Out with Alex Jones-style conspiracy theorizing. In with Libs of TikTok.
![A tin foil hat army.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/BdPJ6S5rxtidFdsnDCBjsJ-415-80.jpg)
Many have critiqued the decision by Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz to reveal the identity of the woman behind Libs of TikTok, a popular right-wing (and previously anonymous) Twitter account which amplifies and condemns videos progressives have posted of themselves on social media. Recently, many of those videos are created by preschool and elementary school teachers touting DIY curricula and classroom policies on sexual orientation and gender identity. But here's a critique most have missed: The person behind Libs of TikTok doesn't matter much, not because the account isn't influential (it is, including with lawmakers), but because conspiracism is communal now.
It wasn't always. We used to think of conspiracy theorizing as the province of the X-Files lone weirdo doing a string map on the wall — collecting classified government documents, talking to secretive sources in parking garages, piecing together an airtight (or, as far as everyone else is concerned, outlandish and silly) case against the alleged conspirators.
This old mode of conspiracy theorizing made news just this week: Infowars, the flagship media property of Alex Jones, filed for bankruptcy. Infowars has been a major force and Jones a prominent figure among fringe, conspiracist types for years. He's well-known enough, including in the mainstream, to be a symbol of a whole subculture in American politics.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But that concentrated influence and X-Files style isn't where conspiracism is heading now. While Jones-style theorizing "engages in a sort of detective work," write political scientists Nancy L. Rosenblum and Russell Muirhead in A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy, the "new conspiracism is something different. There is no punctilious demand for proofs, no exhaustive amassing of evidence, no dots revealed to form a pattern, no close examination of the operators plotting in the shadows. The new conspiracism dispenses with the burden of explanation. Instead, we have innuendo and verbal gesture ... conspiracy without the theory."
In place of theory, however, is community. Conspiracism now is a group project — we see this clearly with QAnon — and the success of Libs of TikTok reflects that shift. The account doesn't claim there's a coordinated conspiracy by progressive teachers and officials; it simply presents the videos (some of which are legitimately appalling, some of which may be fake, overblown, or taken out of context) and retweets vague charges that "they" are "after your kids."
Few can build a personality-centric conspiracy theory empire like Jones did, and I suspect we won't see that model so much going forward. But just about anyone can run Libs of TikTok, and it's the community response to the content that matters now. Though it noted "Libs of TikTok is a collective, molded to the hive mind of the right-wing internet," Lorenz's exposé largely missed the point.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Hamas and Fatah sign unity agreement in Beijing
Speed Read China brokered a reconciliation deal between the rival Palestinian factions
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
The Earth just saw its hottest day on record
Speed Read July 21, 2024 was the hottest day in recorded global history
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bob Menendez to resign after corruption conviction
Speed Read The New Jersey senator submitted to resignation pressure following charges of federal bribery and corruption
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How Biden's enablers may have delayed his bowing out
Talking Points Joe Biden's inner circle faces calls for a reckoning for allegedly shielding the president — and the public — from questions of aging and electoral viability
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Democrats 'resigned to a second Trump presidency'
Talking Points Did the assassination attempt end Biden's election chances?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Are down-ticket Democrats doomed?
Talking Points President Joe Biden's refusal to step back from his reelection campaign has some local Democrats wondering if their own races are in trouble — but not everyone is worried
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why Project 2025 is creating headaches for the Trump campaign
Talking Points Democrats want to make Trump 'own' the controversial plan
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Biden flopped, but did Trump really 'win' the debate?
Talking Points The president struggled to articulate a clear vision for the country, but Trump's cavalcade of aggressive falsehoods might not do the Republican candidate any favors in the long run
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Why the Hunter Biden verdict isn't the slam dunk Republicans have been calling for
Talking Points After years of targeting the President's family amidst claims of a rigged justice system, some conservatives still aren't satisfied with the younger Biden's three felony convictions.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published