Eroding trust, spreading fear: The historical ties between pandemics and extremism

[DonViejo]

Marc Fisher 15 hrs ago

Adam Crigler used to feed his YouTube following a politics-free diet of chatter about aliens, movies, skateboarding and video games. Then came the pandemic. Now, he devotes much of his talk show to his assertion that mask mandates are an assault on personal freedom and that Democrats somehow stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump. Result: a much bigger audience.

“The pandemic has made more people want to blame someone else because they’ve lost their jobs or they’re lonely,” Crigler said.

Ian Bayne, for years a campaign professional, had sworn off politics and launched a career in real estate. Then covid hit, and he helped launch No Mask Nevada, organizing a dozen rallies against masking because he said the government was inflating the danger of the coronavirus.

“People are isolated, alone, and they need to express their true selves,” Bayne said. “I don’t know why we’re surprised that there’s more extremism now. People came to our rallies because they craved the human interaction.”

more/No Paywall
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/eroding-trust-spreading-fear-the-historical-ties-between-pandemics-and-extremism/ar-BB1dGO7W?ocid=uxbndlbing

[haele]

1. How nice they recognized this human reaction-and exploited it

"People feel isolated and afraid - so let's get more clicks and followers encouraging them to take more risks and spread the infection quicker by telling them they should also be paraniod and angry instead of calming down, being patient, and part of an effort to reduce the impacts of the pandemic."

We would be far closer to "normal" now if there had been a nation-wide effort to contain the pandemic instead of falling into full-on Conspiracy Land.
All for YouTube clicks.

Haele