Conspiracy and Paranoia

4 Credits

Gaslighting, paranoia, conspiracy theories: we hear a lot about these things every day. Conspiracy theories seem to be everywhere--everywhere, of course, except in our own heads. Why does everybody else seem so paranoid? Can we tell an actual conspiracy from a crazy conspiracy theory? Is social media gaslighting you? (And what is gaslighting?) This class will use recent literature and some films to explore why everybody resorts to conspiratorial thinking and paranoid explanations for events large and small. Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, W