Professor Richard Moon has published a piece on the life of a conspiracy theory in the September issue of Literary Review of Canada: the country’s leading forum for discussion and debate about books, culture, politics, and ideas.
In his piece, "Language Barrier: The life of a conspiracy theory," Professor Moon examines the life of Bilingual Today, French Tomorrow as one example. The book, published in 1977, argued that Pierre Trudeau’s policy to increase bilingualism in the federal civil service was simply the first step in a larger plan to turn Canada into a completely French-speaking country.
“Suspicion of authority makes conspiracy theories remarkably resilient,” writes Professor Moon. He concludes that disinformation now spreads easily and rapidly within social media ecosystems that are liberated from filters and counter-argument.
Read the full piece on the Literary Review of Canada's website.