Know Your Enemy: Fox News Drafts Its Audience To Serve As Cannon Fodder For The Culture Wars.

“Yes, I know my enemies!
They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me!
Compromise! Conformity! Assimilation! Submission!
Ignorance! Hypocrisy! Brutality! The elite!
All of which are American dreams!
All of which are American dreams!” — Know Your Enemy by Rage Against The Machine.

Even I, a well-read man with a terminal degree, can find myself sometimes overpowered by the allure of a good conspiracy theory. I allow myself this indulgence, from time to time, in what some might label as a banal pursuit. A good conspiracy theory envelops something true and immutable. For example, a common conspiracy that black people allow to flourish and spread is that the FBI played an integral role in the deaths of Malcolm and Martin. The immutable fact that is contained in both of these conspiracies is that both men were assassinated. It is also a fact that the FBI was surveilling both men. These undeniable facts are the cornerstone of the conspiracy and allow wilder propositions to germinate. All good conspiracies are rooted in fact.

Moreover, every group of people has its own conspiracy theories. A popular one in the black community is rich white people lie to worst-off white people about who and what is really causing them their problems. The filament of…