There’s a tendency in this heated political climate to simply reject people who are saying false things and to write off conspiracy theorists writ large.
But as the US approaches the third straight election in which misinformation — and the fight against it — is expected to play a role, it’s important to understand what’s driving people who don’t believe in US elections.
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I talked to O’Sullivan about the documentary, in which he has some frank and disarming talks with people about what has shaken their belief in the US. But he paints an alarming picture about the rise of fringe movements in the country.
Our conversation, conducted by phone and edited for length, is below:
WOLF: What were you trying to accomplish with this project?
O’SULLIVAN: So much of mainstream American politics now is being infected and affected by what is happening on what was once considered the real fringes — fringe platforms, fringe personalities.
And I think really what we want to do in this show is illustrate how these personalities may be pushing falsehoods, but they’re no longer fringe. This is all happening right now. And it is having a big effect on our democracy.
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That’s not true at all.
Plenty of the highest educated people in American are pushing this nonsense. Why? Because it makes them money. Crazy bullshit sells penis pills.
Education has nothing to do with it. If anything being super well-educated makes you overconfidence and more likely to fall for this shit.
What makes people not likely to fall for it? Skepticism. That’s what. Our education system is built making corporate drones, and the people who succeed at being yes men are most likely to get the best grades and the jobs.
I agree with parts of you post, like the educational system not creating people that think critical, but rather swallow whatever is thrown at them.
But well educated people are absolutely not more likely to fall for bullshit like penis pills. The same way a kid is far easier to manipulate compared to an adult for the same reason.