What a French king has to do with the origin

What a French king has to do with the origin of modern conspiracy theories

From “Pizzagate” to QAnon, conspiracy theories can seem like a product of the modern world permeated by the ubiquitous nature of social media.

On December 4, 2016, Edgar Welch broke into a pizza place outside of Washington, US and opened fire. The attacker thought he was doing so to deter an alleged child prostitution ring linked to thenDemocratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton one of many fake news stories circulating at the time to influence his campaign.

“Pizzagate” shows that one wrong click can lead you into the pointless digital labyrinth of conspiracy theories but of course this is not a phenomenon of our time.

“Conspiracies have been around as long as there have been people. It’s a way of explaining the inexplicable,” says Kamy Akhavan, executive director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California (USC).

Can looking into the past help us to understand the present?

“When I first heard about QAnon (the conspiracy theory that former US President Donald Trump was waging a secret war on pedophiles and the ‘Deep State’), I was very surprised because it practically looked like they would take everything away from a medieval book,” says Jay Rubenstein, director of the Center for the Premodern World at the same university.

“I wasn’t planning to study conspiracy theories, but I think in the context of the last few years I had to start thinking about them because I’ve realized they can really affect the way the world works. ” he added.

  • QAnon: What is it and where did the group involved in the invasion of the US Congress come from?

“A conspiracy theory is the idea that a nefarious group has conspired for a malicious purpose,” summarizes Anni Sternisko, a doctoral student at New York University’s School of Social Psychology in the US.

Conspiracy theories cover everything from subliminal messages in commercials to the moon landing.

But there is something that connects them…

2 of 3 1493 woodcut of Simon of Trento, an Italian boy whose death is attributed to leaders of the city’s Jewish community. — Photo: BBC

1493 woodcut of Simon of Trento, an Italian boy whose death was attributed to leaders of the city’s Jewish community. — Photo: BBC

“It’s a simple narrative. There must be a villain who hides and does all the evil without being seen. They have victims who are oppressed and poor and deserve our sympathy. And then you have the hero who will come and will come and unmask the villain,” explains Dan Juwel, Professor of French and History at Stanford University, USA.

In the Middle Ages, the devil himself was the greatest villain.

“The conspiracy theory that started it all in the Middle Ages was antiJudaism,” says Rubenstein.

“The belief was that the Jews planned to retake the Holy Land through a pact with the devil that they would sacrifice a Christian child at Passover every year until the devil gave Jerusalem back to them.”

“Once that idea took root, it seemed almost a habit to develop conspiratorial beliefs about how the world works.”

3 of 3 Philip IV the Handsome presides over a session of Parliament in 14thcentury France. — Photo: BBC

Philip IV the Fair presides over a session of Parliament in 14thcentury France. — Photo: BBC

But there was one person who excelled in this art like no other.

“The greatest and most intense conspiracy theorist of the Middle Ages was King Philip the Handsome or Philip IV of France (12681314),” says Rubenstein.

“The conspiracy he is most associated with involved the Knights Templar, a Jerusalembased order.”

“Their basic philosophy was that they would live like monks but fight like warriors. They would give up property and family and live together in a community.”

“The Templars made plenty of money. They raised funds, built churches across Europe, and were so successful that they managed the bank accounts of the kings of France.”

“But in 1307, Philip the Handsome decided he had to get rid of her, and he did so by creating his own conspiracy theory. He said they were involved in scandalous practices: bestiality, pederasty, Satan worship and witchcraft.”

“He sent guards all over France and arrested all the Templars in a single night.”

“It is one of the most successful conspiracies of all time and the most successful of the Middle Ages.”

The Middle Ages came to an end, but the practice of using this dualpurpose weapon endured.

“Whenever there is political or social unrest, conspiracy theories proliferate,” observes writer Sara Gorman, an expert on disinformation and denialism.

“Throughout history, conspiracy theories have similar elements and generally have to do with something that’s happening right now that’s difficult to explain or quite uncertain and you’re trying to come up with an explanation.”

Distinguishing between real news and fake news requires information — and that has sometimes been hard to come by.

“When talking about an early modern or premodern historical event, it’s important to remember that information has always been scarce,” says Juwel.

“Most of the time, people didn’t know what was going on. Often they couldn’t tell if something was true or if it was just another rumour.”

“That’s why I think conspiracy theories are even more likely to emerge, especially in these environments where information is scarce and you can hardly decide what information to trust.”

One of those moments was the French Revolution.

“They were everywhere back then,” says the Stanford professor.

“One of the most important groups during the French Revolution were the Jacobins, an association that arose in Paris in 1789 at the beginning of the revolution.”

“By 1792 he was considered one of the most radical wings of the French revolutionaries and was very well represented in politics.”

“They were often the ones who pushed for purges to remove members of the congregation.”

The Jacobins, like other revolutionaries of the day, resorted to conspiracy theories linking their opponents to foreign governments and funds, as well as known counterrevolutionaries.

“They used this technique and perfected the strategy to delegitimize their rivals.”

“That’s one of the areas where the French Revolution is important, because that’s when you really start to see the modern conspiracy theory genre emerge.”

Modern conspiracy theories

“There is an implicit sense that the elite is corrupt. They do not reflect the real feelings of the people and even actively work against the interests of the people,” says Juwel.

“And charismatic leaders are often the ones who know best how to capitalize on that narrative.”

“When (Soviet leader Joseph) Stalin justified the failure of the attempt to nationalize grain in Ukraine which led to a terrible famine that killed some 3 million people he simply labeled it an act of sabotage and blamed it on the Trotskyists.”

“It was easier for many in Russia’s political power and for ordinary people to believe because it came from Stalin himself.”

“There’s definitely something about who is spreading the conspiracy that contributes to its success,” he concludes.

“People who come up with conspiracy theories are great storytellers,” says Rubenstein. “You’re great at telling stories and gathering information in ways you’ve never seen or thought of yourself.”

“And in doing so, it feels like they’re letting you into a secret world.”

The history and secret world of conspiracy theories included child sacrifice, Knights Templar and corrupt clubs.

In the 21st century, we’ve added pizzerias to this list.

This text was originally published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional62295739