And with very good reason. Institutional failures get fixed but cynicism and distrust, which are anathema to a healthy democracy, fester and multiply.https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1224764645333966849 …
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Replying to @JoshuaHol
I'm waiting for the institutional failures to get fixed!
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Replying to @JoshuaHol
They don't help but it's important to keep things in perspective. The institutional failures are the root problem, the conspiracy theories an epiphenomenon of that problem.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
That's not true generally. Conspiracism may not flourish to the same degree when everything runs smoothly, but it's a constant. Fluoride works wonders. Vaccines save lives. Those aren't institutional failures.
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Replying to @JoshuaHol @HeerJeet
What we've seen is that once unleashed, resolving the institutional failures does little or nothing to reel in the conspiracism. It's like a Pandora's Box opening up to the irrationally fearful part of our brains. It becomes a destructive force unto itself, immune to fixes.
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Replying to @DavidNeiwert @HeerJeet
Exactly. The DNC fucked up in 2016 by not maintaining strict neutrality but the idea that they actually rigged the process somehow is still widespread.
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Replying to @JoshuaHol @HeerJeet
I agree with
@HeerJeet's point that institutional failures are a major wellspring of conspiracism, especially when the subsequent "fixes" are so doomed and bankrupt (see 9/11). But even when the issues are resolved (see Obama's birth certificate) the conspiracist ideas persist.3 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
Absolutely, once they are out there, conspiracy theories have a life of their own (anti-Semitism being the classic example). But I think Hofstadterian accounts ignore the role played by elite failure (or, sometimes, as in Birtherism, elite promulgation).
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