What is this supposed to represent? This picture was on an A-Level exam paper and it relates to September 11th attacks. The letters on the towers spell out ‘Armageddon’ The boys clothes are the colour of the American flag The Stanley knife was the weapon the planes were hijacked with The football has pentagons on it which references the attack on the Pentagon 2

7-Nov-18 They can write notes about this on the worksheet (slide 21) 3

Conspiracy theories and extremism 7-Nov-18 Conspiracy theories and extremism What does this picture show? Does anyone believe that this group exists? They can write notes about this on the worksheet (slide 21)

Talk with the people near you, what theories have you heard about the illuminati? You have 3 minutes What things about this conspiracy have you heard? 3 minutes Jay Z and Beyoncé are members It’s the New World Order They worship the anti-Christ Barack Obama is the anti-Christ They are financed by wealthy Jews It’s secret organisation that has been running things for years End

Conspiracy theories and extremism Objectives By the end of this lesson you should be able to… Explain how conspiracy theories work Explain how conspiracy theories have similarities to extremist narratives Create your own conspiracy theory Keywords Conspiracy theories, extremism, extremist narratives, evidence, scrutiny

THE BAVARIAN ILLUMINATI... The first piece of Illuminati theory is based on a real group called the “Order of Illuminists.” The Illuminists were founded in May 1776 in Bavaria, part of present-day Germany by Adam Weishaupt. His Order aimed to get rid of the kings and the churches that had ruled Europe since the Middle Ages, and make room for new forms of commerce, science, and democratic government that were struggling to emerge at the time. Now it’s a vast conspiracy theory that involves pretty much anything you could think of. ADAM WEISHAUPT, 1748-1830 The point of this slide is to introduce the idea that the illuminati did start from a real. May conspiracy theories might have elements in truth in them or have some sort of evidence. They don’t stand up to scrutiny though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati

Whatever letter you put in comes up with a huge amount of results Whatever letter you put in comes up with a huge amount of results. Some of which are truly bizarre. The idea of this slide is to show that this conspiracy is all encompassing. You can type almost anything in Google and put the illuminaiti afterwards and it’s likely it’ll have some results. The point here isn’t to say the illuminati isn’t real- this is almost too difficult to tackle as the beliefs people have about them are so varied. Instead it’s about saying that some people will find evidence for their world view in pretty much anything.

“About a third of Americans, for example, believe the “birther” conspiracy theory that Obama is a foreigner. About as many believe that 9/11 was an “inside job” by the Bush administration.” Encouragingly, Uscinski and Parent found that education makes a difference in reducing conspiratorial thinking: 42 percent of those without a high school diploma are high in conspiratorial predispositions, compared with 23 percent with postgraduate degrees. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories/

How does this link to extremism? 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        How does this link to extremism? A conspiracy theory, Uscinski and Parent explain, is defined by four characteristics: a group - acting in secret to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, at the expense of the common good. Many people believe 1 the US government 2. Had secret meetings to work out how to destabilise the middle east and get more oil 3. They were behind the 9/11 attacks 4. They invaded Afghanistan and Iraq to get oil

How does this link to extremism? 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        How does this link to extremism? a group - acting in secret to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, at the expense of the common good. Far- right groups like Britain First have the following sort of narrative: Muslims are conspiring to take over the UK and stop ‘British’ people from being able to live their lives as they choose. Read below and follow link for more information about this group. They are discussed in more detail in the next lesson Britain First https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britain_First Britain First is a far-right, fascist and British nationalist[3] political party and movement formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party.[15] The party is led by a former BNP councillor Paul Golding, and was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion campaigner linked to Ulster loyalist militants.[11] Britain First campaigns primarily against immigration, multiculturalism and what it sees as the Islamisation of the United Kingdom, and advocates the preservation of traditional British culture. The group is inspired by Ulster loyalism and has a vigilante wing called the "Britain First Defence Force". It attracted attention by taking direct action such as protests outside homes of alleged Islamists, and what it describes as "Christian patrols" and "invasions" of British mosques,[15][16] and has been noted for its online activism.[17] It has contested elections to the House of Commons, the European Parliament and the mayoralty of London, but has not held any elected posts. Christian Patrol In February 2014, Britain First conducted what it called the "Christian Patrol"[52] in an area of Tower Hamlets, East London, with a high Muslim population, to counter continuing Muslim Patrols which had first come to media attention in 2013.[53] Around a dozen or so Britain First activists recorded themselves holding a banner proclaiming "We Are The British Resistance" and emptying cans of beer outside a mosque to "bait" Islamic extremists operating in the area. A video uploaded onto social media showing the event gained national media attention in the UK,[54] and the patrol was condemned by Muslim and Christian leaders in the area

