Abstract
The aim the following the paper is to provide a theoretical backing to the semiotic logic of signification of conspiracy theories. The logic of mythological thinking operates within conspiracy theories, with their organizing principle of homomorphic resemblance. Conspiracy theories do not interpret events as a coincidence, but rather as being motivated by one originary cause – evil. The non-mythological type of signification also functions in the logic of conspiracy theories. This leads to the perception of the conspirers as a strictly organized group, divided into complex sub-systems. The main goal of this article is to explain the interaction between these two contradictory signification-tendencies, for that the concept of code-text is used. I will illustrate my arguments with examples derived from the commentary posted at the Para-Web forum under the topic of “The death of the Polish president and the rest of the elite.”
About the author
Mari-Liis Madisson (b. 1988) is a PhD student at the University of Tartu 〈ml.madisson@gmail.com〉. Her research interests include semiotics of culture, processes of identity construction in hypermedia, hypermedia and right-wing extremism, and fascism. Her publications include “The verbalizing of fear (in contemporary legend)” (in Estonian, 2010); “On mythological thinking in the representation of the concept two-feet-on-the-ground” (in Estonian, 2011); and “Semiotic modelling of other in the contemporary history of Estonia” (in Estonian, with A. Ventsel, 2012).
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Munich/Boston
