Turning Point: The Rise of Right-Wing Politics, the Waco Siege, and the Response of American Law Enforcement
30 years ago, federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives serving search and arrest warrants for a fundamentalist Christian cult known as the Branch Davidians became involved in a firefight which developed into a nearly two-month-long siege with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the helm. The changing of the conservative movement in the U.S. into one largely dominated and controlled by extremist parties who do not have an interest in making medially or statistically informed policy, but rather in appealing to their own base and ideology, remains the legacy of the siege until today.
Destroying the Foundation of Democracy under the Mantle of Free Speech
For long enough, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and so many other social media platforms have allowed the creation of echo chambers promoting wild conspiracy theories and false news. If not all the incidents before, at least what happened at the US Capitol should show us that violence, incited through various online disinformation campaigns, has moved from the online to the offline world already a long time ago.
The Rise of QAnon – How Conspiracy Theories Became Mainstream
All tough Conspiracy theories are not new, as they exist since as early as the Middle Ages, there is something special about the QAnon movement. It is a global phenomenon, attracting large numbers across the globe and there are many different factors contributing to its success. How can a far-right conspiracy theory about a global child sex-trafficking ring, run by a cabal of paedophiles who are worshipping Satan become that successful?
