Can lawsuits slow the tide of right-wing conspiracy theory? Seth Rich’s family wants to find out
As right-wing conspiracy theories metastasize, is there a legal way to limit the damage to people’s lives?
Amanda Marcotte
June 1, 2018 10:00am (UTC)
In the era of Donald Trump, conspiracy theories aren't just getting more prominent and more numerous. They're also becoming more personal. One of the hallmarks of the modern era of social media-fueled, right-wing paranoia is the increasing tendency of conspiracy theorists to target not just politicians and celebrities for their lurid myth-making. Now such concoctions may affect the lives of ordinary people who, in the past, would likely have not had a high enough profile to attract this kind of obsessive rumor-mongering.
Now the targets are turning to the courts to fight back. The parents of the Sandy Hook massacre victims are suing Infowars founder Alex Jones for spreading conspiracy theories alleging that they faked their children's deaths. (Perhaps in an effort to shield himself, Jones has backed away from such theories and now says he believes the killings actually happened.)
Brennan Gilmore, a Virginia activist who happened to film the attack that killed Heather Heyer at the Charlottesville protests last summer, is also suing Jones and a blogger behind Gateway Pundit for conspiracy theories meant to discredit him. And the family members of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer murdered in July 2016, in what police say was a botched robbery, are suing Fox News and others for stoking conspiracy theories that Rich, rather than Russian agents, may have been behind the hack of Democratic emails given to WikiLeaks -- and was murdered in retaliation.
Read more at: https://www.salon.com/2018/06/01/can-lawsuits-slow-the-tide-of-right-wing-conspiracy-theory-seth-richs-family-wants-to-find-out/
This is from the opposition press true; but I'm against any unhinged conspiracy theories.
Though, common sense, makes me wonder what happened with Seth Rich, if one starts bringing some of those other conspiracy theories in, obviously, some go too far.
