"Indeed, documentation is often taken as further evidence of conspiracy, while assertion (that this or that will 'detoxify' your blood or that COVID deaths were exaggerated) is taken as gospel….

Hannah Arendt wrote in The Origins of Totalitarianism that 'a mixture of gullibility and cynicism is prevalent in all ranks of totalitarian movements.'”

#gullibility #credulity #vaccines #research #science #ConspiracyTheories #gullicism #SocialMedia #disinformation #Covid #authoritarianism
/5

"The cynicism is highly selective: Gullicists see everyone’s hidden motives—except when they don’t. They are able to reject any claim rooted in actual evidence—whether in science, politics, or history—while embracing the most breathtakingly absurd assertions on the same topics."

#gullibility #credulity #vaccines #research #science #ConspiracyTheories #gullicism #SocialMedia #disinformation #Covid #authoritarianism
/4

"Reliable information is both more available and harder to find than ever—and those who spread misinformation have been rewarded with positions of power, platforms they can exploit to further pollute the information environment. ...

The spread of anti-vax conspiracy theories is just another example of the gullicism that defines our age."

#gullibility #credulity #vaccines #research #science #ConspiracyTheories #gullicism #SocialMedia #disinformation #Covid #authoritarianism
/3

"The coronavirus wasn’t the only epidemic to hit the United States in the past decade. Americans are also facing a bizarre epidemic of gullibility and cynicism—gullicism, if you need a portmanteau—that is drawing people into a world of conspiracism and falsehoods, one where facts are drowned out by a cacophony of extremely loud and wrong voices."

#gullibility #credulity #vaccines #research #science #ConspiracyTheories #gullicism #SocialMedia #disinformation #Covid
/2