Ep. 1 — Conspiracy Theories and the January 6 Capitol Hill Riots / Joseph Coohill, Professor Buzzkill History Podcast.
Jan 24, 2021•33 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Episode description
How did technology fuel the conspiracy theories that resulted in the unprecedented sacking of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th by violent Donald Trump supporters? Joseph Coohill, professor of modern world history and host of the popular Professor Buzzkill History Podcast offers perspectives on how this event compares to others in history and its implications for American democracy.
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Chitra Ragavan:
How did technology help fuel the spread and reach of conspiracies that resulted in the unprecedented sacking of the US Capitol on January 6th, by violent supporters of President Donald Trump? And how does this event compare to others in history?
Chitra Ragavan:
Hello everyone. I'm Chitra Ragavan and this is Techtopia. On this podcast, we take a look at the addictive and inexorable forces of technology that are transforming people, society and humanity. Joining me now is the historian, Joseph Coohill. He's the producer and host of the popular Professor Buzzkill History Podcast, which addresses misconceptions and misunderstandings in history. Professor Coohill earned his doctorate in history from the University of Oxford in 1998 and has taught at universities in Britain and the United States. Joe, welcome to Techtopia.
Joseph Coohill:
Well thank you for having me on the show and I love the idea of Techtopia. It's a great podcast.
Chitra Ragavan:
Thank you. When you watched that riotous mob sacking the US Capitol last week, with your knowledge of modern world history, what were the first thoughts that came to your mind?
Joseph Coohill:
Well, it followed very similar patterns to other sorts of mobs that flock together and act together based on essentially very, very shallow and already discredited information. It was mob mentality. Most of the people who were there didn't know much beyond the idea that, "Oh, I believe Trump and Trump believes this." They weren't necessarily deep QAnon encyclopedic people, but, and that's very, very common. It's much easier to stir up emotions and have people rush to physically attack some place than it is to say, "Oh, okay, let's sit down and have a discussion about this." So it looked to me an awful lot, like as the media has portrayed it, as the Reichstag and various other things. And a lot of people stormed the Berlin Wall in 1989, for instance, who weren't necessarily anti-East Germany. They were just, it was a big mob and they wanted to get their sledgehammers out and did so. So it's a very, very common thing in history, unfortunately, but it's one of these things we constantly have to contend with.
Chitra Ragavan:
Were you surprised that it actually happened here in America?
Joseph Coohill:
Well, yes and no. Yes, because I would have thought, given that there had been so many protests in 2020 and that the police presence and the military presence around the BLM protests in 2020 had been so strong and there had been some rings around Lincoln Monument and rings of national guards being around the Capitol, that that would have been taken care of beforehand. So I'm not surprised that it happened here. I am surprised that it was that there was a kind of incompetent response by the security forces, if you will, not to be ready for it.
Chitra Ragavan:
There were people there from many different groups, many different beliefs, many different, who believed in a lot of different conspiracies. And before we kind of delve into that, I know you like to make this clarification between conspiracies, conspiracy theories, conspiracy mongering. What's that clarification?
Joseph Coohill:
Well, yeah, I think this is a real problem because after all, a conspiracy is just a group of two or more people who get together and decide to do something and not tell anyone else about it. They do it in secret. In fact, the word conspiracy comes from two Latin words, con and spire, which means to breathe together.
