PODCAST. From Atlantis to the pyramids, when the complosphere revisits the great historical myths

In this new episode of Complorama, Tristan Mendès France and Rudy Reichstadt explore the complosphere’s fascination with historical myths, examining how these narratives are distorted and instrumentalized for ideological purposes.

Why do the great myths of our History fascinate conspiracy theorists so much? The series At the dawn of our historywhich defends the existence of a technologically advanced civilization that disappeared at the end of the Ice Age, is making a comeback on Netflix for a second season, after a first season criticized by archaeologists.

“In reality, Hancock’s books and films are considered pseudoscience by scientists”underlines Rudy Reichstadt. The documentary series fuels anti-science discourse by presenting Hancock as a whistleblower against a scientific establishment that would hide the truth. “Part of the success of his series is to position itself as a sort of resister to single scientific thinking”analyzes Tristan Mendès France.

In the first season, an episode was devoted to the myth of Atlantis. Graham Hancock, the narrator of the series, does not claim that Atlantis is in the Bahamas, but he uses this myth to support his theory of an advanced civilization that disappeared during the last ice age. “Atlantis is proof that we can write, produce, dream of something that does not exist for centuries literally because it haunts the Western imagination from something that is pure fiction “, estimates Rudy Reichstadt for whom the complosphere uses this myth to promote its own ideas.

The giant tree theory, while less common than other myths, is an interesting example of how the complosphere takes observations and twists them to fit its narratives. The idea of ​​giant trees having existed in the distant past is a real phenomenon on TikTok and YouTube. Proponents of this theory rely on geological reliefs, such as plateaus or tabular mountains, to assert that these are in reality the stumps of giant trees. For Rudy Reichstadt, the belief in the existence of giant trees is based on pareidolia, a mental illusion that pushes us to perceive familiar shapes in random elements. In this case, people who adhere to this theory “project” the image of a tree stump onto natural geological formations. This theory, although marginal, is revealing of the mechanisms of conspiratorial thinking, which feeds on the fascination with mysteries, lost civilizations and distrust of established science.

The pyramids occupy a preponderant place in the world of conspiracy, as demonstrated by the analysis of the words of Jacques Grimault and the rapper Gims. “We perhaps do not fully appreciate the centrality of the pyramids in the international conspiracy imagination. It is absolutely crazy to see to what extent we find these narratives in almost the entire international complosphere”underlines Tristan Mendès France. The rapper Gims, taking up Afrocentric theses, asserted that the pyramids were power stations built by an advanced African civilization, whose existence would be hidden by historians.

The influence of figures like Maître Gims, who spread these theories to millions of subscribers, is worrying. Indeed, “all this might seem quite trivial. (…) In fact, if we draw the line from what it implies, it means that we would have been lied to about the origin of the pyramids, that school books relayed this lie, that the Minister of National Education covered up this lie and therefore the governments, the government covers this lie and all the governments in the world”explains Tristan Mendès France.

“The problem is that it fuels or contributes to fueling a confusion between reality and fiction, which has the very concrete consequence of lowering the threshold of acceptance of any new conspiracy theory. And then that nourishes in passing a distrust (…) towards scientists, institutions, a questioning of the words of experts”concludes Rudy Reichstadt.

“From Atlantis to the pyramids, when the complosphere revisits the great historical myths”, this is the 74th episode of Complorama with Rudy Reichstadt, director of Conspiracy Watch, and Tristan Mendès France, lecturer and member of the Conspiracy Watch conspiracy theorist, specialist in digital cultures. A podcast to be found on the franceinfo website, the Radio France application and several other platforms such as Apple podcasts, Podcast Addict, Spotify, or Deezer.