UK counter-extremism expert Julia Ebner thinks we are at the beginning of a digital dark age.
QAnon proponents run for U.S. Congress, neo-fascists win elections in Europe, and celebrity influencers like (Kan)Ye West spread dangerous myths to millions.
All these are signs to Ebner that Enlightenment values are being eroded, and the myths and magical thinking of conspiracy theorists and other extremists are becoming part of mainstream culture.
Ebner is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London and has been studying the growth of extremist ideas in our societies for the last decade.
Her new book, Going Mainstream, is a follow on from her 2020 bestseller Going Dark, which was about radicalisation processes in the extreme fringes of society.
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Once an individual is inclined toward one conspiracy, they are more susceptible to embracing others, she tells Kim Hill.
“There are a few studies now that have shown that something like a conspiracy mentality exists.
“That's what psychologists call it, and once you have adopted the worldview of one conspiracy myth, you're a lot more likely to start believing in others.”
And with the world seemingly plunging from one crisis to another, this can further fuel a multi-conspiratorial mindset, she says.
“Sometimes people started to believe in one conspiracy myth and then adopt more and more, because they already have such deep distrust in the established institutions, including political institutions, but also the media, and science even.
“And then once you've started to believe that everything is corrupt, and everything is rigged, and everything is not trustworthy, it's much easier to start believing in even crazier conspiracy myths.”
A distrust of institutions isn’t necessarily the sign of an extremist ideology, she says.
“What we call extremist, at least at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue where I work, is once people start adopting some kind of a dehumanising or supremacist worldview, where they believe that there's an outgroup and that outgroup is strongly demonised, dehumanised, and the ingroup is seen as superior to that outgroup.
“So, very often, you see when anti-Semitic layers are added to a conspiracy myth, that's usually when it when it becomes dangerous, or when you have other minority communities being systematically demonised.”
We are less likely to engage with opponents these days, she says. And this increasing polarisation has a “reciprocal radicalisation effect.”
“Where both ends of the ideological spectrum are further radicalising each other towards more extreme positions.
“And there is a demonisation happening on both ends. So, I think that is actually a very dangerous dynamic.”
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Scholars are detecting similar attitudes in the US today typically present before civil wars, she says.
“Barbara Walter is a leading Civil War researcher, and she wrote a book about this, that she's seeing all the signs that other countries showed before going into civil war, before a civil war started, that she's seeing that in the US right now.
“And I think part of that is because of this increasing polarisation, which drives such a big wedge between the two people on either side.”
Far right media figures such as Tucker Carlson in the US are enablers bringing ideas at the edges of society to the mainstream, she says.
“And that includes this Great Replacement idea, but also other conspiracy myths that were more related to the Covid pandemic Q Anon ideas, I do think giving them a platform and shaping them in a very positive light, as Tucker Carlson has done it, that that can have an impact on the whole of society.”
Far right ideologies and conspiracy thinking are currently very intertwined, she says.
“On the far-right side of the spectrum, there have been a number of conspiracy myths that have been aggregated into Q Anon, which, of course, is the master conspiracy myth, which combines different older conspiracy myths as well as newer ones, but has really attracted millions of people around the world, if not more.”
Four key factors contribute to mainstreaming of extremism she says, crisis grievances, technological amplification, celebrity endorsement and political legitimisation.
We can hear the phrase “mainstream media” being used by politicians and other dog whistles are popping up in the political discourse, she says.
“British politicians have used dog whistles such as invasion when speaking about migration or cultural Marxism, which is very much tied to anti-Semitic conspiracy myths.”
This mainstreaming is being borne out in real life consequences with attacks on parliaments being seen around the world, she says.
“We do see a pattern of attacks on democratic institutions and processes becoming more frequent.
“And I think in times like these, it is important to take a closer look at the phenomena that are driving this. And it is very true that it's also necessary to look at the root causes and people do have legitimate frustrations and to have sometimes also legitimate grievances against politics and against the institutions, but it is I think it is important to continue understanding why.”