ABSTRACT
Conspiracy theories are often welded into large schemes of deceit in which everything is connected. One prominent propagator of such “super-conspiracy theories” is David Icke, a true conspiracy celebrity. Icke is most famous, or notorious, for the theory that shapeshifting reptilian alien races secretly control our world, but his theory is even more extraordinary as he draws together in one grand narrative the everyday corruption of modern institutions with various forms of supernatural manipulation. Moving beyond discussions of truthfulness, this chapter studies how such unifying narratives are made plausible. Strategically selecting the 2011 (Amsterdam) performance of David Icke, I analyze therefore his discursive strategies of legitimation: how does Icke support and validate his extraordinary claims? The analysis shows that he draws on multiple sources of epistemic authority (“experience”, “tradition”, “futuristic imageries”, “science”, and “social theory”) to convince his audience. The chapter concludes that it is precisely this epistemological pluralism that adds to the plausibility of his thesis: in an era without full monopolies on truth, and for a people wary of mainstream authorities, it proves opportune to draw on a wide variety of epistemic sources when claiming knowledge, but this also appeals to different subcultural groups that may pick and mix knowledge along their ideology and identity.
