Truth Will Out: Combating the Rhetoric of Modern Conspiracy Theory

This essay explores modern conspiracy theories’ relationship to hatred and ignorance, and how specious ideas do not hold up to classical rhetorical analysis. It posits reasons why power embraces conspiracies that it has traditionally rejected and explains power and conspiracy theory’s symbiotic relationship in the age of misinformation. It champions rhetoric as the best tool to combat conspiracy theories. Thesis: In order to effectively combat conspiracy theory’s undermining of human progress, we must hold conspiracists accountable for spreading dangerous lies, directly teach formal rhetoric in all public schools (and how to spot specious content), effectively foster multicultural respect and appreciation, and critique the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists in every public forum, including news media and academic worlds.