New conspiracism dissolves shared perceptions of political reality

Evidence

The frequency of such charges, the baffling quality of the narrative concoctions, and their free-floating nature, untethered as they are to anything observable in the real world, contribute to the new conspiracism’s disorienting effect. We are disoriented by the realization that what is absurd to some is true enough to others. And we are talking not about evaluations of particular policies, in the way that a new tariff policy might seem sensible to some and nonsensical to others, but rather about basic perceptions of political reality. We have become accustomed to partisan polarization, the gap in the way Democrats and Republicans evaluate public officials, public policies, and one another. The new conspiracism moves us from gap to chasm, for epistemic polarization ultimately dissolves our common sense of the world, as we discussed in chapter 6. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 373

Categorization

• XREF: Epistemic polarization dissolving common sense resonates with the reader’s knowledge base on epistemic bubbles from other sources. — connects to: New conspiracism uniquely harms democracy through both delegitimation and disorientation — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 32; The new conspiracism will outlast Trump’s presidency — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 47; A new conspiracism form drops explanation and aims at disorientation. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 49 (+13 more)