Book Review: "Escaping the Rabbit Hole" by Mick West

I am not one who usually reads books about conspiracy theories (ah, who am I kidding, I read every single Kennedy book available at one point! Though, I would rather have not seen photographs from the President's autopsy, that sort of thing is supposed to be private). Anyways, Mick West is an entirely different deal - instead of covering the theories and making them part of a huge investigation, he writes about how to get people out of what has now been dubbed the 'rabbit hole'. I think we all have to admit that we've dropped down a conspiracy rabbit hole at one time or another. For example: if any of you remember when I got lost down the Kennedy rabbit hole. I apologise for the person I was back then, it was a weird time for me.

The purpose of the book is to show us why people believe in conspiracy theories and not to ridicule them. Whilst running his website, MetaBunk, the author himself has been creditted with bringing many back from the lure of the rabbit holes of various degrees. He states that though conspiracy theories such as chemtrails and the JFK assassination are usually blown out of proportion, there are probably such theories, though much smaller, that are true. We should never just blindly trust that the government is telling us the truth about everything. I liked the way he went through the ideas considering why conspiracy theories exist, especially how they have been portrayed by the media. He looks at the usage of the term 'conspiracy theory' and he finds it goes back way further than the JFK assassination even though that is what made it a 'popular term'. He covers the fact that it was actually the 1990s that reignited the term and that this is where things like the chemtrails theory came into play. Of course, it exploded with the 2001 attack on the Twin Towers.

He looks at the ways that people fall into rabbits holes, showing that it is usually confirmation bias or something along those lines which allows for it. One big theme is that there seems to be communities of these people, whether online or in real life - which perpetuate conspiracy theories and reinforce beliefs. In the age of the internet, this has pretty much grown and grown since the 1990s and of course, then we have real life friends and family who can believe in ridiculous theories and allow the person falling down the rabbit hole to fall even further, often not realising the possible outcomes of that being nothing good. With these people, the author states that it is great to find some sort of common ground, establish something that you both know to be true at first before moving on. Don't make fun of the person who believes in conspiracy theories. As we know, anger and conspiracy beliefs can result in tragedies such as shootings, harassment and very real world consequences for people.

He gives us testimonies of people who have enjoyed his company and those who have not. He writes about people who have emerged from rabbit holes and others who call him a government shill. But I think one of the most useful pieces of advice that he gives us is to make sure we aren't perpetuating the conspiracy theories. Online there is enough misinformation and of course, in the realms and depths of the hell hole that is Twitter, there is far more than we will ever need. From a conspiracy theory perpetuated by Alex Jones that the Sandy Hook shooting was a conspiracy to the Pizzagate rubbish which was as confusing as it sounds, Americans seem to be big believers in conspiracy theories but that doesn't mean we have to be. Mick West gives us some good tips and tricks to not getting sucked in. I like the good old fashioned way though - logging out of Twitter whenever I get the chance.

Reading this book has been very interesting. By far my favourite part was where he wrote about the origins of the term 'conspiracy theory' since I love looking at the history behind our uses of words and phrases. If he has any more books I might give them a go as well. I'm not going to lie, I really quite enjoyed this and that surprised me. If you're looking for a light and fun read which also has a great amount of usable information then I would highly recommend this book.