Conspiracist assent functions as tribal identity signaling, not factual assertion.
Evidence
The new conspiracism feeds off and in turn fuels a tribal mode of politics. To deny Trump’s insistence that Obama wiretapped his offices is to disassociate from the company of those who attribute the worst to Obama and the Democrats. Assent to a conspiracy claim means the claim resonates with one’s sense of the political world. A tribal belief is akin to Boston Red Sox fans’ belief that the “Yankees suck.” Such an assertion is not an affirmation of a proposition that is meant to correspond to facts in the world. Even if the Yankees were the best team in the world, for Red Sox fans, the statement “Yankees suck” remains valid because it reflects fans’ identification with their team and each other. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 126
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s ongoing thread about ritual and belonging — small acts that bind groups regardless of factual content. — connects to: Public assent, not private belief, is what drives conspiracism’s political effects. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 123; Add-on conspiracies reveal tribalism, not sense-making, as the motive — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 241; Framing drove membership in an ascribed conspiratorial enemy, not behaviour or intent. — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 65 (+3 more)
Broader Connections
- Bare-assertion conspiracism demands no errant facts to explain
#expands(0.78) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 63 - Conspiracy theories usually aim to name an enemy, not to build a coherent story.
#expands(0.75) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 64 - Framing drove membership in an ascribed conspiratorial enemy, not behaviour or intent.
#qualifies(0.72) — Erin K. Jenne and Promise Frank Ejiofor, Ethnopopulism and genocidal…, 65