Why are people still stupid enough to believe this "chemtrail" bullshit?

[procon]

20. My dad was sure convinced...

A lifelong Republican -- sigh -- is that enough to explain all the crazy stuff he believed in his later years? He was a pilot in WWII, then a professional pilot for another 40 years, and he even owned a crop dusting company, so he knew better, but he still fell for every crazy chemtrail conspiracy theory that popped up.

After watching my dad slowly succumb to all these ridiculous stories, I think he believed these wacko conspiracy theories in part due to brainwashing after the constant deluge of interlinked schlock pouring out of rightwing media. At the end of his life, it made him paranoid and suspicious and afraid of normal, everyday things. At least in my poor dad's case, I saw it as symptomatic of some underlying mental health problem that eventually affected his overall health and precipitated his demise.