For me it's the good teacher thing of explaining something in a way that feels like I already understood it. As soon as I saw the title I knew where the article was going but walking through it is so clarifying. It feels intuitive but I'd never come to the conclusion on my own that conspiracists in full control necessarily defang the conspiracy, much less that actually stabbing people is the natural way to replace the threat of the cloak and dagger.
I'm sure the real conspiracy-nuts will continue to insist there are things even more deeply hidden, because there is just no convincing them otherwise.
It strikes me that a similar/related conspiracy - voting doesn't do anything/you can't affect the outcomes because they're predetermined so why bother voting - should have been debunked in a very similar fashion by trump winning in 2016. His 2020 victory - by a larger margin - should hopefully put that nonsense to rest once and for all.
What if they did find a monster? Not much different.The only thin hope is that finding a monster would radicalize more normies. And the thing with normies is they think concretely: they want something done about the monster, real or not (pet eaters and biological-male female competing soccer teams being two imaginary monsters which normies demanded concrete action on). They don't care so much about the imagined network of monsters. And the administration is already doing what they would otherwise do if the monsters were real.
Intelligence community killed Kennedy? Already hate them.
Biden's circle hid his mental fitness? Already kicked them out. Complicit mainstream press? Already have MAGA podcasters in the press room. (And a chief of staff running policy on behalf of a president with a failing grasp of fundamentals is not something the GOP should be declaring unacceptable).
Vaccines have undisclosed side effects? Already doing measles.
Great replacement? Already arresting children with cancer.
The problem is that conspiracy thought is now *core* to the philosophy of the GOP and MAGA. If you look at their rhetoric, *everything* has a conspiratorial air to it. Hell, Project 2025 was FULL of conspiracy, because it's now mainstream. (And the far right has been relying on conspiracy and paranoia since the 18th Century, but that's another story.) It's also part of the Evangelical/NAR influence, since the idea of the war of unseen forces of good and evil feeds really well into conspiracy. It's still part of the culture as well - look at the popularity of The SCP Foundation, which I love but I could see further fueling a Deep State mindset.
What I like about S Peter Davis’ work is that none of this occurred to me and yet now I read it, it seems really helpful.
For me it's the good teacher thing of explaining something in a way that feels like I already understood it. As soon as I saw the title I knew where the article was going but walking through it is so clarifying. It feels intuitive but I'd never come to the conclusion on my own that conspiracists in full control necessarily defang the conspiracy, much less that actually stabbing people is the natural way to replace the threat of the cloak and dagger.
Thank you both!
I'm sure the real conspiracy-nuts will continue to insist there are things even more deeply hidden, because there is just no convincing them otherwise.
Good point. “That’s just what they WANT you to think!” can do a lot of work here.
Sunk cost fallacy.
It strikes me that a similar/related conspiracy - voting doesn't do anything/you can't affect the outcomes because they're predetermined so why bother voting - should have been debunked in a very similar fashion by trump winning in 2016. His 2020 victory - by a larger margin - should hopefully put that nonsense to rest once and for all.
What if they did find a monster? Not much different.The only thin hope is that finding a monster would radicalize more normies. And the thing with normies is they think concretely: they want something done about the monster, real or not (pet eaters and biological-male female competing soccer teams being two imaginary monsters which normies demanded concrete action on). They don't care so much about the imagined network of monsters. And the administration is already doing what they would otherwise do if the monsters were real.
Intelligence community killed Kennedy? Already hate them.
Biden's circle hid his mental fitness? Already kicked them out. Complicit mainstream press? Already have MAGA podcasters in the press room. (And a chief of staff running policy on behalf of a president with a failing grasp of fundamentals is not something the GOP should be declaring unacceptable).
Vaccines have undisclosed side effects? Already doing measles.
Great replacement? Already arresting children with cancer.
The problem is that conspiracy thought is now *core* to the philosophy of the GOP and MAGA. If you look at their rhetoric, *everything* has a conspiratorial air to it. Hell, Project 2025 was FULL of conspiracy, because it's now mainstream. (And the far right has been relying on conspiracy and paranoia since the 18th Century, but that's another story.) It's also part of the Evangelical/NAR influence, since the idea of the war of unseen forces of good and evil feeds really well into conspiracy. It's still part of the culture as well - look at the popularity of The SCP Foundation, which I love but I could see further fueling a Deep State mindset.