4 ms·

Is the propaganda really that good? Or did they want to be skeptical to begin with?

PostOnce 5y ago
I think it's not a function of quality, but of time and volume; if you hear something enough, you might–if only fleetingly–find yourself asking "what if they're right?", because it's not like it's just one crazy guy, it's a lot of voices.
- artificialLimbs 5y ago
  >> …it’s a lot of voices. A looooot of voices. https://thevaultproject.org/ron-johnson-holds-expert-panel-on-covid-and-shocking-vaccine-injuries/ https://thevaultproject.org/ron-johnson-holds-expert-panel-o...
gonehome 5y ago
Most people believe insane things of some form and all of us are usually inconsistent in some way. It might have tighter correlations with economic and education status, but that’s not all of it. Whatever skill allows some to see the signal through the noise while others descend down rabbit holes that lead to delusion is hard to teach. The best community I’ve found that works towards it is the less wrong rationality community, but none of us are immune from cognitive bias or motivated reasoning. It’s all about recognizing it and trying to correct for it in order to struggle closer to the truth. Even so, I worry most people continually exposed to false ideas will eventually get infected by them - even if you have really good tools, it’s hard.
bluGill 5y ago
They have been perfecting their message for years in the background. I've watched it start as a very left wing thing, then they discovered that the "freedom" message really resonated with the right wing libertarians about 10 years ago. They have been spreading in that crowd since. Make no mistake, they don't care about you or right/left wing. It might be right wing this time around, but only because they are still looking for a message that will appeal to the left wing as strongly. The biggest spreaders seem to have a supplement store. Follow the money often works very well.
throwawaylinux 5y ago
Well millions of people believed the Trump Russia election hacking conspiracy theory despite having no basis in reality and having never seen any evidence for it. Maybe after that was exposed people became a bit more skeptical of such narratives. It follows the same recipe as many social engineering tricks you get taught about in basic corporate security education but it really goes back a long way to low tech confidence tricks and scams -- a huge problem, a sense of urgency, and you mustn't ask questions otherwise you're a bad person. Not saying covid or vaccines are a conspiracy theory, just that it follows and easily recognizable pattern that has been abused in the past. And people recognize patterns even subconsciously.

I think it's not a function of quality, but of time and volume; if you hear something enough, you might–if only fleetingly–find yourself asking "what if they're right?", because it's not like it's just one crazy guy, it's a lot of voices.

artificialLimbs 5y ago
>> …it’s a lot of voices. A looooot of voices. https://thevaultproject.org/ron-johnson-holds-expert-panel-on-covid-and-shocking-vaccine-injuries/ https://thevaultproject.org/ron-johnson-holds-expert-panel-o...

gonehome 5y ago

Most people believe insane things of some form and all of us are usually inconsistent in some way. It might have tighter correlations with economic and education status, but that’s not all of it. Whatever skill allows some to see the signal through the noise while others descend down rabbit holes that lead to delusion is hard to teach. The best community I’ve found that works towards it is the less wrong rationality community, but none of us are immune from cognitive bias or motivated reasoning. It’s all about recognizing it and trying to correct for it in order to struggle closer to the truth. Even so, I worry most people continually exposed to false ideas will eventually get infected by them - even if you have really good tools, it’s hard.

bluGill 5y ago

They have been perfecting their message for years in the background. I've watched it start as a very left wing thing, then they discovered that the "freedom" message really resonated with the right wing libertarians about 10 years ago. They have been spreading in that crowd since. Make no mistake, they don't care about you or right/left wing. It might be right wing this time around, but only because they are still looking for a message that will appeal to the left wing as strongly. The biggest spreaders seem to have a supplement store. Follow the money often works very well.

throwawaylinux 5y ago

Well millions of people believed the Trump Russia election hacking conspiracy theory despite having no basis in reality and having never seen any evidence for it. Maybe after that was exposed people became a bit more skeptical of such narratives. It follows the same recipe as many social engineering tricks you get taught about in basic corporate security education but it really goes back a long way to low tech confidence tricks and scams -- a huge problem, a sense of urgency, and you mustn't ask questions otherwise you're a bad person. Not saying covid or vaccines are a conspiracy theory, just that it follows and easily recognizable pattern that has been abused in the past. And people recognize patterns even subconsciously.