Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies Archives

June 25, 2025

Course Catalog: Decoding — and Fighting — Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories have played a role in American culture and politics for decades. In the course “Conspiracy Rhetoric: Power, Politics,…

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September 12, 2023

From ‘Data Dumping’ to ‘Webbing’: How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sells Misleading Ideas

Mr. Kennedy tends to “dump a billion studies, footnotes and pieces of evidence in front of us,” said Stephanie Kelley-Romano, a professor of rhetoric at Bates College. “People aren’t fact-checking it, and so it feels true.”

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