Extra Credit presents...Why Do Smart People Believe Conspiracy Theories?

Extra Credit is a curated talk series for people who want more from a night out ideas, conversation, and a room full of curious people.

As Toronto’s first shisha and learning experience of its kind, this event brings together thoughtful conversation and atmosphere in an intimate, social setting.

For our first session, we’re joined by award-winning historian and writer Daniel Panneton, published in The Atlantic, TVO Today, and The Walrus, specializing in extremism, online hate, and historical memory for a conversation on a question that feels more relevant than ever:

Why Do Smart People Believe Crazy Things? Conspiratorial Thinking in Canada’s Past

This lecture explores that unsettling question through surprising episodes in Canadian intellectual history. Moving beyond the stereotype of conspiracy thinking as fringe irrationality, it examines how respected figures like Watson Kirkconnell, Marshall McLuhan, and Robert O'Driscoll engaged with ideas about hidden plots, secret elites, and global manipulation.

Along the way, it shows how seemingly benign interests, like the early popularity of yoga in 1930s Toronto, could open the door to more troubling beliefs. What begins as curiosity or spiritual exploration can, under certain conditions, harden into rigid and conspiratorial worldviews, especially when filtered through fear, cultural anxiety, or pre-existing prejudice. These pathways reveal how ordinary pursuits can, over time, contribute to the spread of harmful and exclusionary ideas.

By connecting these historical cases to broader traditions of anti-communism, anti-Masonry, and antisemitism, the lecture shows how modern conspiracy theories are often rooted in older, deeply embedded ways of thinking, challenging audiences to rethink who believes in conspiracy theories and why.

This is not a lecture. It’s a space to think, question, and engage.

Come for the conversation. Stay for the room.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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