Behind a wooden lectern surrounded by colorful pastel drawings she sips a cup of coffee and glances around the room. “The paintings are a little bit lusty,” she says to the videographer who has set his vast array of equipment up at the back of the Humanities Center Gallery in Trinity Hall.
Following a short introduction Rebecca Moore, professor of religious studies at San Diego State University begins her presentation.
For many the topic of her Monday night lecture brings UFOs, aliens, and secret government plots to mind.
Despite people’s typical associations with the term conspiracy theory, Moore sought to address them, the recent public interest they’ve held, and their effect on democracy in her lecture, “Contested Knowledge: What Conspiracy Theories are Telling Us.”
Moore’s presentation was part of a guest lecture series being presented at Chico State by the religious studies department.
The religious studies department asked professor Moore to speak at Chico State because she is a recognized world expert on religious movements in the U.S., said Jed Wyrick, department chair of religious studies.
Moore began her lecture with a short disclosure on how those who do not agree with her views on conspiracies have referred to her in the past.
“Its been said that I am worse than a holocaust denier,” Moore said with a smile.
Many of the colorful descriptions that have been written about Moore were in reference to her essay, “Reconstructing Reality: Conspiracy Theories About Jonestown.”
Jonestown refers to a settlement in Guyana where a religious movement known as the Peoples Temple committed mass suicide in 1978 under the leadership of a man named Jim Jones.
Moore has done extensive research on the Peoples Temple and the events of Jonestown, something she made reference to throughout her speech.
Many conspiracies are influenced by times of social and economic unrest, and instead of attributing it to random events and happenings, many people choose to believe that it was all part of some greater scheme.
Moore explained that she believes there are three types of conspiracy theorists; professional, non professional and those who work using the Internet, and that often their theories offer what is reported to be a complete explanation of an event when the true historic account does not.
One example provided was that following the Jonestown massacre people began to speculate that the mass suicides were part of a secret CIA operation that was testing mind control techniques, and that provided a complete explanation of why so many people would take their own lives.
The rising body count in Jonestown is what created much of the speculation surrounding the massacre.
“Conspiracy theories try to fill in the gaps to try to explain the events,” Moore said. “History is messy.”
She also addressed events in which people believe the U.S. government was conspiring against its own people like in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
The Tuskegee study infected young African-American men in the South with syphilis under the guise of the U.S. government offering them free health care.
Despite events like the Tuskegee study, Moore explained that it does not give reason to blame other historic events such as 9/11 and the Jonestown massacre on secret government plots.
Rather than just dismissing conspiracy theories as paranoia among a section of the population, acknowledgement of these theories is important, Moore said.
Discrediting conspiracies or at least challenging conspiracy theorists and their sources of information allow people to see the truth behind the conspiracy.
“I really like what she had to say,” religious studies major Buchanon Baxter said. “She really offered and unbiased approach.”
Following her speech Moore answered questions from the audience, thanked them for their attendance, and then said that she was sorry to rush off but she had an alien spaceship to catch.
