New research helps to explain the association between political conservatism and riskier pandemic lifestyles. According to new research published in Discover Social Science and Health, political conservatives tend to be less empathetic, hold more authoritarian beliefs, and feel less threatened by the pandemic, which in turn is associated with reduced adherence to COVID-19 health recommendations. ...
These sorts of studies always take into account the millions, possibly billions, of dollars spent on manufacturing consent, right? :padme-1:
Right?:padme-2:
This one kind of does, for once:
It's funny, but that kinda emphasizes what bugs me about these sorts of studies. They're comparing two groups of people who are basically arguing over a line in the sand while people like us aren't even on the beach. Sure, Fox News and Newsmax happily pushed narratives questioning the pandemic, but more "liberal" outlets still platformed those relatively small groups of well-funded protests to make them appear much more popular than they were and regularly shifted their narratives towards Covid Denial-lite as the right wing media made room for them.
Anecdote: I'm down here in Florida and watched liberals, in response to anti-lockdown protests, rabble rabble about how conservatives didn't care about the health of workers. And then, less than 3 months after DeSantis opened Florida back up, those same liberals were out at the Theme Parks patting themselves on the back because they were wearing masks as they put workers in danger side by side with anti-maskers. And then of course, after months of media normalizing the anti-mask protests, it didn't take long for those masks to disappear.💁♂️
Definitely check out this essay on the subject. Propaganda obviously matters but it's not the whole story.
@barrbaric's quote here also confirms the thesis presented in this essay, which is basically that people choose to brainwash themselves.
Lol, I'm gonna pass on getting into a debate about Free Will today, friend, but thank you for the opportunity.