“Repeatedly throughout our research for this book we have encountered truly fantastical stories circulated widely in the right-wing media ecosystem, from Hillary Clinton trafficking in Haitian children to satisfy her husband’s unnatural lusts, to Hillary Clinton herself participating in pedophilia on “Orgy Island,” to John Podesta’s participation in satanic rituals, to the Uranium One story in which the special counsel investigating Russian interference in support of Donald Trump’s campaign, Robert Mueller, and the deputy attorney general who appointed him, Rod Rosenstein, were portrayed as corruptly facilitating the Obama administration’s sale of 20 percent of America’s nuclear capabilities to Russia. These are all stories reported widely in the core sites of the right wing, and polls report that substantial numbers of Republicans claim to believe these stories— whether because they actually believe them factually or because claiming to believe them is part of what identifies them as Republicans. 58 But all of these seem so ludicrously implausible that it is difficult to imagine that they are in fact intended to make people believe them, rather than simply to create a profound disorientation and disconnect from any sense that there is anyone who actually “knows the truth.” Left with nothing but this anomic disorientation, audiences can no longer tell truth from fiction, even if they want to. They are left with nothing but to choose statements that are ideologically congenial or mark them as members of the tribe. And in a world in which there is no truth, the most entertaining conspiracy theory will often win.” -Benkler, Yochai; Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal. Network Propaganda (Kindle Locations 798-810). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
Now there are basically two issues I want to address here. Therefore I will start with the one pertaining to the first part of this quote:
“Repeatedly throughout our research for this book we have encountered truly fantastical stories circulated widely in the right-wing media ecosystem, from Hillary Clinton trafficking in Haitian children to satisfy her husband’s unnatural lusts, to Hillary Clinton herself participating in pedophilia on “Orgy Island,” to John Podesta’s participation in satanic rituals, to the Uranium One story in which the special counsel investigating Russian interference in support of Donald Trump’s campaign, Robert Mueller, and the deputy attorney general who appointed him, Rod Rosenstein, were portrayed as corruptly facilitating the Obama administration’s sale of 20 percent of America’s nuclear capabilities to Russia.”
Here again we are looking at a stunted deductive process. Bill Clinton is well known for his sexual proclivities. He was clearly a sexual guy and Hillary, because of her ambitions, clearly may have engaged in some denial concerning that matter. Therefore, it would make “perfect sense” for him to express that sexuality with Haitian children and flying on the “Lolita Express” while Hillary (the hard-nosed politician (stood by and facilitated it all so that she could pursue her own agendas. But if we follow this through, that perfect sense becomes perfect nonsense because Hillary would have to be pretty goddamn stupid (which she clearly isn’t given her ambition and success (to compromise it all in such a flagrant manner.
This goes back to the point I made about this before as concerns transvestites being legally allowed to use the bathroom of their chosen gender. Given the idea, it makes “perfect sense” that some pervert might exploit the situation and dress as a woman in order to stare at women on the toilet. However, were that deductive process followed through, it would come to realize that either way a stall would always be involved. If it were woman that chose the male gender, they would not be able to use a urinal. They would have to use a stall. And if it was a male that chose the female gender, the stall is the only option in the women’s room. Therefore, the pervert would either have to be peaking over the partition or standing in front of stall staring directly at a woman going to the bathroom. Either way, lewd conduct laws would kick in.
Still, for the right-winger both scenarios work because of that “perfect sense” that allows them to shut the deductive process down and exist comfortably in their own little alternative reality.
“These are all stories reported widely in the core sites of the right wing, and polls report that substantial numbers of Republicans claim to believe these stories— whether because they actually believe them factually or because claiming to believe them is part of what identifies them as Republicans. 58 But all of these seem so ludicrously implausible that it is difficult to imagine that they are in fact intended to make people believe them, rather than simply to create a profound disorientation and disconnect from any sense that there is anyone who actually “knows the truth.” Left with nothing but this anomic disorientation, audiences can no longer tell truth from fiction, even if they want to. They are left with nothing but to choose statements that are ideologically congenial or mark them as members of the tribe. And in a world in which there is no truth, the most entertaining conspiracy theory will often win.”
This is very similar to a really interesting point made by Jason Stanley in How Fascism Works. He pointed out that if you really look into the depth of it, most conspiracy theories don’t really seem to be created to be believed. He pointed out, for example, the pizzagate situation in which a guy walked into a Washington DC pizzeria with a gun to investigate reports that Hillary Clinton was running a child prostitution ring. What he noted was how many of the people that were actually propagating this conspiracy theory demeaned the guy for acting on the report. It’s as if they put it out there not to be believed, but to create an association that tarnishes the repetition of the individual. And it makes “perfect sense” that this approach would be easily embraced by someone who has anchored their identity in being a republican or right-winger.