As to your first question, "Are anomalist/conspiracy theories facilitated by modern communications?", I suspect the answer must be "yes". Still, as the Hofstader article points out, even prior to the age of the telegraph, both of those phenomena were already rampant. Trying to quantify just how much our wired age contributes to this, and how, is going to be difficult to prove, if not impossible. That will have to wait for some other time.
The insights of the second article were also profound. I was particular intrigued by the authors' juxtaposition of the terms "Narcissism" and "Paranoia", a pair of concepts I have found very useful in attempting to formulate a more succint definition of fascism.
I've written about this extensively before, but I'll briefly recap in case you missed it. I perceive the fascist as being convinced he (or his philosophy) is intrinsically better than everyone else. He may feel, like the Nazis did, that he is racially superior.
Modern fascists aren't necessarily racist, that is, they don't necessarily feel they are genetically superior to others, but they do feel they are superior in some way. They may feel they have a better work ethic, or were brought up in a superior culture, or that they are more more creative, or more courageous than others. They may consider themselves more ambitious, or more innovative, or more moralistic or intelligent. That's the Narcissism.
But feeling you're superior to others by itself does not make you a fascist. A lot, if not most, people feel that way about themselves, at least about some aspect of their personality.
I feel the combination of Narcissism and Paranoia is what defines the fascist. He not only thinks he's better than you are, he is convinced you're out to get him. The Nazis not only considered themselves genetically superior, they also felt that genetically inferior races were determined to destroy them. This is characterized by the Nazi obsession with the Jews, who they considered subhuman life forms of no intrinsic value, yet were convinced those same Jews were abusing them, taking what was rightfully theirs, conspiring against them, and otherwise waging war on them.
The obvious contradiction never seemed to occur to them. If the Jews were so inferior, how did they get the upper hand and how did they maintain it so effectively? You need a conspiracy to get around that paradox.
Of course, as common wisdom reminds us, even paranoids have enemies, and some people may very well be out to get us. So paranoia by itself does not make a fascist. You need the two, locked together in a positive feedback loop, feeding off each other and contributing to each other, so that soon every observation and perception of the outside world is simply dripping with evidence of the conspiracy against the elect.
There are, of course, real conspiracies, and there is real evil in the world, and people are not equal in their talents or virtues, so there is just enough evidence available to reinforce the delusion. For the True Believer, the world is full of clues and obvious signs of the conspiracy against them and the venality of their enemies, as well as their own virtue and righteousness. Those who deny that conspiracy must obviously be part of it. Those who just don't see it are fools.
When anyone who disagrees with you is either conspiring against you (Paranoia) or are too stupid to notice you are being conspired against (Narcissism) then you have a fascist metality.
You will note than when described in psychological, rather than political or economic terms, the term 'fascist' can be extended to either side of the political/economic spectrum, or even outside it altogether. Doctrinaire Marxists are often (but not necessarily)fascistic in this sense. They are convinced they are in the vanguard of an enlightened, scientific view of history, so those who don't accept it must be reactionary Capitalist roaders conspiring to enslave them.
The psychology of the Nazi and the Communist is quite similar, and their rhetoric (once pruned of the jargon peculiar to each obsession) and behavior, are eerily similar.
Other examples of this Narcissist/Paranoid complex are religious fanatics, (although not necessarily all religionists) and certain conservatives (although certainly not all).
The key insight in the article is the concept of agency panic. Anxiety arises not because you are helpless to face some threat, but when you have the ability to do so but are prevented from exercising it.
When fervent individualists feel that they cannot exercise their independence, they experience a crisis and assume that larger forces are to blame for usurping this freedom. "For one who refuses to relinquish the assumptions of liberal individualism, such newly revealed forms of regulation frequently seem so unacceptable or unbelievable that they can only be met with anxiety, melodrama, or panic."
Sound familiar?
The anomalists are something else again. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for me, too, and they will have to wait til then.