Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground

[LeftishBrit]

1. Looks very interesting...

though I would disagree that this is a new phenomenon. Look at Richard Hofstadter's great article of 1964, 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics' and in the 50s, the political system was for a while taken over by the conspiracy-theory of McCarthyism.

British politics tends not to show this in quite such an extreme form, but the tabloids have marketed some fairly strong CTs; and the far-right groups such as BNP, EDL and to some extent UKIP indulge in a paranoid style.

I would say that the Internet makes it easier for such theories to spread; and that the economic crunch encourages them.