Sincere belief in fantastic claims blurs the boundary between fact and fiction

Evidence

By most accounts Shaver himself believed with absolute conviction in the truthfulness of his stories. This, combined with their appearance in a pulp-fi ction venue, served further to blur the already uncertain boundary between fact and fi ction. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 214

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the larger question of how truth-claims get validated, echoing Shaver’s precursor status for contemporary conspiracy communities. — connects to: Serial falsehood complicates the lie-truth distinction when speakers believe their claims — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 310; A claim’s falsity does not bar it from structuring thought — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 179; Shared belief renders delusion indistinguishable from truth — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 497 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Shared belief renders delusion indistinguishable from truth #corroborates (0.90) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 497
• Serial falsehood complicates the lie-truth distinction when speakers believe their claims #expands (0.85) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 310
• Some post-truth speech is magical thinking rather than mere lying #expands (0.80) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 343
• Witnessing credible public commitment, not cognitive content, distinguishes gods from fictional characters #qualifies (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 376
• A claim’s falsity does not bar it from structuring thought #qualifies (0.72) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 179