From The Guardian
Trump officials address ‘chemtrails’ conspiracy theories while spreading misinformation, experts say
By Dharna Noor
Trump officials’ recent attempt to dispel concerns about “chemtrails” has perplexed and angered some experts who say the administration has itself promoted the conspiracy theory while also spreading climate misinformation.
“This is an intriguing strategy … in an administration that, depending on agency, is actively promulgating conspiracy theories or at least conspiratorial thinking,” said Timothy Tangherlini, a professor at the Berkeley School of Information who studies the circulation of folklore and conspiracy theories...
Sijia Xiao, a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University who for a 2021 study interviewed 20 current and former chemtrails believers, said the conspiracy theory attracts many people looking for simple explanations to tragedies.
“Several participants in my interviews, they related chemtrails to their personal health problems or environmental concerns like pollution,” she said. “And in this example of the Texas flood, I think people are trying to attribute a clear cause to a real life issue...”
Tim Tangherlini recently joined the I School in a joint-appointment with the Department of Scandinavian. His research centers around the circulation of stories on and across social networks, and the ways in which stories are used by individuals in their ongoing negotiation of ideology with the groups to which they belong.
Sijia Xiao is a Ph.D. alum (’24) who studied under Coye Cheshire. Her research focused on human-computer interaction and social computing.
