This week I discuss the nature of denial, post-truth, and conspiracy theories with Dr Keith Kahn-Harris. We ended up talking about Holocaust denial, anti-vaxxing, climate change, and the resurgence of flat-earth theory. Keith tries to unpick the similarities and differences between all these different types of discourse. He argues that there are many types of denialism. Rather than classifying these phenomena as irrational and nonsensical, he argues that they are secretly are in love with the best traditions of scholarship and truth, and hold an irrepressible desire for respectability and legitimacy. Our talk is based on Keith's recent book Denial: The Unspeakable Truth (Notting Hill Editions, 2018).

Keith is a sociologist, essayist, and music critic. He is an Associate Lecturer and Honorary research fellow at Birkbeck College. As well, he is a Fellow of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research and senior lecturer at Leo Baeck College.

You can find out more about Keith at his website here. He is on Twitter: @KeithKahnHarris

Here is the link to the BBC animation that Keith spoke about in the podcast.

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On Denial, Conspiracy and Post-Truth with Keith Kahn-Harris