The insane conspiracy theories of Naomi Wolf

[karynnj]

98. The internet, wonderful as we know it is, may be one factor in this

It allows people to find people who agree with them on things where they might otherwise have found no one in real life who agrees. Within these groups, it is easy to move gradually to become more extreme and more cynical. This is no just easy, but it is rewarded. This happens with the backing of that self defined group which will pride itself on being more informed, more willing to seek the truth and certainly not willing to condone any "evil" because the President is from their "side'.

Note that all of these things - being informed, seeking truth and not being willing to accept from people you side with things you would condemn from the Republicans - are exactly what most of us would define as excellent values.

However, the danger of group think can lead people to accept shaky sources that agree with them and reject sources that disagree - even if they are primary source records! (ie Obama's birth certificate or John Kerry's navy record - both of which the far right still dispute.) Couple that with a group of people all doing the same -- informed can become misinformed pretty easily. (It is easier to see this looking at the extreme we are furthest from --- consider the constant Rush Limbaugh et al claim that Obama voters are the "low information" voters, who did not benefit from the wisdom of listening to RW radio for hours a day. )

Please do not read this as refusing to accept anything that is not from an Obama press release. It IS important to press for more transparency -- and Obama has not been anywhere near perfect on this. However, it does bother me when the fact that the Bush administration lied is then used as PROOF that we should assume Obama is lying. Not to mention, at times, I feel that we are back in 2004 when Kerry's team proved a large number of things said by the SBVT were lies, yet other claims continued to be entertained - and the official record was given none of the weight it deserved.