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posted by chromas on Wednesday September 12 2018, @02:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the That's-what-they-WANT-you-to-think dept.

In the Salon

There seems to be a lot of science being thrown at the "Trump Phenomenon." Salon covers yet another, and interviews the author.

A new paper, recently presented at the American Political Science Association's annual convention, suggests a widespread motive driving people to share fake news, conspiracy theories and other hostile political rumors. "Many status-obsessed, yet marginalized individuals experience a 'Need for Chaos' and want to 'watch the world burn'," lead author Michael Petersen tweeted, announcing the availability of a preprint copy.

Truth, in such a worldview, is beside the point, which offers a new perspective on the limitations of fact-checking. The motivation behind sharing or spreading narratives one may not even believe can help make sense of a variety of threatening or confusing recent developments in advanced democracies. It also sheds light on disturbing similarities with outbreaks of ethnic or genocidal violence, such as those seen in Rwanda and the Balkan nations during the 1990s.

Preprint of the paper available at PsyArXiv, here. [DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/6m4ts]


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  • (Score: 2) by RS3 on Wednesday September 12 2018, @04:36PM (2 children)

    by RS3 (6367) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @04:36PM (#733692)

    You mean the Bilderbergs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group [wikipedia.org] and the Illuminati http://www.theweek.co.uk/62399/what-is-the-illuminati-and-what-does-it-control [theweek.co.uk] aren't really causing Global Climate Change? :-|

    (PS: For those who might not perceive my sarcasm, I am not a conspiracy theorist)

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday September 12 2018, @11:26PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @11:26PM (#733901)

    Of course you're not a conspiracy theorist.

    Pointing out to everyone how the Illuminati are causing climate change is just being neighbourly.

    You should also let people know how the One World Government are preventing people from travelling to the ice wall that surrounds the flat Earth, keeping the truth from us!

    THEY'RE DOING IT FOR THE LIZARD PEOPLE!!!!

  • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @03:31AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @03:31AM (#733995)

    You mean the Bilderbergs and the Illuminati aren't really causing Global Climate Change? :-|

    Of course not, silly.

    Global Climate Change is obviously caused by the patriarchy.