Imposing a compromised reality ends democratic politics by destroying common sense

Evidence

The conspiracist in chief has the mind-set and the institutional levers to create his own reality and impose it on the nation. When conspiracists are in a position to impose their compromised sense of reality on us, they do not only produce an account of what is happening that deviates from and often inverts our understanding of the world. They also thrust us toward what we think of as the end of democratic politics, for without a shared understanding of what it means to know something and to hold a common account of the essential contours of political reality, collective political action is impossible. Common sense is the required touchstone of democratic public life, and it is under attack. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 278

Categorization

• XREF: Builds toward the Arendt-derived idea of a common world that was already a running thread; also resonates with the book’s citations of Orwell’s doublethink theme of reality ownership. — connects to: Eroded shared reality destroys the possibility of genuine disagreement. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 374; Political action requires shared common sense that conspiracism destroys — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 292; Common sense is a political resource against the imposition of a ruler’s single reality. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 290 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Eroded shared reality destroys the possibility of genuine disagreement. #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 374
• Common sense is a political resource against the imposition of a ruler’s single reality. #corroborates (0.82) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 290
• Political action requires shared common sense that conspiracism destroys #expands (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 292
• Loss of communal relationships destroys the framework in which common sense operates #expands (0.75)