Conservative host Megyn Kelly suggested that she did not initially believe Jeffrey Epstein was an "actual pedophile" because he reportedly victimized girls aged 15 and older.Kelly spoke to journalist Batya Ungar-Sargon about Epstein on Wednesday after Democrats released emails suggesting President D...
There is also a kind of reverse virtue signaling to each other about how “edgy” they are when it comes to being steeped in/buying into what they think is insider knowledge…
For example, the ones that claim they are flat-earthers - I honestly think many of them might not really believe it, but use it as a way to play the kid skipping science class and smoking out behind the school, basically as a way to raise up their middle finger to annoy the people they think are just being schoolmarms: “you’re not going to tell ME what to believe, I did my own research!”
The reality is, anyone they think of as a schoolmarm (“normie”) just mostly would rather ignore these asshats, and just roll our eyes at their juvenile and backward ways. Sadly, what these idiots do in large groups ends up harming everyone - e.g., not vaccinating, being terrible at reasoning skills, basic numeracy and literacy, while at the same time being able to vote for the Republicans.
There is much of what you describe in these communities, and a lot of it is even simpler and sadder than that, which is people desperately scared of death and clinging to religion to provide some level of comfort.
One of my favorite documentaries of all time is Dan Olsen’s In Search of a Flat Earth, it’s a sublime journey that starts with a beautiful and pleasant journey into measuring the humbling scope and scale of our world, and in the second act, delves deep into conspiracy theorists and their motivations.