It is easy to look at the core ideology of the radical right—nativism, white supremacy, homophobia, misogyny—and call it ignorant and uninformed. This labelling is problematic because it is lazy; it assumes an either/or approach to knowledge and does not take into account the fact that there is always some kind of “knowledge” underlying every belief system.
Actually, the radical right is heavily invested in gathering and disseminating information as is clear from their numerous publication and media outlets. But it is what they call “alternative,” “censored” knowledge that supposedly exposes the institutionalized “propaganda” of mainstream education, media and society. Nowhere is this more evident than the current case of the Covid-19 pandemic. How did the radical right’s weaponization of science denial lead to a contagion of conspiracy theories that deny the very existence of the virus? And when they do not contest the existence of the pandemic, how do they use it for their own racist purposes?
Weaponizing science denial
From creationism to climate change denial and the distortion of research on gender and sexuality, radical right ideology communicates a range of skepticism concerning the production and consumption of scientific knowledge. But while distrust for science took off because of religious convictions that saw faith being threatened by scientific facts, it is important to appreciate how the radical right does not simply reject science; it invents its own “scientific” rhetoric to provide an “alternative” interpretation.
