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Why Conspiracy Theories are Harmful

  • November 22, 2020
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The most useful thing one can do when discussing politics is explain that people do things because they’re animated by ideas—how they understand the the world affects what they do and say. Ex: The USSR was a nation that existed for decades based on ideas/political philosophy.

One reason why conspiracy theories are harmful is, they remove this, most important of elements—and replace the motivations with general badness and a Good vs Evil dichotomy.

That might work if you’re talking about 1 person, but it’s silly when trying to understand groups—you’re unable to discern who’s a part of the conspiracy, who’s not, and why.

Good/Evil are judgements you can make re behavior or ideas of others, but they don’t explain motivation

You cannot explain motivation by a large group to engage in any conspiracy—broadly defined, any coordinated effort—without considering that ideas/ideology that the motivating factor.

What’s the Deep State? Swamp? Why distrust CIA or FBI? Why did CIA/FBI try to take out Trump?

None of these questions can be answered in any meaningful way without considering that ideas/beliefs about the world motivate them. If you truly want to understand, you will try to understand what these ideas/beliefs are—as they understand them.

You probably will disagree. You should. But nothing will make any sense unless you’re bringing that level of discernment and understanding to your enemies’ worldview.

Part of this is Trump’s fault. He was never ideological, and did not understand things this way.

He couldn’t define “Deep State” or “The Swamp” in a meaningful way—ie, a bunch of people with shared sensibilities and way of seeing the world that translated into policies.

He only saw the policies, so he was constantly swatting away the policies he didn’t like. It also made it impossible for him to figure out, for 4 years, who was someone who shared his vision and who wasn’t.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1330575268432539653.html

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David reaboi

National security, media & political warfare. Graphic design. Fellow, Claremont Institute. Jazz, hifi, bodybuilding. “Right-wing Twitter pugilist”—Politico

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