How does this link to extremism? 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        How does this link to extremism? a group - acting in secret to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, at the expense of the common good. Islamist extremist groups like ISIS have the following type of narrative The West are planning to take over Muslim countries (like during the Crusades) and destroy the Islamic way of life.

Make your own conspiracy! 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        Make your own conspiracy! As a class you will be given four pieces of information. The group that can make the most convincing conspiracy theory with what you’re given wins As a class choose a group by clicking on a box below Over the next four slides get the class in groups and then they choose a box from each side. As a group they will have to try to create a convincing conspiracy theory using the things they choose. They can add any additional information they know, have seen in the news too. You can get all groups to make a conspiracy using the same information, or you can have each group choose different boxes. Feel free to change the celebrities, organisations and victims.

2. Now choose a celebrity they are having secret meetings with. 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        2. Now choose a celebrity they are having secret meetings with. Obviously change these if you want The celebrities are: Simon Cowell Boris Johnson Tom Cruise Taylor Swift Barack Obama Jennifer Lawrence The Queen T

3. What are they trying to do? 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        3. What are they trying to do? Take power from Hide the truth Change Get rich by

4. At the expense of (these people are the victims) 05/28/2012                                                                                                                                                                        4. At the expense of (these people are the victims) Atheists Business owners Christians Labour supporters School children Venezuelans Vegetarians At the end of the lesson we will see if any group has been able to make a convincing conspiracy theory using the choices you made. If you can, add some evidence to try to back up your conspiracy (maybe something you’ve heard about in the news recently).

Conspiracy theories offer people ‘knowledge’ that most people are ignorant of. It’s exciting to think that you know the truth whereas the majority are ignorant of it. What they don’t do though is consider all the evidence. They only put forward evidence, however convoluted, to back up their position. Extremist narratives do exactly the same. They pick and choose ‘evidence’ which supports their idea and dismiss anything which goes against their single-minded world view. Just like this headline these narratives and theories really don’t stand up to serious scrutiny.

But then the truth came out. It can be easy to completely misread a situation when you don’t have all the facts. When the massacre of 38 people in Tunisia happened people were quick to react to images like this: “I count nine men standing or walking behind him why didn’t they all attack him?” But then the truth came out. This is supposed to demonstrate how we can easily form wrong opinions if we are not in possession of all the facts. This story relates to the Tunisian gunman who killed 36 people on a beach, including 30 British tourists. But John Yeoman, who was on holiday with his wife at a neighbouring resort when the shooting began, tweeted: “Those in the background formed a human shield to protect another hotel they are not watching they saved many lives.”

What we see less of are things like this We see media headlines like these all the time. The point of this slide is just to highlight the idea that maybe the information we’re given by media isn’t always balanced. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hundreds-of-norwegian-muslims-form-human-shield-to-protect-jewish-synagogue-in-oslo-10062227.html

Who is willing to share their conspiracy theory with the class?

The next slides are classroom resources.

In the box write down what some people believe about this group In the box write down the symbolic images you see in this picture worksheet

Make your own conspiracy Can you add any additional evidence to make it more convincing? Make a list below of the information you have to include in your conspiracy. to alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth, or gain utility, Make your own conspiracy A conspiracy theory is defined by four characteristics: at the expense of the common good. acting in secret a group - worksheet