Open Sources Guelph - September 3, 2020

This week on Open Sources Guelph, there's no rest for the wicked before this Labour Day weekend. We're going to head back to the United States where the intersection of racism and police brutality is busy again thanks in no small part to the disinterest of the man in the White House. We're also going to talk about the concerning conspiracy sharing of a sitting MP, and we'll talk to an expert in how we think about why it feels like QAnon is winning (and how we can reverse the effects).

This Thursday, September 3, at 5 pm, Scotty Hertz and Adam A. Donaldson will discuss:

American Carnage. The shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI released a new wave of protest by Black Lives Matter and other social justice groups and activists across the United States, and even a few places in Canada, but it also unleashed something else. From Kyle Rittenhouse, to the so-called Trump Caravans in Portland, to the President's own refusal to denounce his supporters doing violence while attacking activists, we'll look at all the angles on the renewed fight for justice in the U.S.

Findlay Fire. "The closeness of these two should alarm every Canadian." That's what Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay said about a clip from a 2009 interview featuring now Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland talking to George Soros. Soros has been cast as the boogeyman in multiple conspiracy theories, which has long been understood as anti-Semitic, but there's a bigger problem. Seeing the takeover of the conservative party in the U.S. by conspiracy theorists, are we starting to see that here in Canada.

Cognitive Theory. Speaking of QAnon, it's become clear that this is not going away like a miracle anytime soon, there was even a QAnon-esque gathering here in Guelph last weekend. But what is driving this belief in not just unfounded conspiracies, but out-right deranged narratives about secret Satanists? Christopher DiCarlo, a cognitive behaviourist and expert in critical thinking will join us this week to tell us why, and tell us how we can help people find their way back to some semblance of reality.

Open Sources is live on CFRU 93.3 fm and cfru.ca at 5 pm on Thursday.