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My mother (1913-2012), a pretty smart lady, used to say that it must be nice to put your brain in park and let other people do the thinking. Unfortunately frightened folks who want “answers” will look for vast conspiracies to explain their problems. And if their leader is appointed by a higher power, then as followers they are automatically the chosen people. The fact that none of this is not logical is beside the point; faith is not based on observable facts.

For example, if “Q” was really a hidden ally dropping “breadcrumb” hints about what is going on, why doesn’t the powerful Secret State just find and kill this person? Or why doesn’t Q go public, putting the evidence out on a thousand channels? Not everything is controlled by “them”. Those who believe in Qanon will, of course, have answers for these questions, not that they are logical. Being one of the elect “in the know” and expecting final victory are what matters.

Ultimately the problem is that desperate people whipped up by a new faith cannot be talked to in any sensible fashion. The YouTube interviews of Jordan Klepper talking to Trump supporters shows this pretty clearly: Facts don’t matter. In fact, experts (and by implication well educated people) are suspect and not to be trusted. What they say is irrelevant or worse as they may be part of the conspiracies claiming that that COVID or climate change are real concerns. Such assertions can make people feel powerless and thus should be ignored. Some followers will come to their senses, but when guns become involved the situation is far more toxic. Trump won’t live forever, but damage he has done and what he has tapped into will keep marching on.

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The phenomenon that educated people are suspect is one of those age-old tropes. A lot of it is garden-variety anti-Semitism, but a lot is gut-level underclass resentment of privilege. My mom was the first college grad in her family, and it was poison. They were real proud of being salt-of-the-earth righteous folks, and she, lacking insight, but also eldest sister, did act like The Smart One. Disaster.

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Thank you for sharing, and I agree there are a lot of issues here. The media doesn't help when it portrays professors as unworldly, arrogant or dangerous. But certainly back to at least the 19th century there were expressed fears that too much education would make people turn away from religion. On the positive side, I teach at a university which has a strong online outreach program for non-traditional students, which is what I do. We got a lot of people such as spouses of those in the military, ones who are isolated, or are in middle age and working full time, and they really want to further their educations. Most of them do quite well. So that is a positive anyway.

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