Speaker: Dr Quinton Deeley

Topic: Conspiracism as strategy: QAnon, Politics, and Social Media

Thursday, 11th November 2021. 18:00

QAnon, an internet conspiracy theory that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping paedophiles, is one of many conspiracy theories that have rapidly spread through the US and more widely. In this seminar we will consider what motivates such apparently irrational beliefs, how they propagate so quickly, and what they reveal about the social and political influences on how people interpret the world. In doing so we will explore the history of the anti-Semitic blood libel, the social anthropology of witchcraft, the cognitive neuropsychiatry of delusions, social media and coalitional cognition, conspiracism as political strategy, and a consequent tilt from realism to perspectivism in our implicit epistemology.

Dr Quinton Deeley is a psychiatrist and senior lecturer at King’s College London.