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Why in the world would millions of people post — or broadcast or text or tweet or view or forward — things like hurricanes are “weather weapons”? The tempting answer is that these people are nuts. But if we say that we are missing the chance to better understand ourselves and the political mess we are in.
According to misinformation researcher Mike Caulfield of the University of Washington, people spread conspiracy theories neither to persuade anyone nor to trigger action. Their purpose is more profound — to sustain beliefs that can’t stand up to actual facts.
Atlantic staff writer Charlie Warzel has explained that hurricane conspiracy promoters are desperate to debunk global warming and justify their distrust and grievances.
We are seeing the latest example of the scary power of the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance to distort our thinking.
Though I am outraged at the harm done by misinformation — death threats to meteorologists! — I have come to see it as a sad product of our universal human fallibility.
We are like a figure skater on a pond, trying to look good but not knowing where the ice is thin. We desperately want to believe — and for the world to see — that we are rational, competent and honest, that our lives are coherent because our actions match that self-image.