The Telegram (St. John's)

N.L. needs an able captain

- RUSSELL WANGERSKY   russell.wangersky @thetelegra­m.com @wangersky Russell Wangersky’s column appears in Saltwire newspapers and websites across Atlantic Canada.

I hate when there’s an obvious message in something, but when that message won’t ever reach the eyes and ears of those who should see and hear it. The message? Pumping up conspiracy theories is not harmless. Right now, we have plenty of conspiracy-peddlers who have found a way to make good money by pulling other peoples’ strings. They use their conspiracy theories to sell advertisin­g on their websites or networks, or even to sell their own products. Think about Infowars’ Alex Jones, relentless­ly selling his own supplement­s and more espousing the theory that the massacre of 20 school children and six adults at Sandy Hook was faked. (Now that he’s being sued for his comments, he claims he’s just an entertaine­r, not a journalist, and says his comments were just “rhetorical hyperbole,” not meant to be taken as fact.) Or think for a while about Pizzagate, the bizarre conspiracy that made the rounds during the 2016 U.S. federal election, suggesting that senior Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, were running a child sex ring in the basement of the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington. (Leave aside that the restaurant doesn’t even have a basement.) Edgar Welch from Salisbury, North Carolina, believed that conspiracy so completely that he drove to Washington to “self-investigat­e” the scandal. He was armed with an AR-15 rifle, and ended up firing three shots inside the restaurant. Luckily no one was injured. The Pizzagate scandal is as fake as Jones’ take on Sandy Hook, but, like many conspiracy theories, it made money — and, in some cases, cements power — for those who promulgate­d lies as truth. Now, in Canada, it looks like we may have our own burgeoning example of how dangerous ramping up the rhetoric can be. There’s still plenty of details that the RCMP are keeping under wraps, but, bit by bit, we’re finding out more about the armed man who broke through the gates at Rideau Hall on July 2. It’s already been pointed out that Cory Hurren, who drove from Manitoba with several weapons to confront Prime Justin Trudeau, had made social media posts suggesting he was following the bizarre Qanon conspiracy, and even making refernence to Pizzagate on Instagram. Qanon is a right-wing conspiracy theory in the United States that argues there is a massive deep-state group of pedophiles who are supposedly controllin­g, well, basically the entire world. Soon, the theory argues, there will be an uprising called “The Storm,” followed by, as usual, promises of global near-utopia. (It would be almost comic if so many people didn’t actually take it seriously.) Tuesday, Global News broke a story outlining details of a letter that Hurren had written to his supervisor in the Canadian Rangers, including the fact that he was taking action to confront Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and stop Canada from falling into a Communist dictatorsh­ip. Where he got his informatio­n for the nation’s overthrow by Communist forces will no doubt come out as his criminal charges make their way through the courts. It’s a case we should all watch very closely. Who is unlikely to be held to account for their actions in court? The people building their reputation­s and making a fine living peddling imaginary conspiraci­es to the credulous or the afraid. Now, shilling lies to mess with the rubes has been big business since long before P.T. Barnum ran sideshows. As Barnum famously pointed out, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” But it’s far from being just fun and games and a way to separate people from their money. It’s gotten people killed, and will get them killed again. Talk about sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.

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