Every so often, as I’m scrolling through Instagram, my algorithm takes me to strange places on the internet. Just a few scrolls too many and I run into posts saying that the Maui fires were caused by a “Direct Energy Weapon,” that the Bush administration staged 9/11, and that Donald Trump won the 2020 election fair and square. It seems like those who inhabit this side of social media hold the worldview that reality is a deeply constructed lie by the current powers in order to gain control, manipulate narratives and destabilize institutions and the United States at large. It’s a whirlwind of information. Nothing is safe and nothing is as it seems. With very few exceptions, these conspiracy theories have questionable and circumstantial “evidence,” such as clearly edited videos, photoshopped pictures and old videos of a different incident used to prove a current one. A particularly disturbing aspect of this space is the spreading of antisemitic sentiment with the far-too-common assumption that Jewish people control Hollywood, the banking system and the government. To live in this world is exhausting, the battles to fight reach an unending number and the “awareness” this culture brings only clouds the judgment of those existing in it. Let’s call this world “conspiracy culture.”

Then I look at academia where, oddly enough, the same problems seem to be present in a new costume. In this world, as opposed to conspiracy culture, where the flow of information is so fast and free that it becomes dizzying, the flow of information is controlled and monitored very carefully. New rules of what is acceptable and what is not are created on a whim. Correct terms and phrases change without prior notice, and voicing an opinion that has not been approved by any particular person or group of people can land you in some hot water. It is mob rule enforced by the fear of ostracization from the tribe. The culture in these spaces is set up in a way that calling someone out for having an unapproved opinion earns you prestige. Punishing someone for an unapproved opinion shows everyone else what is and isn’t tolerated and proves to everyone around you that you are a “good” person. Let’s call this world “cancel culture.”

Some universities even go so far as to make the canceling process easy and accessible to everyone. In a 2018 lecture at Case Western University, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Ethical Leadership at the New York University Stern School of Business, said, “I don’t take any chances at NYU. I don’t say anything controversial. I can be controversial with you because you can’t report me. You can’t do anything to me if I say something that offends you. But if I’m at NYU, there’s a sign in every bathroom telling students what number to call or what email to send to report me or anyone else who says something that they think is offensive. So I don’t take any chances at NYU.” This world is equally exhausting and dangerous. 

So, what’s going on here? 

In his book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, author Jonathan Rauch discusses how, rather than using rational persuasion to seek truth and convince others, these “warring” cultures manipulate their environments for political advantages. 

“[W]e are in a fight against two insurgencies: the spread of viral disinformation and alternative realities, sometimes called troll culture, and the spread of enforced conformity and ideological blacklisting, sometimes called cancel culture. One is predominantly right-wing and populist, the other predominantly left-wing and elitist. One employs chaos and confusion, the other conformity and social coercion. But their goals are similar and often, weirdly, they act as de facto allies,” writes Rauch. 

Each culture is dependent on the other. American political culture is a reactionary game and I hypothesize that, at this point, the system is an infinite loop. Conspiracy culture and cancel culture only exist because of the pervasive nature of echo chambers and groupthink. Conspiracy culture doesn’t get the confusion and chaos it needs to thrive without an echo chamber to come up with and spread disinformation and baseless conspiracy theories. Likewise, cancel culture can’t exert the control it needs to sustain itself without having something to control. 

What’s the solution to all of this? To be honest, I’m not sure. We’re fighting a war of information and the strength of our American experiment is being tested. I think we need to spend a lot less time on social media and a lot more time in our local communities. We need to get to know each other again and realize that if we want to find the truth, we have to find it together.