This Trump rallygoer’s comments expose how the effect of the intersection of the “Firehose of Lies”, confirmation bias, and a neurotransmitter called Dopamine all combine to create what has become a potentially deadly cocktail of Trumpism. Let’s breakdown the comment:…1/
“We had a friend who died from Covid, and his son was on a ventilator, so we know it’s real but…”
What if “Covid” is replaced by “smoking” in this statement?:
“We had a friend who died from [smoking], his son was on a ventilator, so we know it’s real but [we still smoke]”. 2/
What if “Covid” is replaced by “smoking” in this statement?:
“We had a friend who died from [smoking], his son was on a ventilator, so we know it’s real but [we still smoke]”. 2/
I’ve previously written about the role that the neurotransmitter, dopamine plays in Trumpism.
Dopamine is related to the “reward system” of the brain and is associated to the pleasurable experiences related to sex, cocaine, gambling,…..and smoking. 3/
Dopamine is related to the “reward system” of the brain and is associated to the pleasurable experiences related to sex, cocaine, gambling,…..and smoking. 3/
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In the video above, the Trump rallygoer has personally experienced/witnessed the potential lethality of Covid....yet, like smoking (or cocaine, gambling, and depending on the context, sex), he continues to engage high-risk behavior to get the dopamine high or “fix”. 7/
Over the years, the Right has manipulated it’s constituents to the point where voting against their interests has transitioned into self-sabotage, which has evolved into financial masochism…8/
…..which has morphed into a potential, Trump-cult of personality, virtue-signaling suicide pact….9/
The Republican party has been trafficking in dopamine and fear for decades.
Trump has not only continued to exploit these vulnerabilities,…but Trump has taken it to another level. 10/
Trump has not only continued to exploit these vulnerabilities,…but Trump has taken it to another level. 10/
And at this point, Trump’s base is so personally invested in both Trump, and their support of him, that risking their lives is preferable to admitting they were conned or to admitting that they made a mistake: 11/
Unsurprisingly, the cult members’ behavior mirrors the behavior of the cult leader’s own personal, self-sabotaging behavior….12/
Another aspect that stands out about the Trump rallygoer’s comments is the effect that confirmation bias has on political tribalism. Specifically, a study (Lord et al, 1979) where people were exposed to evidence that both support & contradicted two opposing sides of an issue. 13/
But rather than have their opinions moderated into a middle-ground position, the unpredicted effect of being exposed to convincing scientific evidence for both sides of the issue resulted in people holding a more polarized/extreme position than before they heard the evidence. 14/
Some potential theories that may explain the results of this study…15/
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What is especially relevant with the Covid situation, as evidenced by the Trump rallygoer’s comments, is the toxic media culture that not only creates the presentation of false “scientific” equivalencies on an issue….22/
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…..but more importantly, that the toxic media and political culture's “Fire Hose of Lies”, disinformation campaign poisons the minds of consumers/constituents because, to quote the Trump rallygoer, “you don’t know what the facts are”. 25/
A few other relevant tweets/threads:
A relevant thread:
