Anonymous wrote:Intelligent people who don't buy the party line? Crazy!

I don't know a single conspiracy theorist I'd consider "intelligent" in other areas of life.

OP here. I wonder if my "Naomi Wolf" (a progressive turned conspiracist) has schizoaffective or bipolar.

She was an idealistic and optimistic person. Very creative, with a bit of a flair for the dramatic. Had a great sense of humor.

But she went off the rails in the pandemic. Got into the "vaccine mandates" issue and soon turned against vaccines and became very conspiratorial. Consumed a lot of misinformation and disinformation on social media. She was no longer an idealistic, upbeat but down about life. She was very moody and now very humorless. Started attending "trucker" and anti-mandate rallies. Cut off virtually all of her peers and old friends who "went along" with the mandates.

Anonymous wrote:Mental illness. Schizotypal disorder.

This is what my very intelligent brother likely has- bipolar schizoaffective.

It has been very had. He wont admit he needs meds/help. Gets better tgen suddenly worse. He isa very caring and generous person, but our relationship is very tense. The delusions he has are utterly real to him and cannot be disproven.

Read Naomi klein’s doppelgänger for a really insightful analysis of exactly how this happens. Of course, she concludes Naomi wolf wasn’t all that intellectually serious before Covid but it is a really good (and much broader) book.

Anonymous wrote:I know a few people who turned out this way, including my ex. All very smart and well educated.

There are two common traits that I can point to. One is a very black and white thinking, no grey whatsoever. E.g., if you can’t give a 100% guarantee that X is safe, it means that X is unsafe, and how dare you? The other is that they ARE probably smarter than an average person and they have an independent streak which leads them to center their identity around “not being a sheep” and believe they can “do their own research”, etc.

Add the internet echo chambers in the mix, and there you go.

That could be a point of vulnerability. They're smarter than the average person but not as intelligent and informed as the actual experts. So they're just better at creating justifications.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has not happened to anyone I know personally, but someone who inspired me to go to law school 27 years ago went from being someone I admired that much to being someone who disgusts me now.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.

His Uncle and Father must be rolling in their graves.

He's so freaking awful!

Anonymous wrote:My sister has a friend like this. Stay at home mom who had one of those chronic illnesses that mainstream medicine often blows off or minimizes. Researching that led to her many conspiracy fheorist type website and she just got sucked in further and further. I think if the establishment/common wisdom has screwed you in one way, you’re more open to the rest of it.

That'll do it. Can't blame her, really.

Anonymous wrote:I know a few people who turned out this way, including my ex. All very smart and well educated.

There are two common traits that I can point to. One is a very black and white thinking, no grey whatsoever. E.g., if you can’t give a 100% guarantee that X is safe, it means that X is unsafe, and how dare you? The other is that they ARE probably smarter than an average person and they have an independent streak which leads them to center their identity around “not being a sheep” and believe they can “do their own research”, etc.

Add the internet echo chambers in the mix, and there you go.

Correct. I would add a certain type of autism to the mix: Autism increases the risk of paranoia, because of that rigid thinking (what PP calls black and white), anxiety an tendency to over-react, since they don't know what a socially-appropriate proportional response looks like. Not all autistic people develop this - my son is not like this at all. My husband sometimes has a mild version, when he's angry, of thinking everyone is out to get him, but nothing specific as yet. I hope he never reaches that stage. Both are high-functioning autistic.

I have an aunt who was a full-blown conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer, well before Covid. She was considered the most intelligent of her family as a child. I think she was indeed someone who thought outside the box, and who relished being anti-establishment. Sadly, she died of Covid, after refusing to get vaccinated and declining an ambulance to go to the hospital when she fell ill and things were not looking good.

My sister has a friend like this. Stay at home mom who had one of those chronic illnesses that mainstream medicine often blows off or minimizes. Researching that led to her many conspiracy fheorist type website and she just got sucked in further and further. I think if the establishment/common wisdom has screwed you in one way, you’re more open to the rest of it.

It hasn't happened to anyone intelligent that I know, but has to a couple 'friends of friends' who were never very smart/kind of always a little out there... who now suddenly really think they are critical free thinkers.

I was shocked when I learned about Naomi Wolf though. wtf I agree that it takes a certain amount of rigidity to swing so far in either direction without caution or temperance.

Russell Brand has gone kind of nuts. He's smart though.

Anonymous wrote:This has not happened to anyone I know personally, but someone who inspired me to go to law school 27 years ago went from being someone I admired that much to being someone who disgusts me now.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.

His Uncle and Father must be rolling in their graves.

Well my "Naomi Wolf" believes:

- That the public health officials were planning for permanent lockdowns

- That car crashes where people have Covid deaths are being marked as Covid deaths

- That the unvaccinated are being denied their human rights and that "the unvaccinated" are a group that should be given human rights protections just as being Black or Muslim or LGBT should etc.

I don't think she presented any serious evidence for any of these arguments.

This has not happened to anyone I know personally, but someone who inspired me to go to law school 27 years ago went from being someone I admired that much to being someone who disgusts me now.

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But somehow you are smarter and know better? Have you thought about listening to her points and her evidence?

+1

+2