{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/633b3ddf2ce407001121c7e5/65ce35dc878e3a0017d7820e?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"What is RTE for? Why is Sinn Fein arguing for an amnesty for law breakers? Global politics, conspiracy theories and anti-Semitism.","thumbnail_width":200,"thumbnail_height":200,"thumbnail_url":"https://open-images.acast.com/shows/633b3ddf2ce407001121c7e5/1708014899621-9257c49b7721923938849dad13b57c67.jpeg?height=200","description":"<p>What is public service broadcasting for? Why does RTE exist? Should it?</p><p><br></p><p>Whatever the answers to these questions, a new model for public serve broadcasting is sorely needed.</p><p><br></p><p>Populist suggestions for an amnesty for licence fee dodgers are unserious politics. But that's the dilemma facing Sinn Fein: become a party of teh centre or spout more populist nonsense? As they lose votes to the anti-immigrant right, they are caught between a rock and a hard place.</p><p><br></p><p>Why is the hard left, especially in the UK so prone to anti-semitic conspiracy theories. Because Lenin left them with exactly that legacy. They can't seem to shake it off.</p><p><br></p><p>The US is also fond of conspiracy theories. There is often a puppet-master behind events like Pearl Harbour, 9/11 and the Moon Landings. </p><p><br></p><p>The conspiracy garbage around the Hamas attacks on October 7th have a lot of historical precedent. One conclusion theorising is that conspiracy is both seductive and addictive. </p>","author_name":"Jim Power & Chris Johns"}