COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories: QAnon, 5G, the New World Order and Other Viral Ideas delves deeper into conspiracy theories than the title suggests. Though the primary focus is on recent conspiracy theories, it also provides an overview of conspiratorial thinking, illustrating the development and evolution of some of the conspiracy theories that emerged in 2020.
The first chapter, “Conspiracy Theory 101: A Primer,” explains the phenomenon and situates it in a folkloric context. Conspiracy theories are similar to rumors and legends but have several unique features. Some of the terminology in this chapter invokes academic folkloristics, but it is accessible to a general audience and, given the timeliness of the material, is likely to find an audience outside academia.
The next four chapters focus specifically on COVID-19 pandemic conspiracy theories. Chapter 2 discusses theories related to origins of the virus and the belief among some that the virus is a hoax. Chapter 3 explores the fourteenth-century Black Plague to show connections to White Power rumors and Jewish scapegoating. Chapter 4 addresses COVID-19 and African Americans, providing a detailed history of factors leading to vaccine hesitancy in that community. One particularly interesting portion of this chapter is its discussion of the Tuskegee Experiments, which helps explain why so many Black Americans distrust the medical establishment. Chapter 5 deals with anti-vaccine thinking both before and during the pandemic. Since the book went to print before the vaccine rollout, much of what is presented ends up being surprisingly prophetic.
Chapter 6 is titled “Apocalypse, Now or Later? End Times and the New World Order.” It is broader in scope than just the COVID-19 pandemic. Its thesis is that a group’s religious beliefs greatly impact its susceptibility to conspiracy theories. This is the longest, most detailed chapter in the text, and, in my opinion, the strongest. Unlike many discussions of End of Days prophecies, the authors here do not focus solely on Christian theology, but also discuss Muslim beliefs.
The final four chapters return to the pandemic themes, weaving in other recent theories like Pizzagate, the 2016 event in which a radicalized gunman entered the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to bring down a secret child sex ring run by Washington elites. While this event is not directly COVID-19 related, the authors do connect the theories they discuss with events during the pandemic era. The most interesting of these final chapters is chapter 9, “Drawing Lines in Shifting Sand: The COVID-19 Cartoons of Ben Garrison.” Though the chapter only features three of his cartoons, it is intriguing to learn how the alt-right political sector has gravitated towards his work.
COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories is certainly a timely book and could even be considered ahead of its time, given its release in early 2021. The book makes it clear that folklorists were aware of the conspiracy theory phenomenon as it took hold of major swaths of the country. While many people may be familiar with some of the conspiracy theories detailed in the text, it is unlikely that even those familiar with them were aware of how many there are or how deeply ingrained they are. Unfortunately, the timing also works against the book to some degree, since it went to press prior to both the vaccination rollout and the Capitol insurrection of January 6, 2021. Still, it is hard to fault the authors for being on the cutting edge and analyzing such theories too soon and doing so certainly does not preclude the release of a second volume in the future. This text is likely to serve as foundational research for those examining vaccine and insurrection conspiracy theories in the future.
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[Review length: 610 words • Review posted on October 28, 2021]