History 2186A/B Lecture 5: Lecture 5 Conspiracy

• School: Western University
• Department: History
• Course: History 2186A/B
• Professor: Jonathan Vance

Document Summary

The enemy among us: conspiracy theory, the new york conspiracy, popish plots, the great fear, the indian uprising. The enemy among us o(cid:374)e thi(cid:374)g to fear disease or fi(cid:374)a(cid:374)(cid:272)ial (cid:272)risis that (cid:373)a(cid:455) har(cid:373) (cid:455)ou perso(cid:374)all(cid:455) (cid:271)ut it"s an entirely different phenomenon to be suspicious of your neighbor for example out to get you. Paranoia- being the fear that people around you are actually part of a secret plan to destroy you even if (cid:455)ou are(cid:374)"t a(cid:449)are of it. Roots of conspiracy theory go back to the enlightenment a movement in 1600-1700s that emerged in oppositio(cid:374) to the old (cid:272)hur(cid:272)h a(cid:374)d state that had ra(cid:374) people"s li(cid:448)es for (cid:272)e(cid:374)turies. The e(cid:374)lighte(cid:374)(cid:373)e(cid:374)t wanted people to stop blindly following the church and state and always have a healthy dose of skepticism, with the goal of progressing into a better society by always questioning. Their beliefs were that humans were at the center of existence- not god.