The Normalization of Conspiracy Culture

The catastrophe wasn’t what it seemed. It was an inside job, people whispered. Rome didn’t have to burn to the ground. Nearly 2,000 years ago, after the Great Fire of Rome leveled most of the city, Romans questioned whether the emperor Nero had ordered his guards to start the inferno so he could rebuild Rome the way he wanted. They said the emperor had watched the blaze from the the summit of Palatine Hill, the centermost of the seven hills of Rome, plucking his lyre in celebration a