Abstract
Currently, speeches on topics such as “cultural Marxism” and “globalism” have put the issue of conspiracy theories on the agenda. The evident political impacts of conspiracy theories today bring to light the need for them to be studied seriously. With this situation in mind, the objective of this article is to analyze the functioning of a conspiracy theory in a specific political context, that of the Cold War and the Military Dictatorship in Brazil in the 1970s. In this analysis, we seek to understand the narrative and rhetorical strategies that gave the conspiracy theory in Bernard Hutton’s The subversives a certain convincing power. Above all, the use of factual discourse, the appeal to supposed secret documents, and the use of melodramatic language. We also seek to understand how a discourse such as the one analyzed here had effects in reality, whether in practical terms regarding the repressive logic of the dictatorship, or regarding the orientation of agents and employees of the intelligence services, to whom Hutton’s book was indicated as a kind of textbook.
Keywords:
Military Dictatorship; Cold War; conspiracy theory