I know precisely what of you speak.
In my extended circle of online acquaintances there is an alarming number of QAnon/Truther/Conspiracy types whom I've always felt were reasonably intelligent people, but it's like they lost their ability for critical thinking about the time Covid came along. Or maybe it was sooner, back when Trump first ran for President.
Maybe I lack compassion, as well. I lack compassion for a particular mindset who seem entrenched in what I like to call "studied ignorance," a certain pride in their conviction of belief that supersedes the facts.
I use the "Let me Google that for you" website rather often as a short response to to some forwarded email chain or article filled to the brim with opinions, but devoid of underlying facts.
I’ve always been open-minded to (perhaps a bit too much so) all the “conspiracy” stuff, as there is alot of truth in in… though it’s been humbling this last year to see & admit I definitely crossed the line from ‘red pill’ to ‘black pill’ somewhere along the way. Perhaps needed to dive into the deep end of it all for experience & contrast, though seeing alot more of the biases & distortions at play in much of it the last year;
Indeed, there are many very smart people to be found in those circles/communities… although i think there’s been a blurring of boundaries as more sorta lump it/them altogether - i.e. asserting there is a single “truther community” or overgeneralizing “conspiracy theory/theorist” as a blanket statement encompassing millions of different people who may not accurately be lumped altogether and actually have a wide difference in level of intellect & discernment. The whole Q ‘phenomena/movement’… it’s an immense distortion and fallacy to conclude “Qanon is xyz” as there are so many different groups who each have their own interpretations & relationships with ‘it’ - and “Qanon” itself is merely a propagandized label-construct used to discredit/condemn it all, just as “conspiracy theorist” has been a weaponized term to gaslight the fuck outta anyone going against the grain… and sure enough, it’s effectively all been lumped together, effective “thought-terminating cliches” which kill off the critical thinking ability to even question what within the larger ‘communities’ is shit bias/distortion and what actually has merit;
I’ve found the “problem” to be so many people simply swinging from one extreme of blind faith in mainstream media/authority to that of ‘alternative’ - the “black pill” where everything is then seen through shit-colored glasses of excessive paranoia. Where “question everything” has evolved to “question everything mainstream,” and the critical-thinking stops there, contrary to all preached. Paradoxically, just more regurgitation of others’ ideas & beliefs rather than objective assessment of all sides of an issue.
Though perhaps, one step at a time - can’t realistically expect human psychology to make quantum leaps all at once for everyone, and the recoil from one extreme to another might be necessary - eventually settling and finding balance in the middle ground, so long as one truly is humble enough to surrender to the process. Part of me kinda wants to regret having given so much to the ‘alternative’ paradigms, spending a fair amount of time in the distortions & cynicism, though it was probably necessary to see & understand the full spectrum with greater clarity and activate the capacity of discernment. Probably gonna be a longer period unravelling the effects of the black pill than I’d like, but at least there’s been a refinement of the senses and maturation.
Life, what a trip. Lol.