Silver Bullets and Seed Banks: A Material Analysis of Conspiracist Millennialism

Robertson, David G. (2015). Silver Bullets and Seed Banks: A Material Analysis of Conspiracist Millennialism. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 19(2) pp. 83–99.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2015.19.2.83

Abstract

This article examines how millennial (and apocalyptic) prophecy in contemporary conspiracy theory culture is both constructed from, and in turn produces, material things. Influential radio host and filmmaker Alex Jones (b. 1974), constructs his prophecies of imminent “Fall of America,” engineered by a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshiping socialists, from material things—ammunition purchases, birth certificates, chemtrails and extreme weather. At the same time, his prophecies in turn nurture an industry producing water filters, “seed banks,” and freeze-dried food for the “preppers” who would survive—material expressions of their millenarianism. These processes illuminate how material concerns actively construct worlds of belief, whether religious or apparently secular.

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