Against the Conspiracy Frame and the Hidden Hand

Recently, the journalist, James Delingpole, tweeted out ‘Dinosaurs are a hoax’. He had watched a video called ‘The Dinosaurs Never Existed’ by Eric Dubay. This video has over 88,000 views and its creator over 157,000 subscribers. This channel regularly posts Flat Earth content and it has a video called The History of the Federal Reserve featuring the Masonic Eye. A YouTube search for “Rothschild Power” throws up videos which have millions of views, including ‘The Most Powerful Families Who Secretly Run the World’ (5 million views), ‘This Family Secretly Rules the World’ (1.2 million views) and ‘The Richest and Most Families in the World’ (1.2 million views). The thumbnails feature the Masonic Eye, imagery reminiscent of Eyes Wide Shut and pictures of people from powerful families photoshopped to look like Emperor Palpatine. Whatever you make of these ideas, four things are very clear:

1.      They are not censored.

2.      They have recognisable imagery which everyone can parse quickly.

3.      They focus on the idea the world is controlled by a hidden hand tied to old money.

4.      They trade on the idea that the people in control today have always been in control.

I have found this frame increasingly irritating because it serves to obscure what we can see with our own eyes.