This is a good article about one of the January 6 insurrectionists and the damage that you tinfoil hat wearing morons caused one of your own. This guy was you: traveled to attend the trump rally, a die-hard deplorable. Those illogical conspiracies spread to the places you get your information: Fox News, Twitter, and Alex Jones
The article hits the nail on the head with the below two paragraphs. And it has a lot to do with what I have railed on you deplorables about: getting your news from sources who don't care about accuracy and aren't held to a standard, getting your news from Twitter and podcasts, blaming people who have nothing to do with your failures (wealthy people like Zuckerberg, Oprah, Bill Gates and/or immigrants).
As I watched video of Epps from January 6 and pored over transcripts of his sworn testimony from court documents and the congressional committee interview, I wondered: Why had a seemingly rational person fallen victim to conspiracy culture? Politically polarized cable news that relies on punditry, not factual reporting, was obviously part of it, along with social media “influencers” who build massive audiences by posting paranoid yarns. It’s never been easier for people to cherry-pick facts that match their beliefs — or fabricate them altogether. But why did so many of these fabrications hinge on scapegoating? Scholars say the answer can be found in the belief that white people have become increasingly marginalized, or “white grievance.”
“There is such tremendous income inequality that it produces an inevitable sense of grievance,” Michael Barkun, a Syracuse University emeritus professor who studies conspiracy theories and political extremism, told me. As declines in manufacturing and other blue-collar pursuits left many working-class white people struggling economically, many blamed bicoastal elites, rising immigration and anyone who had been a “minority” but seemed to be advancing into the “majority.” The sense of marginalization among Americans who traditionally viewed themselves as superior has perhaps led them to feel threatened. And people who feel threatened are more likely to believe conspiracy theories. Those who believe that white people experience racial discrimination, studies show, are more likely to believe the electoral process is corrupted.
www.deseret.com
The article hits the nail on the head with the below two paragraphs. And it has a lot to do with what I have railed on you deplorables about: getting your news from sources who don't care about accuracy and aren't held to a standard, getting your news from Twitter and podcasts, blaming people who have nothing to do with your failures (wealthy people like Zuckerberg, Oprah, Bill Gates and/or immigrants).
As I watched video of Epps from January 6 and pored over transcripts of his sworn testimony from court documents and the congressional committee interview, I wondered: Why had a seemingly rational person fallen victim to conspiracy culture? Politically polarized cable news that relies on punditry, not factual reporting, was obviously part of it, along with social media “influencers” who build massive audiences by posting paranoid yarns. It’s never been easier for people to cherry-pick facts that match their beliefs — or fabricate them altogether. But why did so many of these fabrications hinge on scapegoating? Scholars say the answer can be found in the belief that white people have become increasingly marginalized, or “white grievance.”
“There is such tremendous income inequality that it produces an inevitable sense of grievance,” Michael Barkun, a Syracuse University emeritus professor who studies conspiracy theories and political extremism, told me. As declines in manufacturing and other blue-collar pursuits left many working-class white people struggling economically, many blamed bicoastal elites, rising immigration and anyone who had been a “minority” but seemed to be advancing into the “majority.” The sense of marginalization among Americans who traditionally viewed themselves as superior has perhaps led them to feel threatened. And people who feel threatened are more likely to believe conspiracy theories. Those who believe that white people experience racial discrimination, studies show, are more likely to believe the electoral process is corrupted.
The undercover agent who wasn't
Ray Epps believed the 2020 election was stolen. Then he became the conspiracy theorists’ biggest target.
www.deseret.com
