Dr. Carmen Celestini

Dr. Carmen Celestini, an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, said racism was heavily entrenched in the pandemic, due to misinformation and conspiracy theories (mainly online) about the origins of the COVID-19 virus and its spread into society.

“People, when they’re afraid or they have a sense of injustice or, a sense of loss of freedom, they tend to turn to conspiracy theories or ideas of something outside of themselves being in control,” said Celestini, who is also a post-doctoral fellow at The Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism.

Watch the full report by Emerald Bensadounon on Global News.

For my research on conspiracy theories, religion, and extremism I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time on the social media platform Telegram. For a few weeks, a group named White Lives Matter (WLM) had been planning rallies and protests in the major cities in the United States and in Toronto, Canada. . . . The administrators or leaders were posting numerous comments about keeping the chat focused on the protests and excluding racial commentary or extremist opinions. There was a twofold rationale for these requests: a) media were monitoring the group chat and they wanted the focus to be on the protests and not providing any other information; and b) they wanted to appeal to the “normies” in the anti-lock down groups to join them. Normies is a term that QAnon adherents and anti-lock down supporters use to describe themselves.

Read the full article on H-Nationalism.

In this in this episode of Shane Hewitt’s podcast, Shift, we talk about how individuals can be attracted to conspiracy theories. Looking specifically at the rise of conspiracy adherence throughout the COVID lock downs, Shane and I discuss the most prevalent conspiracies such as QAnon and The Great Reset, and how these theories help to “explain” what is occurring within the contemporary political upheavals.

Listen to this episode of Shift. My segment starts at 28:54.

For this special report by Global News, I was interviewed by Stewart Bell for my perspective on how family members can interact with individuals who have become adherents to conspiracy theories during the pandemic. Interwoven with tales of family turmoil and chaos I explain why conspiracy theories have become so prominent during the pandemic and their role in understanding the fears many people face during such turbulent times.

Watch the full report by Stewart Bell on Global News.

I talked with Jeff Semple of Global News about how the pandemic produced a perfect storm for conspiracies, and how Canadians can break the chain of lies.

See the full report on Global News. My segment begins at 2:41.

While some ideas are far-fetched, Carmen Celestini, a University of Waterloo academic who studies the history of conspiracy thought, says it may cause more harm to brush them off—legitimate fears often underpin these beliefs. “As a society, I think that it’s time for us to stop dismissing people who do believe in conspiracy theories.”

Read the full article by Lauren Scott on The Cambridge Times.

At the heart of the Great Reset Conspiracy, a theory that global elites are using the pandemic to establish a New World Order (NWO), is a confluence of fears brought forward by the pandemic, including economic, health, and the long-standing notion of elites enslaving humanity. The words of Prince Charles on June 3rd, 2020 to encourage the “resetting” of the global economy and humanity’s response to potentially cataclysmic climate change, did not evoke a movement, but instead served as the “proof” of the beginning of a New World Order (NWO). The words “the Great Reset” have now been uttered by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and conspiracists have re-interpreted President Joe Biden’s campaign slogan “Build Back Better,” as proof that the global elites are using the pandemic as their opportunity to establish the NWO.

Read the full article on H-Nationalism.

The most extreme congregations believe that the government is using the COVID scare to grab control of people’s religious freedoms and individual rights, says another religious studies scholar, Carmen Celestini.

“They actually refer to the masks we wear as face diapers.”

Read the full article by Luisa D’Amato on The Waterloo Record.

Carmen Celestini, who is a fellow at the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism, said . . . more has to be done to better understand the allure of far-right and conspiracy theories and their ties to organized religion. She said governments should work to partner with researchers to contend with the phenomenon.

“Most of the public that’s engaging in these groups are wandering into these things,” she said. “What we need is more prevention.” She added where the public and governments have failed in the past is in their dismissal of these groups as operating on the fringes, and an assumption that their adherents are the “uneducated, unwashed masses.” Many of those who rioted in D.C., she noted, were white-collar professionals—doctors, lawyers, teachers, and small business owners.

Read the full article by Samantha Wright Allen and Beatrice Paez on The Hill Times. (Subscription required.)

The disinformation surrounding Dominion’s voting machines is par for the course given the political climate in the United States, said Carmen Celestini, a professor at the University of Waterloo and a fellow at the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism.

“Conspiracy theories like these, which are encouraged by people like Rudy (Giuliani), tap into some already-held beliefs that people in groups like QAnon have,” Celestini said. “They’re getting this information not just from Giuliani but from OANN (One America News Network), YouTube shows, podcasts. If you’re in a social media bubble with only these sources, you get sucked down that rabbit hole quickly.”

Read the full article by Jacob Lorinc on The Toronto Star.