Pulling the Thread

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

By Danny Alpert and Kristin Pichaske

Humans love stories - especially stories in which underdog heroes defeat powerful villains and teach us moral lessons. What happens when real life doesn’t follow the script? Sometimes our brains make up a story that does. Millions of Americans insist the Sandy Hook shooting never happened. Instead of a senseless tragedy, they’ve embraced conspiracy narratives that casts the victim’s parents as villians and themselves as underdog heroes seeking the truth. But one Sandy Hook parent is fighting back against conspiracy thinking...and winning.

READ ON: What are the Five Reasons Why Conspiracy Theories Thrive Around National Tragedies? GBH's Meghan Smith talks to filmmaker Michael Kirk about fighting for truth in a time of disinformation.