Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Did you want to contribute anything on antisemitism?

Rick Rosner: We can start by discussing how antisemitism and crazy beliefs about Jews exist. You ran through dozens of conspiracy theories about Jews. Compared to their population size, the number of conspiracy theories about Jews likely places them at the forefront of any ethnic or religious group in that regard.

Sure, there are conspiracy theories about Christians, Muslims, Hindus—but the sheer volume of bizarre theories about Jews is disproportionately high However, conspiracy theories aren’t just about Jews. The increasing number of people believing crazy things about Jews coincides with the rise in people believing crazy things in general.

For months now, I’ve had an on-and-off Twitter back-and-forth with a woman who literally believes the Earth is flat. She’s not alone. There are probably millions of people worldwide who believe in flat Earth theory. And while it’s ridiculous, they’ve developed a detailed (though entirely incorrect) framework to justify their beliefs.

Rosner: Their arguments make no sense.

Jacobsen: There is a theory with at least one version of flat Earth theory, the “hole” in space that contains the flat Earth is supposedly created by sound waves that form a giant cavity. You don’t fall off the edge of the Earth because, according to them, the flat Earth is rimmed by a mountain range.

They have an answer for every reasonable objection—not a reasonable answer, but an answer nonetheless. We live in an era of conspiracy theories, where misinformation spreads through social media at an unprecedented scale, making it easier than ever to manipulate and radicalize people simply through sheer volume of messaging.

Rosner: So, in addition to the rise in antisemitism—further compounded over the past year and a half by events in Israel and Gaza—there’s also been a rise in people believing bizarre conspiracy theories about Jews. As we’ve discussed before, back in the 1950s, if you had a crazy theory and wanted to recruit followers, you had to do it through the mail. You had to send letters. If you were wealthy, you could call people on the phone, but long-distance calls were expensive.

Most people spread their ideas either locally—by organizing meetings, which limited their reach—or through the U.S. mail, which also imposed logistical constraints. Mass propaganda was difficult. The Russian “firehose of propaganda” technique wasn’t possible when communication relied on physical mail.

You could broadcast your ideas on the radio, but that required enough money to own a radio station. And even then, it had a limited reach—maybe 100 to 200 miles, depending on the station’s power. At night, radio signals traveled farther due to atmospheric conditions, but an independent propagandist would still have struggled to reach a large audience.

Spreading propaganda 80 years ago was hard. Today, it’s effortless. That’s why so many people believe all sorts of nonsense.

So, Jews are one of the oldest religious and ethnic groups in the world. Judaism predates both Christianity and Islam. Over 2,500 years of history have allowed time for an enormous accumulation of conspiracy theories and misinformation about Jews. This is a lineage of historical nonsense that modern technology has now amplified exponentially.

It would be interesting to examine how far back antisemitic conspiracy theories go. The earliest well-documented one is likely the accusation that Jews killed Jesus, which is arguably the most widespread antisemitic belief in history. That idea is nearly 2,000 years old, depending on when the New Testament writings fully solidified.

This single belief has been held by tens, if not hundreds, of millions of people across history and continues to be a source of deep-seated prejudice. It has likely played a significant role in shaping negative predispositions toward Jews within some forms of Christianity, making believers more receptive to additional conspiracy theories that paint Jews as a sinister or malevolent force.

Jacobsen: Are there any conspiracy theories about Jews that aren’t negative? If you interpret it properly, the idea that “Jews created time” could actually be seen as benevolent, even though it is usually framed as malevolent. In this context, if Jews invented time, then they created the literal arrow of time that allows Gentiles to even have a life and exist in the first place. That’s an act that could be seen as fundamentally benevolent, even though it’s often spun in a sinister way. If that’s the base claim, then obviously the argument follows that time was invented by Jews for sinister purposes. 

Rosner: But I don’t understand how you can have existence without time.

Jacobsen: Another one is the conspiracy theory that Jews have superpowers.

Rosner: When you think about World War II and the Holocaust—how much more fun would it have been to fight the Nazis if you had a time machine? If you could go back with CRISPR technology, tweak the Jews’ genes, and modify the Nazis’ genes to make the Jews stronger while shrinking the Nazis into little pig people—that would be appropriate.

Photo by Tom Radetzki on Unsplash

Rick Rosner is an accomplished television writer with credits on shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Crank Yankers, and The Man Show. Over his career, he has earned multiple Writers Guild Award nominations—winning one—and an Emmy nomination. Rosner holds a broad academic background, graduating with the equivalent of eight majors. Based in Los Angeles, he continues to write and develop ideas while spending time with his wife, daughter, and two dogs.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen is the publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for The Good Men Project; International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416); The Humanist (Print: ISSN 0018-7399; Online: ISSN 2163-3576); Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066); A Further Inquiry, and other media. He is a member in good standing of numerous media organizations.

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