I don’t know where to start. This is the first time in my memory that one of the two American political parties embraced insane fantasies and rejected the foundation of liberal democracy. It’s my first time. I can see where we fell, but I don’t know how to come back.
Most Republicans probably started this authoritarian dance because it was convenient to their reelection. Drive a new wedge issue for another point on this week’s poll. “Don’t listen to those polls that make me look bad.” But each new political generation pushed that knob to eleven. Their people bought it all, but now they’re stuck holding that tiger’s tail. A big part of America has fallen down this rabbit hole, convinced that everyone else is lying. Republicans can’t let go now. Just look at Liz Cheney. The current crop of Tea Party showboats thinks dysfunction is good. It’s not as if Matt Gaetz, Louie Gohmert, or Jim Jordan wanted to spend all their time governing when there’s more red meat to throw.
Delusion
In 2022, 60% of American adults blamed Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6th violence. That almost sounds hopeful. Ninety-two percent of Democrats agree. Good. But only 27% of Republicans fault Trump. Just after Jan. 6th, nearly half of Republicans (44%) publicly supported armed insurrection. Polls about false election fraud claims have been remarkably consistent. It doesn’t matter that it’s a lie.
How about that Civil War that never seems to end? I know it well. I was raised in a Virginia system overflowing with Lost Cause tropes and lies. Yup, just like all the White kids around me. Most of us tried to emulate that imaginary southern culture. Yes, the ideas were that attractive. That’s why Trump added a New Race War to the nonexistent Republican Party platform.
And, of course, there’s Trump’s Big Lie. Talk about convenient delusions. A month ago, a University of Massachusetts poll reported that about 70% of Republicans believed Biden was not the legitimate President. Trump lays it on thickly at every rally. Something about Jewish space lasers, dead dictators, complex coordination across multiple states, and <mumble mumble> hackers.
None of his supporters care about ‘how.’ Think about that.
The First Taste is Free
Conspiracies are unlikely, but they’re addictive. These twisted, convoluted, improbable explanations are both nutzo-crazy and deeply attractive to many of us. It feels good to think that you are one of the few who can see behind the curtain.
Have you noticed how the people who believe each plot – who are in the know – never seem to recognize they’re convenient? I like this quote from the Nevada Current paper:
“If reality doesn’t fit what you want it to be, you have to change what you believe – or you have to change reality,” Cassino explained.
That’s where conspiracy theories come in. If you oppose firearm restrictions, then the slaughter of 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school with an AR-15 is a real problem for you. Cassino explained: “It’s easier for people who believe strongly in gun rights to say it didn’t happen rather than change their minds” about guns.
“American support for conspiracy theories and armed rebellion isn’t new,” Nevada Current, Jan. 6th, 2022.
Reinforcement
Do you want to know the nub of the problem? People can’t just abandon one false claim. That’s one of the tricks of building a worldview. The people spinning out new conspiracies twist each idea into the bird’s nest of existing plots. They all support each other. It’s not even teasing a thread out of a tapestry; the claims are too tightly tangled. Losing any of the closely-held beliefs threatens the rest. Nobody will change when the costs are that high.
CAn We Come Back From Addiction?
Even though it’s nonsense, I don’t see how we come back from all this. Yes, it’s easy to laugh at the irrationality of a secret, world-ruling cabal of Satan-worshiping shape-shifting lizard-people pedophiles. Joke about space lasers. It’s all unhinged. But the plots and subplots are addictive in that traditional sense: after a few, people need more. They have to reinforce their interconnected conspiracies to feel normal. And as time passes, they need more. Those old plots don’t give you that endocrine rush anymore. You will want – need – deeper and stronger contrivance to feel normal.
I can see how easy it is to fall into this mass delusion. What I can’t see is how we ever come back from it. Once people decide that objective reality only masks the real story, they’re not listening anymore.
