I created and posted a support Biden-Harris poster on my Facebook and Instagram pages this week. I’ll do what I’m able to encourage people to register, to vote, and to vote for Biden-Harris to lead our nation. Although I’ve been appalled by the continuous flow of false accusations, lies and conspiracy theories coming from the mouth of president Trump, I had not experienced them from anyone I was ever associated with until this week.
In response to my poster, a former white male colleague shared a quote from someone that said voting for democrats in November meant voting to transform the country into a communist state. Then he posted a poster about the “Obama legacy” with attending comments listing a ton of unfounded accusations against Obama. Then he later wrote about my poster calling Biden and Harris “Pedophiles, liars and criminals”. I wasn’t shocked, but saddened that someone I had worked with, albeit he wasn’t an educated professional, but a construction guy on campus, had been sucked into this delusional thinking. I couldn’t help but wonder why. And so I did a bit of research into why people believe these far-fetched theories, completely denying the evidence in front of them.
Psychologists have stepped up their research and theories into the proliferation of conspiracy theories and their followers. People who buy into or perpetuate these theories willingly suspend reality and simple critical thinking to believe lies, made up stories, and falsehoods to help them understand situations troubling circumstances. They are driven by fear and anxiety, the need for control, the need to feel special, and the need to belong. These are people who are generally uneducated, not kind, not dependable, and not cooperative in their daily lives. They attract likeminded people and reinforce each other. They are not people with strong analytical skills and so it is difficult for them to give up their beliefs even in the face of truth, facts, and evidence. These don’t matter. What matters is the social network they have built with those who contribute to their anti-social paranoid thinking.
With this in mind, it was evident to me that there wasn’t much I could or should do to engage this former colleague. I felt bad for him and for those around him. The most unfortunate part is that these people can be dangerous. Some become violent and take up arms or bombs, threatening or killing people. Some of them don’t vaccinate their children because despite the evidence they believe vaccinations cause autism. They believe in the deep state that wants to do all sorts of things to destroy America and so they vote for Trump who is literally destroying America right before their eyes. They believe that COVID-19 is a hoax created to gain control over us and so they refuse to wear masks as thousands of Americans die and schools can’t reopen. And now, some are running for government office. It’s bad enough that we have a conspiracy theorist in the White House. Look what he has gotten us! His niece (a psychologist), and now his older sister (a federal judge), have publicly called out his depraved character, exposing his lying, selfishness, and cruelty.
This November, we have to favor reason, truth, evidence, and facts at the ballot box across all political races. We have to expose the alternative facts for what they are: lies, false accusations, and conspiracy theories. And it all starts with protecting our ability to vote by mail during an actual pandemic despite the claims of conspiracy theorist want us believe that the deep state is using a made up pandemic to allow for rampant voting fraud through mail in ballots. Thinking citizens now have to protect the post office from the attacks of the conspiracy theorist in the White House. Can America and the world endure four more years of this? I don’t think so.