{"id":10559,"date":"2020-11-18T17:33:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-19T01:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=10559"},"modified":"2020-11-18T17:35:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T01:35:47","slug":"links-and-comments-obama-conspiracy-theories-big-government-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2020\/11\/18\/links-and-comments-obama-conspiracy-theories-big-government-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Links and Comments: Obama; Conspiracy Theories; Big Government; Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guardian: review of Barack Obama’s new book<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nObama makes clear he believes the whiplash from the 44th to 45th president is no accident. On the contrary, the mere fact that an accomplished, intelligent, scandal-free black man inhabited the White House was enough to trigger his antithesis.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course. Trump. Dinesh D’Souza. And all the racist Republicans freaked out by a non-white president.<\/p>\n

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Nautilus: Why America Is Ripe for Election Conspiracy Theorizing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nCan people become less susceptible to believing conspiracy theories? Perhaps. One of the things that underlie conspiratorial thinking is a teleological bias, the tendency to see intention or planning where it doesn\u2019t exist. A 2018 study found that this bias, \u201ca resilient \u2018default\u2019 component of early cognition\u201d that shapes adult intuitions, is associated with both creationist and conspiracist beliefs. Both of these, the researchers wrote, \u201centail the distant and hidden involvement of a purposeful and final cause to explain complex worldly events.\u201d<\/p>\n

…
\nWhat makes people susceptible to conspiracy theories isn\u2019t healthy skepticism, a sensitivity to evidence joined to a sense of proportion. It\u2019s a skepticism that\u2019s abetted by political sectarianism and, as Cichocka explains, exacerbated by society-deranging events like the onset of COVID-19. It\u2019s \u201ccreated a perfect storm for vulnerability to conspiracy narratives,\u201d she wrote. \u201cUncertainty and anxiety are high. Lockdown and social distancing bring isolation. People struggling to understand this unprecedented time might reach for extraordinary explanations.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Vox: Conspiracy theories, explained<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThere\u2019s no hard evidence<\/a> that conspiracy theories are circulating more widely today than ever before. But over the past five years, it has certainly seemed<\/em> like average Americans have bought into them more and more. Surveys within the past year have shown that a quarter<\/a> of US citizens believe the mainstream media is lying to them about Covid-19, and that it is \u201cdefinitely\u201d or \u201cprobably true\u201d<\/a> that the outbreak was intentionally planned.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the headline-grabbing QAnon<\/a>, a conspiracy theory that evolved from Pizzagate and posits that Trump has been working in secret to capture high-powered figures who are engaged in child abduction and trafficking, is still a niche belief<\/a>. But a quarter of those who know what it is<\/a> think there\u2019s at least some truth to it, and that number is growing rapidly as the QAnon theory begins to converge with Covid-19 theories<\/a>.<\/p>\n

…
\nAs 2020 enters the home stretch, new conspiracy theories seem to keep coming up. The latest? Trump\u2019s baseless claims of voter fraud<\/a> during the presidential election, which many of his followers are echoing<\/a>, despite zero evidence<\/a>, in any state, to support the assertion<\/a>.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Long essay. Major points:<\/p>\n