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SUMMARY:False Flags\, True Lies: Science and Recycled Photography in Consp
 iracy Theories after 9/11 - David Hickman (York)
DTSTART:20141111T170000Z
DTEND:20141111T190000Z
UID:TALK53759@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Vickie Freer
DESCRIPTION:A public talk by the film-maker Dr. David Hickman. \n\nHow can
  we reconcile the sense that recent conspiracy theories can appear – to 
 put not too fine a point on it – crazy\, and clear evidence that they ha
 ve had a broad\, if often transient\, appeal?\n\nSince 9/11\, a succession
  of conspiracy theories have alleged that major incidents like the Aurora 
 cinema shooting\, the Sandy Hook massacre\, the Boston marathon bombing an
 d\, of course\, 9/11 itself\, were actually ‘false-flag’ plots by secr
 et government agencies – or some entity that might be called a ‘deep s
 tate’ – designed to pursue certain ideological objectives (the withdra
 wal of civil liberties\, the repeal of the right to bear arms\, the assert
 ion of a supranational power).  \n\nAll of these theories have (to borrow 
 a phrase) a ‘family resemblance’\, and share two characteristics in pa
 rticular: a recourse to scientific narrative as ‘proof’ of a conspirac
 y\, and an appeal to some underlying ‘truth’ in photographic evidence.
   And in both\, there is the same uncoupling: scientific discourses can be
  deployed to undermine corrupt\, ideologically distracted scientists\; and
  photography is routinely capable of revealing hidden truths\, even when t
 he instruments of photography are controlled by a venal\, manipulative mas
 s media.  \n\nHowever\, such ideas (and suspicions) are not confined to co
 nspiracy theories\; they are commonly expressed\, both in a perceived decl
 ine of scientific ‘expertise’\, and in the tenets and accumulated assu
 mptions of postwar photographic realism.  It may be that these ways of see
 ing\, rather than the conspiracy theories themselves\, present the most ur
 gent democratic challenges.\n\n\nThe talk will be followed by a wine recep
 tion. 
LOCATION:CRASSH Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 9D
 T
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