General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: Why Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories Flourish. And Why It Matters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/world/europe/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories.htmlUnseen villains. Top-secret cures. In their quest for reassurance during the pandemic, many people are worsening more than just their own anxiety.
By Max Fisher
April 8, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET
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It has all the ingredients for leading people to conspiracy theories, said Karen M. Douglas, a social psychologist who studies belief in conspiracies at the University of Kent in Britain.
Rumors and patently unbelievable claims are spread by everyday people whose critical faculties have simply been overwhelmed, psychologists say, by feelings of confusion and helplessness.
But many false claims are also being promoted by governments looking to hide their failures, partisan actors seeking political benefit, run-of-the-mill scammers and, in the United States, a president who has pushed unproven cures and blame-deflecting falsehoods.
The conspiracy theories all carry a common message: The only protection comes from possessing the secret truths that they dont want you to hear.
</snip>
underpants
(182,717 posts)Sort of the religion of the people of less faith, more secular? Wild stories that rely of belief whether its conjoining or separatist?
Ill critique a couple things in Max Singers writing:
In Alabama... what he mentions may have originated from a social media poster(s) there but social media isnt geographical.
He listed conspiracy theories by different countries but they basically are the Chinese propaganda theme which are also conspiracy theories.
Hey Dennis, only one cup of coffee so far! Today looks like its going to be a lot of fun.
no_hypocrisy
(46,057 posts)repeated by someone I practice law with. An attorney!
She repeats stuff like Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine can be used to treat Coronavirus, China created the Virus in a lab, that "Immigrants" are bringing the Virus into the country, all merchandise in a supermarket has CV on it, etc. And no surprise, she watches FOX. I offer my own facts to her and she shoots them down.
Celerity
(43,240 posts)It will not be possible to maintain a sufficient equilibrium in order to maintain enough bonds. The Fuxian/Trumpian-style agitprop will rise to a level where 100 million or so are perma-lost to all reason and objective truth. The Rethugs will stack the federal benches and the SCOTUS itself (the SCOTUS will go to 7-2 or even 8-1 hard RW for a couple decades, 8-1 if sotomayor's horrible chronic diabete does her in) to the point where hundreds of Red State test cases will eventually succeed in rolling back all post Brown v Board civil rights (removing LGBTQ rights, women's rights, racial rights, abortion rights, etc etc etc, NATIONWIDE including Brown itself) and then the Rethugs will not just be content with devolving things to a state-level, but will go for national (via a selective and very limited use of force if necessary) Gilead-style high tech theocratic tyranny. The large (and some small) Blue states will rebel and kick off multiple secession movements by the late 2020's or early 2030's. 2040 is the longest I see it holding together.
Even if Trump is defeated, the bifurcation of the zeitgeist is past its point of no return I fear, and there are no remedies that would actually work that are allowable under the current Constitutional scheme. As technology becomes evermore invasive and pervasive, it will only serve to further the rending apart of the ties that once bound (however imperfectly) the Union together, from macro-level right down to street blocks divide against themselves. The long-wave ticking constitutional time-bomb that is the Senate will also really start to come to the fore in terms of furthering division and roiling unrest. By 2032 or so 70% percent of the Senate will be held by only 30% of the US population. That 30% is vastly more fundie Xian, less educated, more reactionary, racist, whiter, older, and prone to submit to a quasi-dictatorial form of governance that the remaining 70%. The only way to stay this off is to somehow ram through SIX new states: DC, Puerto Rico, and split California into 2 (NoCal and SoCal) which will yield maybe 5 or more likely 6 (PR may elect a Rethug at times, but I doubt it) new Democratic Senators. Good luck with that.
The youngest half of the Boomers are only between 63 to 55 years old, meaning that overall (now) RW Gen will still dominate at the ballot box for several decades to come, aided by a rightward move in the oldest half of Gen X as they age out and become more reactionary as well. The best way to stop all this is impossible without tearing up the Constitution itself, and allowing first and foremost for a proportional representation type of government, which would emaciate the sheer numbers that the ultra RW Rethugs now enjoy, as they have captured a shit tonne of centre right to somewhat middle of the Right type voters who have fallen into lockstep electorally behind Trump and his RW band of hooligans who have now taken over the Party via poisoned talons on its throat, talons that were 50 years in the making.
I see doom, as the entire superstructure has been so utterly gamed by the extreme right (gerrymandering, voter suppression, scientifically-engineered distraction and apathy engendered within massive parts of the vox populi who would normally be a counterweight to extremist trends) that, when combined with the very constitutional apparatuses discussed above, make it damn near impossible to quash.
Nothing is forever, and I think I will certainly live to see the breakup of the US in my lifetime (I was born in 1996), especially if Trump is reelected and the Rethuggs yank back the House (obviously they would retain the Senate in that scenario.) 2039 would be a very symbolic year (history wise) year, as that would mark the 250th anniversary of the US Constitution coming into force. 19 more years on the bounce, perhaps.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)mitch96
(13,883 posts)I tell 'em I follow the science and they go "but what if?"...
I think humans hate the unknown and and make up stories to satisfy that need to know..
YMMV
m
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)There is a mindset that will pick any answer at all, in favor of "I don't know", because they think that "I don't know" is some kind of failure instead of a rational statement when there are no confirmed facts sufficient to support a conclusion.
So when someone says, "I saw something strange, what was it?" and the choice is between "I don't know" or any of gods, aliens, magic spirits, top secret government hoodoo, or what-have-you, then any such answer is preferred to "I don't know."