Thread by @normative

This is incredibly depressing if true, but it’s also extremely hard to believe. A third of DEMOCRATS believe their own party cheated?

https://twitter.com/rasmussen_poll/status/1401863016501628931

I will say, to the extent this even close to accurate, it may be because the press keeps saying “no evidence” when what they mean is “no serious or credible evidence”. There’s tons of bogus “evidence”—indeed, too much to address in any detail in a normal news article.

There are probably a lot of people to whom all the “baseless” and “no evidence” seems like a cover up, because they keep seeing tons of bogus “evidence” that mainstream outlets don’t bother addressing.

What this issue really needs is a dedicated Snopes-style site where experts in cybersecurity & election procedures actually wade into the fever swamps and provide detailed debunkings of all this swill in terms that are clear to a lay audience.

And then when Uncle Jerry posts another rambling summary of PillowGuy’s latest SMOKING CYBERGUN, there’s something clear & concise to cut & paste explaining why it’s bogus.

Incidentally… “Voters Refuse to Obey Media Orders”? Rasmussen has always been a right wing shop, but I recall them previously trying to keep up a bit of a pretense to the contrary.

Here’s the thing: I think people for whom the PillowGuy spiel is just obviously laughable bullshit tend to assume that only a truly incorrigible Will to Believe—an impenetrable reality bubble—could explain anyone finding it persuasive. And I bet that’s wrong in many cases.

https://twitter.com/danielnazer/status/1402419093223854083

This is what’s sometimes called the “knowledge curse”—once you know something, it’s hard to put yourself in the position if someone who doesn’t know it. Which may lead to overestimating the incorrigibility of beliefs that seem (to you) obviously ridiculous.

Some amount of Will to Believe is probably present among most people who look at this stuff at all. But politics junkies overestimate the frequency of hardcore ideological commitment.

There are incorrigible true believers. But there are probably a lot more people with weak ideology who either just aren’t very smart or lack the background to be smart about this particular set of issues. SOME of them would revise their beliefs if it were explained clearly.