The Atlantic, David French, 18 March 2022: What the Russia Invasion Teaches Us About the Right, subtitled, “Contrarians aren’t critical thinkers. They’re gullible reactionaries, vulnerable to conspiracy theories.”
I don’t think I’ve addressed something I’ve observed but can’t quite explain. That people who are anti-gay, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, MAGAs, and so on, tend to be a lot of the same people. Is it possible that the world *is* flat and that vaccines *are* frauds, and the left *is* out to ruin America? Another example I noticed a couple days ago: the anti-mask-mandate truckers (the few of whom are still wandering around) are also anti-BLM. Why am I not surprised?
Here’s an essay that suggests a common theme. It begins by noting that support for Ukraine runs 56% and 76% among Republicans and Democrats respectively, while the number who say they are vaccinated runs 56% and 92%.
Vaccines have nothing to do with Russia, and Russia has nothing to do with vaccines. So why are those two numbers so similar? The answer lies with a phenomenon that afflicts a substantial minority of the right, including a substantial minority of my neighbors. It’s a constant, intense contrarianism rooted in deep antipathy against perceived “elites” or against the “establishment” on the left or the right.
Vaccines have nothing to do with Russia, and Russia has nothing to do with vaccines. So why are those two numbers so similar? The answer lies with a phenomenon that afflicts a substantial minority of the right, including a substantial minority of my neighbors. It’s a constant, intense contrarianism rooted in deep antipathy against perceived “elites” or against the “establishment” on the left or the right.
The overlap between various conspiracy theories is simply extraordinary. Find someone who believes Trump truly won the 2020 election, and the overlap with anti-masking activism (especially pre-vaccine) and vaccine skepticism is almost guaranteed. Find someone who believes in the basics of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and you’ll find an election conspiracist and likely a Ukraine skeptic.
Indeed, contrarianism and antipathy also present a crucial explanation for Trumpism. What’s a key reason the right likes Trump? Because the mainstream media doesn’t. When would they boo Trump? When he conforms to what the establishment wants, including by getting a COVID-vaccine booster.
If you spend any time watching Tucker Carlson or following the rhetoric of popular far-right voices, such as Candace Owens, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and many, many others, you’ll see a consistent theme—they’ll find what they call “the narrative” (another word for the perceived conventional wisdom in the media or in the political establishment) and simply argue the opposite.
I’ve mentioned before how some conspiracy theorists seem to be, not in possession of any secret information, but merely out to be contrary. They hate the idea that something is happening in the world that they don’t understand, or can’t control, and resent some “elite” explaining the consequences to them about what needs to be done, and so they concoct a simpler explanation, or attack the elites by call *them* the conspirators. Is this a pattern of, what?, a deep-seated inferiority complex? Or — here’s a notion I have discussed before — is it that some people simply don’t understand how conclusions are drawn and should be modified based on evidence, that some alternate story that makes vague if outlandish sense are not just as good an explanations. Otherwise, how is it they concoct their outlandish theories? Not based on evidence!
But don’t for a moment mistake contrarianism for critical thinking. A true critical thinker holds all sides accountable for their mistakes. Those who underplayed the COVID threat would be rejected just as decisively (if not more, given the staggering toll in lives) as those who overplayed it. Those who said there were no contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign would be rejected just as decisively as those who said there was active collusion with the Russian government.
The critical thinker is universally skeptical. The contrarian commits a double error—he’s both excessively cynical and excessively credulous. He’s too quick to disbelieve one side and too quick to believe the opposite. For example, he’ll reject an avalanche of evidence of the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine while jumping quickly on fad treatments, like hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. He’ll reject overwhelming proof that the January 6 insurrection was a Trumpist attack on the Capitol and respond immediately to speculation that the FBI or antifa instigated the riot.
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The link in the third quoted paragraph goes to A Taxonomy of Right-Wing Dog Whistles, subtitled, “Listen closely and you’ll hear these phrases everywhere.”
That’s the secret of these GOP talking points: They’re sticky enough to be memorable, they’re designed to elicit an emotional response, they typically target an ideologically symbolic bogeyman, and they contain a sliver of truth that can be blown up into something completely unrecognizable.
Putin, misunderstood guy; crack pipes for racial equity; Democrats let Putin attack; Masking is child abuse; Let parents decide; the walls are closing in on Hillary; Hillary’s running; Fauci lied, people died; Watch out, socialism!; Democrats want to defund the police; and They want open borders; Justin Trudeau is the real villain.
These are simplistic, misguided takes on complex issues, or in some cases simply lies. Again, do Republican politicians think their supporters are dimwits? Or do they believe these things too? (Because in politics, some people will believe *anything*.)
