (I once heard Farah
spiracist culture.
advocate during a speech to the annual
Adam Daifallah, co-author of Rescuing
It undoubtedly has. ConspirConservative
Political
Action
Canada’s Right, is a partner at HATLEY
acism is, just like environmentalism,
Conference in Washington that conserStrategy Advisors, a Montreal public
feminism and a host of other isms,
vatives ought to pull their kids out of
affairs firm.
not unlike religion. These views
the public school system to leave it only
adaifallah@hatleystrategies.com
have filled the void formerly filled
for the “atheists, gays and Muslims.”)
Kay finds many blameworthy
targets for the rise of these theories,
including political correctness, irrational hatred of George W. Bush, the
fragmentation of and loss of confi-
THE 2011 IRPP POLICY HORIZONS ESSAY
REKINDLING THE
AMERICAN DREAM:
A NORTHERN PERSPECTIVE
Thomas J. Courchene
In this essay, renowned Canadian scholar Thomas J.
Courchene traces the factors behind the rise and potential
decline of the American dream and US dominance on the
world stage. While his diagnosis is severe, his prognosis
remains optimistic: that the traits that made America
dominant after the Second World War can be harnessed
to recreate a 21st-century version of global economic
leadership.
Now available online at
irpp.org
POLICY OPTIONS
SEPTEMBER 2011
87