{"id":42647,"date":"2018-01-05T06:05:57","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T11:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=42647"},"modified":"2018-01-08T08:18:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T13:18:50","slug":"x-files-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/01\/x-files-fake-news.html","title":{"rendered":"The X-Files and Fake News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The return of the X-Files for its new season was fascinating as it combined its classic conspiracy theory themes with up-to-date connections with current politics, science denialism, and fake news. The irony, of course, is that conspiracy theories are themselves one of the ways that the powers that be can sow distrust and shift blame \u2013 just think of the way that\u00a0antisemitic conspiracy theories have served to shift blame for societal\u00a0problems onto scapegoats not only in 20th century Germany but in many other times and places, including in certain circles in the United States in the present day. The idea that aliens have visited Earth throughout its history can be used to reinforce the racist idea that \u201cprimitive\u201d colonized peoples could not have created great monuments, art, or engineering<\/a>. The idea that a powerful group is really controlling the events that unfold in our world can serve to distract attention from the genuine role played by incompetent leaders.<\/p>\n

The Cigarette Smoking Man\u2019s retrospective speech with which the episode begins, as well as all his commentary throughout the episode, provide a major focus for those who want to explore the view of truth, lies, and knowledge on the series. The fact that the episode is called \u201cMy Struggle III\u201d<\/a> not only ties it to the previous episodes in which the Smoking Man (whose name is revealed in this episode to be\u00a0Carl Gerhard Bush) looks back on his life, but also connects him to Adolf Hitler whose famous book, typically known in the English-speaking world by its German title\u00a0Mein Kampf<\/a><\/em>, means \u201cMy Struggle.\u201d<\/a> In an era when Nazism is\u00a0seeing a resurgence, the question I find myself asking is whether the X-Files will challenge or reinforce that, since\u00a0there is a close connection between conspiracy thinking and white supremicism. When the Smoking Man affirms global warming, comments that humanity has thrown science out the window, and says that people would dismiss as \u201cfake news\u201d his plan to unleash an alien virus even if they were to hear about it, he\u00a0seems to be at the same time someone who speaks accurately about problems, and someone who wants carry out a Holocaust in\u00a0an attempt\u00a0to solve them. This gets at a key issue that I thought was also central to grasping\u00a0LOST<\/a><\/em>: it is not enough to ask about truth and answers,\u00a0we must also concern ourselves with\u00a0ethics. (See my posts on \u201cEggtown\u201d<\/a> and \u201cThe Island and the People\u201d<\/a> for more on this topic as it relates to LOST). Solving the world\u2019s problems is not\u00a0a matter of\u00a0exterminating the right enemies, but of recognizing that such an approach is inherently wrong regardless of who the victims are.<\/p>\n

I also want to highlight the fact that Chris Carter actually brought into focus something that he had planned since back in Season 7<\/a>, relating to Scully\u2019s son William. See the discussions in Entertainment Weekly<\/a> and CinemaBlend<\/a> for more on that topic, if you\u2019ve already seen the episode. I won\u2019t reveal quite so big a spoiler here. I will acknowledge being unclear exactly what from Season 10 is supposed to have been a vision and what if anything actually happened<\/a>. But that very element fits nicely into the theme of individual perception and reality\/truth.<\/p>\n

For those who\u2019ve seen it, what did you think of the episode?<\/p>\n

For more on the question of how we find out the truth in the present era, see my blog post from yesterday, \u201cWikipediatricians and Ways of Knowing.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Related to science fiction and critique of (Neo-)Nazis, see also this wonderful set of comments on The Force Awakens:<\/p>\n

\"BE303302-CD60-4C2E-90A9-695A79631524\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The return of the X-Files for its new season was fascinating as it combined its classic conspiracy theory themes with up-to-date connections with current politics, science denialism, and fake news. The irony, of course, is that conspiracy theories are themselves one of the ways that the powers that be can sow distrust and shift blame […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":42648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[500,1816,1890,14994,2150,2152,2153,14993,2408,14597,3370,3558,6916,11455,11561,13743,13929],"class_list":["post-42647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-x-files-science-fiction","tag-alien","tag-chris-carter","tag-cigarette","tag-cigarette-smoking-man","tag-conspiracies","tag-conspiracy","tag-conspiracy-theories","tag-csm","tag-dana-scully","tag-fake-news","tag-father","tag-fox-mulder","tag-man","tag-smoking","tag-son","tag-william","tag-x-files"],"yoast_head":"\nThe X-Files and Fake News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The return of the X-Files for its new season was fascinating as it combined its classic conspiracy theory themes with up-to-date connections with current\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/01\/x-files-fake-news.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The X-Files and Fake News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The return of the X-Files for its new season was fascinating as it combined its classic conspiracy theory themes with up-to-date connections with current\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/01\/x-files-fake-news.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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