Conspiracism attacks shared modes of explanation, not just specific targets

Evidence

It is disturbing and dangerous because it is a direct, explicit, and wholesale attack on shared modes of understanding and explaining things in the political world. It unsettles the ground on which we argue, negotiate, compromise, and even disagree. It makes democracy unworkable—and ultimately it makes democracy seem unworthy. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 24

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects to the sacrifice/grafting essays’ interest in what holds shared worlds together—here the shared epistemic ground democracy needs.
• XREF: connects to: Conspiracism targets knowledge-producing institutions rather than individual facts — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 242; Conspiracism offers greater coherence than reality by excluding chance and ambiguity — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 117; Conspiracism persists as a moral revolt against impersonal causal explanation — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 112 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracism targets knowledge-producing institutions rather than individual facts #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 242
• Political action requires shared common sense that conspiracism destroys #expands (0.82) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 292
• Conspiracism offers greater coherence than reality by excluding chance and ambiguity #expands (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 117
• Conspiracism persists as a moral revolt against impersonal causal explanation #expands (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 112