Can We Distrust Our Media...

...AND Not Be Conspiracy Theorists?

As I sat in the presence of a Russian woman of aristocratic heritage last week, it occurred to me that I laboured under the impression that Russia invaded Ukraine “just because”. This was the line that the mainstream media had sold me.

So, I asked her: was there really a motive for the invasion?

She reeled off three:

1. NATO promised not to expand east of Germany but has been inching closer.

2. Russia is defending ethnic Russians facing discrimination in the Donbas & Crimea regions.

3. Neo-Nazis run Ukraine.

All of these are heavily disputed:

1. There is no evidence NATO made such a promise.

2. This is not a reason to invade a country.

3. Russia - like most countries - is also full of Nazis.

Earlier, I was being disingenuous for the sake of rhetoric.

I knew about the Russian motivation because I’m in the alternative media space. But - after asking friends - I found that none outside the alt-media sphere knew about any of them.

None of this is to say that it is wrong to support Ukraine or criticise Russia. Tucker Carlson’s recent trip - like Bernie Sanders’ before him - was a whitewashing nonsense.

But how can it be that our media has presented one of the most talked about wars in modern history with almost no mention of the aggressor’s purported motive? Surely we can hold two ideas in our minds at once? That Russia potentially had legitimate grievances but was still wrong to invade?

My previous YouTube channel focussed on cults and ideologies. Most weeks, I interviewed defectors from sects and extreme religions, such as Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hasidic Jews and more. I saw myself as a sensible moderate who conspiracy theories could never tempt.

I guess that’s how most people see themselves.

I even had a recurring role on one of the largest audio podcasts in the world, The Jordan Harbinger Show, as a conspiracy theory debunker. I investigated everything from chem trails to the idea that 5G gives you cancer.

While I still feel that these theories—along with flat earth—are false, I have been staggered by what appears to be a concerted effort by the media to cover up other obvious truths.

As incredible as it is that - a decade into the Russia-Ukraine conflict - most people don’t know why it’s happening, it’s even more insane that millions of people around the world think that men can have cervixes. Even Prime Minister Keir Starmer thought this (until the law became clearer, and then he immediately thought the opposite).

Meanwhile, news outlets and international organisations continue to call Israel an apartheid state. For those of you who have never been, admit it (in the comments): what image does this give you of Israel?

• Arabs having to sit at the back of the bus?

• To drink from different water fountains?

I know that our mainstream media has conjured up this image for countless. Fortunately, I’ve been to Israel many times (you’ve never been? as Douglas Murray is now famous for saying) and have seen that the opposite is true. Arabs are elected into the Knesset (Israeli government). Their sports heroes and celebrities are part of a much-celebrated zeitgeist.

Those on the “woke right” meanwhile speak of the hypocrisy in Israel being an ethno-nationalist state that doesn’t have to take on the ‘diversity’ that we have in the UK; this is, of course, news to the 20% Muslim population in Israel.

So what is really going on?

And - in going so overtly against the mainstream - have I become a conspiracy theorist?