QAnon—Religious Roots, Religious Responses

2021 ◽  
pp. 089692052110635
Author(s):  
Sarah Louise MacMillen ◽  
Timothy Rush
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Hidden Knowledge

Conspiracy theories are not new to religion, nor an exclusively modern phenomenon. But they take on more destructive and wide-ranging impact with modern communication technologies. Looking at the root psychosocial mechanisms of conspiracy theories, we argue that they frame ideas, history, and culture through the cognitive mindscape of special, ‘hidden knowledge’. They also serve as a unifying theory of conflict and narration of history. The COVID epidemic has strained the economic and political system. Although it may be a matter of perception for Q-followers, a sense of precarity is enhanced by QAnon, thus unleashing and mustering an awakening for such extremist paranoid discourse of ressentiment. This parallels the cognitive mindscape of ‘the Great Replacement’. Prior to election 2020, QAnon’s base had been growing in Evangelical communities. Its presence continues to be felt.

Fake News

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bente Kalsnes
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Motivation ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Fake News ◽  
False Information ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Different Levels

Fake news is not new, but the American presidential election in 2016 placed the phenomenon squarely onto the international agenda. Manipulation, disinformation, falseness, rumors, conspiracy theories—actions and behaviors that are frequently associated with the term—have existed as long as humans have communicated. Nevertheless, new communication technologies have allowed for new ways to produce, distribute, and consume fake news, which makes it harder to differentiate what information to trust. Fake news has typically been studied along four lines: Characterization, creation, circulation, and countering. How to characterize fake news has been a major concern in the research literature, as the definition of the term is disputed. By differentiating between intention and facticity, researchers have attempted to study different types of false information. Creation concerns the production of fake news, often produced with either a financial, political, or social motivation. The circulation of fake news refers to the different ways false information has been disseminated and amplified, often through communication technologies such as social media and search engines. Lastly, countering fake news addresses the multitude of approaches to detect and combat fake news on different levels, from legal, financial, and technical aspects to individuals’ media and information literacy and new fact-checking services.

Contemporary political and communication processes in political governance

2018 ◽  
pp. 196-207
Author(s):  
Iryna Butyrs’ka
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Classical Model ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Political Governance

The article is devoted to the analysis of political communication as a special kind of political relations; through which subjects dominate in politics regulate the production and distribution of socio-political ideas. In the modern world, political communication serves as an integral element of political governance, the success of the functioning of the entire political system of society depends on its quality. The author believes that modern political governance has a communicative nature, so political communication plays a leading role in the information society. This, in turn, leads to a change in the classical model of political governance, based on the coercion and legitimate legitimacy of violence by the communicative model of political governance. At the same time, information and communication technologies and the development of new means of communication directly change the system of relations between the state and society, including in the political sphere, which already influences the effectiveness of political management of society through traditional instruments, posing to the states and political institutions the problem of developing new approaches to political communication with the masses. The underestimation of the consequences of the introduction of modern information and communication technologies in everyday life can become a powerful factor in destabilizing the political system, associated with a sharp drop in the effectiveness of classical mass models of political governance.

Citizen Cynics

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Scott Radnitz
Keyword(s):  
Focus Groups ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Political Information ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range

This chapter uses focus groups in Georgia and Kazakhstan to examine not only how ordinary people respond to conspiracy theories, but how they think about power more generally. Participants were receptive to a wide range of conspiracy claims, whether promoted by governments or not. Georgians endorsed a wide array of plots and perpetrators, an openness that reflects the country’s unbridled intrigue and wealth of political information available. Kazakhstanis speculated about how power operates in their opaque political system and delivered Russian-inflected geopolitical analysis. Citizens who accepted conspiracies were motivated by cynicism toward political authority, which came from personal experience. The analysis suggests that politicians who aim to win support by claiming conspiracies face a dilemma: the people who are most willing to agree with conspiracy claims are also suspicious of those who seek advantage by spreading them.

Populist attitudes and conspiratorial thinking

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110033
Author(s):  
Evren Balta ◽  
Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser ◽  
Alper H Yagci
Keyword(s):  
Representative Sample ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Government Propaganda ◽  
Populist Party

What happens to the anti-establishment sentiments of pro-incumbent voters for a populist force that is in government and thus controls the political system? This article examines this question utilizing the case of Turkey, a country in which a populist force has been in power for more than a decade. By analyzing populist attitudes among a nationally representative sample, we demonstrate that while the voters of the incumbent populist party (AKP) are less likely, compared to everyone else, to hold populist sentiments, the same voters are also substantially more likely to endorse conspiracy theories that center on malign foreign powers. This finding is relevant beyond Turkey, because it demonstrates that populist forces might be able to maintain popular support and thus stay in power for a long stretch of time by employing government propaganda to fuel an antagonism against conspiratorial foreign and global forces.

Defining and Measuring E-Democracy

2011 ◽  
pp. 247-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political System ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Electronic Democracy ◽  
New Information ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this chapter is to define and to measure electronic democracy. In order to achieve this purpose, first, different conceptual perspectives about the interconnection between new information and communication technologies and democratic institutions are described. Second, a definition of electronic democracy and its relationship with classical theories on representative democracy is provided. Third, with this description, an index to measure the stage of development of electronic democracy in a given political system is developed. Fourth, the index is tested in some Latin American municipalities. Finally, with the obtained results, some conclusions about the level and nature of electronic-democracy implementation in the region are described. The chapter adopts an institutional approach to understand the impact of ICTs on institutions that illustrates how difficult defining and measuring this reality can get.

scholarly journals The disempowering Goverati: e-Aristocrats or the Delusion of e-Democracy

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismael Peña-López
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Socioeconomic Changes ◽  
The Future ◽  
Information And Communication

When disaffection on political parties and politicians is pervasive, most argue whether it could be possible, thanks to the Internet – and Information and Communication Technologies in general – forget the mainstream political system and let the citizenry express their own opinion, debate in virtual agorae and vote their representatives and policy choices directly. In other words, the claim is whether the actual intermediaries can be replaced by citizen networks or, in the limit, just be overridden.Our aim in the following lines is to (1) explain that some dire (socioeconomic) changes are actually taking place,(2) why these socioeconomic changes are taking place and (3) infer, from this, what conditions shall take place in the future for (4) another wave of changes to happen that could eventually a much acclaimed new (e-)democracy. In a last section, we will discuss that despite lack of data, the trend seems to be just in the direction of the impoverishment of democracy, partly due to the weakening of political institutions.

Autism, AAC, and Proloquo2Go

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 137-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Sennott ◽  
Adam Bowker
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Augmentative And Alternative Communication ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Alternative Communication ◽  
Visual Supports ◽  
Digital Device ◽  
Ipod Touch ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Communication Needs

People with ASD often need to access AAC in situations where a tabletop digital device is not practical. Recent advancements have made more powerful, portable, and affordable communication technologies available to these individuals. Proloquo2Go is a new portable augmentative and alternative communication system that runs on an iPhone or iPod touch and can be used to meet the diverse needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who are ambulatory and have difficulty using speech to meet their full daily communication needs. This article examines Proloquo2Go in light of the best practices in AAC for individuals with ASD such as symbols, visual supports, voice output, and inclusion.

Conspiracy theories buffer against low social status

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Wetherell ◽  
James Davis ◽  
Patrick Henry
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Conspiracy Theories
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