The mills of conspiracy theorists are working hard. They want to say that the Capitol Riot was a “setup” by Trump opponents. If that’s the case, Trump team must be co-conspirating as he energetically urged his supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell”.
Disinformation and misinformation have become the main tools of the dictators and Trump. This tool is immensely effective. Trump previous promoted “Obama birtherism” and noted its effectiveness. Conspiracy theorists exploit and expand “confirmation bias” in everybody’s mind. People tend to make intuitive conclusions/decisions and then view/search for “evidences” that support their conclusion/decision. All human beings have this tendency, of varying degrees.
Actually it is not “wrong” to reason with a conclusion first and then look for evidences. However, we also have to look for and evaluate “evidences” that falsify the conclusion. If truth really matters to us, we need to work very hard to make sure we are getting it.
For people using disinformation and misinformation as a tool/tactic, truth does not matter. The trick is to cook up conspiracy theories one after another. Their reasoning is full of “possibilities”. If you cannot rule out this “possibility”, they say it is probably true.
I am really sad that many of my “educated” friends are lured away by conspiracy theories and disinformation because they are feeling so desperate about “something”. “Arguing” with them is like trying to dispel a schizophrenic of his/her delusion.
The democratic institution of the United States with all its checks and balances, though not perfect, is most treasurable for a culturally and racially diverse society. We cannot allow it to be subverted by a small group of power-hungry politicians using lies/conspiracy theories and seditious rhetoric. To achieve their goal, they are sowing distrust on all components of our democratic institution: the press, the judiciary, the law enforcement, the legislature, the intelligence community, the election offices of the states…. They are essentially inciting a “revolution”. Just think: what will come out of this kind of “revolution”?!! If the US democracy crumbles, what will happen to other authoritarian regimes in the world?
Our country is in a critical situation, but keep calm and think carefully and act carefully to #DefendOurDemocracy .