New conspiracists assent forcefully without believing or disbelieving their claims

Evidence

The new conspiracism sets a low bar: if one cannot be certain that a belief is entirely false, with the emphasis on entirely, then it might be true—and that’s true enough. This is the logic behind “Even if it’s not totally true, there’s something there.” The new conspiracists do not necessarily believe what they say. But they do not disbelieve it either. As we have argued, classic conspiracy theory is about making sense of the world. But to assent in the way the new conspiracists do is something different. Their assent is forceful and has the stamp of certainty—the election was “rigged!” But when probed, the language of certainty often gives way to the language of “true enough.” And “true enough” is good enough politically. Because the weak ground of assent does not cause hesitation or humility. It is not a barrier to publicly asserting emphatic claims about reality. It does not inhibit conspiracists from claiming to own reality. And for conspiracists in power, it is not an impediment to imposing their reality on the nation. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 108

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sharpens the book’s core concept ‘true enough’ as a distinctive mode of assent — neither belief nor disbelief .
• DEEPTHINKING: The distinction between forceful certainty-claiming and weak epistemic assent is genuinely paradigm-shifting for understanding political disinformation.
• XREF: connects to: New conspiracists replace organized political action with mass repetition and assent — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 79; New conspiracism lowers the assent bar to mere possibility, without evidence — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 122; Bare-assertion conspiracism demands no errant facts to explain — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 63 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• New conspiracism lowers the assent bar to mere possibility, without evidence #expands (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 122
• Bare-assertion conspiracism demands no errant facts to explain #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 63
• New conspiracism drops explanation and evidence in favor of bare assertion #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 14
• New conspiracism weaponizes reality disputes as a demand for public assent #expands (0.80) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 306