Once again the apotheosis failed to materialize. No revolution, no rush to the White House, let alone a divine lightning bolt to strike her down during The Star Spangled Banner. Superstar Taylor Swift, the terror of the American Republicans, was recently able to quietly attend the Super Bowl.
It must have disappointed some of the audience. Taylor is the center of it a bizarre conspiracy theory. Difficult to tell, but the bottom line is that she is a creation of Biden and the deep statepsychological warfare (psy ops) to prevent the re-election of that other phenomenon, Trump. A mega pop star as a secret weapon against a MAGA tribune.
That is not completely crazy, because Taylor is adored by young people can make a difference, who knows enough to flip a wavering state. But the idea that the CIA is remotely controlling the singer is quite, er… strange.
Since corona, sociologists and other scientists have regularly advocated taking conspiracy theorists seriously, listening to them even learn something from them. Again since corona. Seen from their situation, their doubts and suspicions are common, even reasonable.
Would it? You can take it a step further. Indeed, conspiracy theorists are not only ordinary, they are more ordinary than ordinary. It is known from psychology that we humans harbor cognitive biases that make our worldview conclusive. That we accept everything that fits a suspicion or belief, for example, and filter out everything that contradicts it. Also the idea that ‘coincidence does not exist’. Or the assumption that large, complex events must have equally large, complex causes. A world event like ‘9/11’ could not have been caused by a handful of fanatics with plastic cutlery; that’s just not ‘right’.
That’s very normal thinking – but is it also rational? All those cognitive biases can be tested and corrected. You would say: that is real rationality. On the contrary. Typical of conspiracy theorists is that they are immune to correction and give free rein to their prejudices. It must not be right, otherwise their worldview is no longer correct. That makes this thinking irrational.
But don’t they just ‘ask questions’, an attitude that we encourage as being very skeptical and scientific? Well no, there is such a thing as unreasonable or malicious doubt, which has no end. Critical minds also or especially doubt them own insights. Conspiracy theorists are never accomplished – their goal is, always, to sow doubt in the minds of others.
No listening ear can help with that. Perhaps even more likely an AI-manipulated Taylor Swift song.
Sjoerd de Jong writes a column here every Thursday.