Between the author Elliot Wax and his big brother who adheres to conspiratorial ideas, nothing is going well. The two brothers regularly argue about the political and social interpretation of the world around them.
It all starts with the brother’s adherence to the messages conveyed in the controversial documentary The revelation pyramids, which postulates that the famous constructions are not the fruit of the labor of the Egyptians, but of the intervention of extraterrestrials. Then come the vague opinions surrounding September 11 and the existence of a hidden planet. The conspiracy theories added up drop by drop until the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is during this period marked by confinement that Elliot’s brother begins to flood him with false news concerning the origins of the virus. Noting the uselessness of counter-argumentation, which on the contrary reinforces conspiratorial beliefs, the journalist is overwhelmed by helplessness. Even if he no longer recognizes this brother, to whom he was very close, Elliot Wax thinks that it is not too late to put the pieces back together. But how can you reconnect with a close conspiracy theorist? The author, in his thirties, decides to carry out an investigation by joining two organizations admired by his brother for six months: a newspaper editorial team, “La vérité”, and a political group, “Leséveillés”.
In his book titled Looking for my brotherWax takes care to conceal the identities of the people and organizations concerned, but we guess that this is everyday France Eveningrepeatedly singled out for its false information, and the French ultra-sovereignist Union populaire republicaine party, led by François Asselineau, a baroque politician little known to the general public who flirts with conspiracy theories.
In this infiltration work, the author above all wants to understand the creation of conspiratorial thinking in order to convince his brother that he is swimming in error. Conspiracyism is a complex and protean phenomenon, he recalls, while there are different degrees, ranging from the radical reptilian movement (those who believe that the powerful of this world come from another planet) to the belief in free energy, a source of infinite energy that is easy to produce, but hidden by oil lobbies. But they all share one thing in common: a deep distrust of institutions.
Alternating between investigation and biographical story, the book offers us the author’s discoveries. He who expected to meet cynics or manipulators, instead meets kind people convinced that they have the truth. His interviews with experts or former fervent conspiracy theorists, such as the YouTuber ZioClo or the reporter Vincent Lapierre, make him understand that ultimately we cannot force a person to change their beliefs. The trigger must come from the conspirator himself.