I had a weird day, a very weird day. I'm currently in DC doing fieldwork (which is great!) but today I was just overwhelmed by craziness.

It started off with a Christian New World Order dude telling me that Prince William is clearly being lined up to be the new ruler of the world and that "nothing happens without someone wanting it". I thought about trying to explain how in my research there are so many actors and compromises that policy process outcomes are never the outcome of any single person (that's before I start talking about the outcomes of policy). but I didn't - it would have been a waste of time.

It was quickly followed by a Masters-level-educated "researcher" telling me that, as part of her "research" she had found out that the Holocaust never happened. Idiotically, I prolonged the conversation by asking her if she had interviewed any holocaust survivors, which she ignored and then continued to spout absolute shite that wasn't even vaguely consistant with actual history.

I then had an interview with someone who had done a PhD (tip for elite interviewers: do try to find people who have done PhDs - they are way more liable to help you out and understand your position) and she happened to mention that it's strange doing a PhD because you have to try to be fair and openminded in judgements, and can't jump to conclusions.....which is, imo, exactly how you avoid being a conspiracy theorist.

So anyway, I topped the day off by walking past a group protesting outside a metro station. I was happy to ignore it until I saw a picture of Barack Obama with a Hitler moustache and a British flag in the background saying something like "Declare Independence from Britain". I just had to find out what they meant. It was something that linked the financial bailouts (hence Britain) and climate change that somehow meant that Obama was trying to kill off 80% of the population of the planet. I can't really explain it, but, then, neither could he.

Anyhow, I have spewed forth my story in order to ask the question: do you ever worry your work is becoming detached from reality or is following lines of thought that don't tally with important facts? I also wrote it because, fuck me, its been a strange day.

There are a lot of nutters out there ...

I would like to think that my work is not too detached from reality! It's important to be aware of this though - and being open-minded and non-judgemental are essential prerequisites in my opinion.