Among the truthers : a journey into the growing conspiracist underground of 9/11 truthers, Birthers, Armageddonites, vaccine hysterics, Hollywood know-nothings and Internet addicts

From 9/11 conspiracy theorists, and UFO obsessives, to the cult of Ayn Rand and Birther crusaders, America is suffering from an explosion in post-rationalist ideological movements. In Among the Truthers , journalist Jonathan Kay offers a thoughtful and sobering look at how social networking, and Web-based video sharing, have engendered a flourishing of new conspiracism. Kay details the sociological profiles of ten brands of modern conspiracists - the Failed Historian,the Mid-Life Crack-Up, the Damaged Survivor, the Campus Revolutionary, the Stoner, the Clinical Case, the Puzzle Solver, the Christian Doomsayer, the Cosmic Voyager, and the Egomaniac - in a compelling exploration of Americas departure from reason, and what it means for the very future of rational discourse, as the nation steps further into the 21st century.

From left-wing 9/11 conspiracy theorists to right-wing Obama-hating "birthers"—a sobering, eyewitness look at how America's marketplace of ideas is fracturing into a multitude of tiny, radicalized boutiques—each peddling its own brand of paranoia

Throughout most of our nation's history, the United States has been bound together by a shared worldview. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks opened a rift in the collective national psyche: Increasingly, Americans are abandoning reality and retreating to Internet-based fantasy worlds conjured into existence out of our own fears and prejudices.

The most disturbing symptom of this trend is the 9/11 Truth movement, whose members believe that Bush administration officials engineered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a pretext to launch wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But these "Truthers" are merely one segment of a vast conspiracist subculture that includes many other groups: anti-Obama extremists who believe their president is actually a foreign-born Manchurian Candidate seeking to destroy the United States from within; radical alternative-medicine advocates who claim that vaccine makers and mainstream doctors are conspiring to kill large swathes of humanity; financial neo-populists who have adapted the angry message of their nineteenth-century forebears to the age of Twitter; Holocaust deniers; fluoride phobics; obsessive Islamophobes; and more.

For two years journalist Jonathan Kay immersed himself in this dark subculture, attending conventions of conspiracy theorists, surfing their discussion boards, reading their websites, joining their Facebook groups, and interviewing them in their homes and offices. He discovered that while many of their theories may seem harmlessly bizarre, their proliferation has done real damage to the sense of shared reality that we rely on as a society. Kay also offers concrete steps that intelligent, culturally engaged Americans can take to reject conspiracism and help regain control of the intellectual landscape.

Millions of people around the world have convinced themselves that the perpetrators of 9/11 were not al-Qaeda terrorists but elements within the U.S. government seeking a pretext to launch wars abroad and enact draconian laws at home. These "9/11 Truthers" are not alone. They are part of a vast conspiracist subculture that is spreading like wildfire on the Internet, is deeply distrustful of mainstream media and is beginning to influence mainstream politics. For two years, Canadian journalist Jonathan Kay has been researching the underground world of conspiracy theorists by attending their conventions, infiltrating their Internet discussion boards and surfing their websites. While many individual conspiracy theories seem harmless, even amusing, the phenomenon is doing real damage to the unity and health of North American society. Since the assassination of JFK, conspiracy thinking has proliferated, and the Internet has fostered the growth of numerous alternate mental worlds in which traditional media and academia have no authority. 9/11 was a death blow to this older consensual view of reality, and as a result, North Americans no longer inhabit one cognitive universe. What this means for the future of politics, and our society at large, is the ultimate subject of this book.

From 9/11 conspiracy theorists and UFO obsessives tothe cult of Ayn Rand and Birthercrusaders, America is suffering from an explosion in post-rationalistideological movements. In Among the Truthers, journalist Jonathan Kay offers a thoughtful and sobering look at how socialnetworking and Web-based video sharing have engendered a flourishing of new conspiracism. Kay details the sociological profiles of tenbrands of modern conspiracists—the Failed Historian, the Mid-Life Crack-Up, the Damaged Survivor, the Campus Revolutionary, theStoner, the Clinical Case, the Puzzle Solver, the Christian Doomsayer, the CosmicVoyager, and the Egomaniac—in a compelling exploration of America's departurefrom reason and what it means for the very future of rational discourse as thenation steps further into the 21 st century.

Since the JFK assassination, conspiracy thinking has proliferated, and the Internet has fostered the growth of numerous alternate conceptual worlds in which traditional media and academia have no authority. 9/11 was a death blow to the older consensual view of reality, and as a result, North Americans no longer inhabit one cognitive universe. What this means for the future of politics, and for our society at large, is at the heart of Among the Truthers "America is awash with conspiracy theories, and the shared view of reality we once took for granted has been permanently shattered. Jonathan Kay uses the 9/11 Truth movement as a springboard to examine this fragmented national mindset"--Provided by publisher