Conspiracy movements recruit across divergent groups by serving different emotional needs

Evidence

Pizzagate adherents break down into a number of subgroups. Among them are survivors of child sexual abuse who know firsthand the pain of that kind of violence. There’s also what I think of as the chaos arm: people like Mike Cernovich, brought in by the alt-right and prone to pushing anti-Democratic conspiracies (and who saw the lack of coverage by the mainstream media as evidence of their having been bought off by the Democrats). And then there are deeply religious Christians, often evangelicals, to whom Pizzagate is proof that the Devil is real and working hard on Earth. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 271

Categorization

• XREF: Underscores the affinity between evangelical providential reading and conspiracy logic — links to Christian-nationalism claims elsewhere in the vault about shared epistemic style. — connects to: Conspiracy belief functions as a coping mechanism for groups facing loss and marginalization — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 146; Distinct racial conspiracy movements merge when a shared adversary framework emerges — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 174; Conspiracy movements depend on a symbiosis of believers and opportunists — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 905 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Conspiracy theories satisfy epistemic, existential, and social needs #expands (0.85) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 179
• Conspiracy theories give concrete form to a group’s sensed loss of power #exemplifies (0.80) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 58
• Conspiracy movements depend on a symbiosis of believers and opportunists #expands (0.78) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 905