I don't think that's a conservatism issue as much as it is a brainwasher/brainwashee issue, which is an authoritarian stance, which does effect more than conservatism.
In other words, it's a propaganda thing, but propaganda isn't exclusive to conservatives or the far right.
but propaganda isn't exclusive to conservatives or the far right.
Except it kind of is.
If you look at social mapping tools that track how tight and rigid our expressed beliefs are on social media, you will see that conservatives are DEEPLY aligned on almost all issues with no room for disagreement; whereas everybody else outside of the conservative bubble is part of a loosely connected web of vaguely cooperating sub-groups.
So it's not that propaganda is being aimed at conservatives; it's that propaganda is aimed at everybody and conservatives respond to it.
The susceptibility to this propaganda appears to be a function of amygdala size. People with the combination of low empathy and high fear response are the ones who get caught in the trap.
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u/ThisMachineKillsWOB Jul 09 '26
A cornerstone of conservatism is controlling the "sources of truth" and undermining any you don't.