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22/05/2013

Selection of BBC World Service Programmes BBC Radio 4 joins the BBC World Service.

Thinking Allowed

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Conspiracy theories - International suffering

Duration:
28 minutes
First broadcast:
Wednesday 25 January 2012

Do you remember the moon landings? Up to 20% of American believe they never happened. When it comes to 9/11 the public suspicion is even greater. Polls consistently show that between 30% and 40% of Americans think the official account is a cover up, that the US establishment was directly involved in planting explosives in the towers or was guilty of deliberately looking the other way as the attacks were planned. In this country we are scarcely more trusting. Why has suspicion of conspiracy become so widespread? Laurie discusses the lure of the conspiracy theory with David Aaronovitch and Jovan Byford.
Also on the programme, the suffering of strangers: What is it that makes us care for people we have never met and have very different lives from our own? A sense of justice or an impulse for charity? Laurie talks to Kate Nash
Producer: Charlie Taylor.

  • Dr Jovan Byford

    Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology in the Faculty of Social Sciences at The Open University

    Conspiracy Theories: A Critical Introduction
    Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
    ISBN-10: 0230272797
    ISBN-13: 978-0230272798

    Find out more about Jovan Byford

  • David Aaronovitch

    Writer and commentator

    Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History
    Publisher: Vintage
    ISBN-10: 009947896X
    ISBN-13: 978-0099478966

    Find out more about David Aaronovitch

  • Kate Nash

    Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths College University of London

    Charity or justice: What is the suffering of strangers to us?
    Paper to be given at BSA Conference on Humanitarianism

    BSA Presidential Event: Sociology, Suffering and Humanitarianism
    Friday 3rd February 2012
    British Library Conference Centre, London

    Registration for this event closes on Sunday 29th January 2012
    phone: +44 (0)191 383 0839
    email: enquiries@britsoc.org.uk

    Find out more about Kate Nash

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