Thread by @normative

I saw this nonsense floating around a conspiracy nut board, and it made something click for me: These folks are basically operating on cinematic epistemology. They believe what would be true if the news were a Hollywood movie.

One of the most common refrains on Qanon forums is “we’re watching a movie” (like, they literally think major events are being faked by the White Hats as a kind of elaborate morality play to gradually “enlighten” the masses). But they’re more broadly operating on movie logic.

In the real world, a tiny handful of scientists (mostly undistinguished or long past their prime) loudly bucking an overwhelming consensus of experts are going to be cranks, grifters, or just plain wrong 99% of the time. But in a movie (cf. “Don’t Look Up”) that’s the hero!

Seriously, when was the last time you saw a movie where the scrappy outsider with a wild theory bucking the expert consensus was, in fact, just a crank? Never, because that’s boring. And it’s boring because that’s… normal reality.

You sort of have to wonder if mass entertainment hasn’t tilled the soil for the current explosion of conspiracy theories. For decades Hollywood has fed us the appealing fantasy that YOU—seemingly average viewer—may secretly be the World’s Most Special Boy (or, less often, Girl).

And then the vast majority of viewers grow up to find that, no, you’re pretty normal. You’re not the Chosen One, or otherwise terribly remarkable. You are not the protagonist.

And most of us just sort of make our peace with this fact, and with a little luck find lower-key localized triumphs to be satisfied with. But if you don’t or can’t, there are conspiracy communities eager to provide you with a way to be the Specialest Boy after all.

The normies are brainwashed, while you and your scrappy band of rebels have pierced the veil of illusion. And you don’t have to feel bad about not being as successful or educated or powerful as folks on TV, because in fact all those people are STUPID or CORRUPT.

To be clear: The point isn’t that expert consensus can’t be wrong—anyone can think of tons of examples. The mistake I’m calling “cinematic epistemology” consists of assuming the scrappy outsiders are more likely to be right JUST BECAUSE they’re the outsiders.