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Misinformation spread across the internet is not a new phenomenon. Nor are shady salespeople convincing consumers that their products or workshops can bring physical and spiritual wellness. But the combination of the two?

“Today, we’re living through a powerful convergence of disaster capitalism and disaster spirituality,” said Wesley Johnson, assistant teaching professor of communication. “Strung together, this disastrous moment is ample opportunity for exploitation, and the conspirators are mainstreamed.”

The term that Johnson uses to describe this convergence is “conspirituality,” officially coined in 2011 by independent researcher Charlotte Ward and sociologist David Voas.

The concept is especially powerful today, Johnson says, because the internet provides an international platform for anyone with something to say — or sell. And when influencers offering questionable goods and services gain an audience, especially one that includes celebrities and politicians reposting their content, the mainstream zeitgeist gets filled with dubious claims that historically wouldn’t have been so widely circulated.

“The algorithm loves drama and loves extremity, so it’s going to get pushed,” he said. “And now we know you can monetize extremity.”

In a recent presentation as part of the communication department’s Controversies in Communication lecture series, Johnson gave some examples of influencers capitalizing on manufactured fear.

One example Johnson mentioned was a Canadian wellness influencer who alleged that she can “reverse the need for glasses” through “multi-dimensional healing.”

In addition to hosting a ticketed seminar, Johnson said, “The overarching message was an invitation to buy essential oils or join her multi-level marketing company.”

Another group he mentioned has been gaining traction on social media for its “solutions” to energy fields that are “destroying our health.” Reps from the company say with certainty that electric vehicles lower testosterone by 18%, but that drivers and passengers can protect themselves with “grounding bags,” which are filled with crystals believed to repel electromagnetic frequencies and cost $140 each. In a video posted to their Instagram, they recommend seven bags per vehicle.

With these and similar assertions appearing on the news and in the algorithms, Johnson said that it can feel like “we are living in really exceptional times.” But these examples aren’t exceptions to the way things have always been, “we just see it more,” he said.

Johnson added that with the media environment always changing, he likes to use contemporary works to think about older ones, and vice versa. He’s currently finishing a paper that analyzes the 1969 Czech film The Cremator through a lens of conspirituality. The film takes place in 1930s Prague and centers on the operator of a crematorium who believes that cremation has a spiritual power that relieves humans from earthly suffering. Because he is so devoted to his practice, he is especially vulnerable to the pull of the rising Nazi party. Even though the time and place seem distant from modern day, the idea of blindly following a confident leader to supposed enlightenment is the same.

The cremator in the movie was desperate to believe that he was doing a good thing. Decades later, it’s still the case that desperation is the main quality that predatory preachers look for in their prey, Johnson said. Contributing factors can vary from economic instability or unusual medical issues, but generally, he finds that anyone who is overly reliant on hope or who experiences deep, internal loneliness is particularly at risk of exploitation.

Is there a way to course correct? Johnson’s first suggestion is to increase media literacy, taking a critical view of anyone trying to sell something that sounds too good to be true. “Luckily, the tactics are not new, so it’s easy to recognize the grift work of these folks,” he said. But ultimately, the responsibility falls on the audience to address the issues that could make them more likely to buy a salesman’s snake oil or follow a madman down a rabbit hole.

The Controversies in Communication lecture series is presented in partnership with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Three talks are held each semester in the Charlene A. Gordon Theater, and the series will resume this fall.