What are we to make of these claims? What do they say about our societies? How does Conspiracy Planet impact history, or reflect larger historical trends? How do we understand the context of these ideas?
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About this Course
This course is for anyone interested in conspiracy theories. Millions of people around the world believe in conspiracy theories like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, or that AIDS was deliberately created by governments and pharmaceutical companies, or that on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center complex was downed not by airplanes, but by a “controlled demolition” masterminded by the United States national security state.How do we understand them in relation to objectively confirmed conspiracies, of which there are at least as many?
How do we know when a conspiracy has really happened, and cannot simply be dismissed as a ‘theory’? We will grapple with these questions together through short videos, quizzes that will help you check your understanding of the material, discussion, and a final project in which you will create your own Conspiracy Planet.
What You Will Learn
- Learners will be able to identify conspiracy theories.
- Learners will be able to evaluate and critique conspiracy theories.
- Learners will be able to create their own conspiracy theories.
Syllabus
WEEK 1
1 hour to complete
Conspiracy Planet: Introduction
This module is an introduction to the basics of conspiracy theory.
3 videos (Total 30 min)
WEEK 2
1 hour to complete
Conspiracy Planet: Richard Hofstadter and the “Paranoid Style”
This module focuses on American historian Richard Hofstadter’s book “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.”
1 video (Total 20 min)
WEEK 3
1 hour to complete
Conspiracy Planet: Protocols of the Elders of Zion
This module covers the antisemitic conspiracy theories that grew from the fabricated text “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
3 videos (Total 23 min)
WEEK 4
1 hour to complete
Conspiracy Planet: World War I
This module focuses on conspiracy theories invented to explain Word War I.
4 videos (Total 38 min)
WEEK 5
2 hours to complete
Conspiracy Planet: JFK Assassination
This module covers some of the countless theories of the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy.
6 videos (Total 78 min)
WEEK 6
1 hour to complete
Marilyn Monroe & Princess Diana Conspiracies
This module is an exploration of the relationship between grief and conspiracy theories.
5 videos (Total 53 min)
WEEK 7
3 hours to complete
Conclusion
This is it. This is the last module, in which you will create your own (original) conspiracy theory and evaluate the conspiracy theories of your fellow learners.
2 videos (Total 13 min)
