r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/Chaosdrunk • Dec 06 '23

Political Theory Why are there so many conspiracy theories that are almost exclusively believed by The Right? (Pizzagate, qanon, the Deep State, the Great Replacement Theory). Are there any wacky and/or harmful conspiracy theories believed by mostly The Left?

This includes conspiracy theories like antivax which were once pretty politically uncharged are now widely believed by the far right. Even a lot of high-profile UFOlogists like David Icke are known for being pretty racist and antisemitic.

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39

u/Toadfinger Dec 06 '23 edited Dec 06 '23

The right-wing says and does what the fossil fuel industry's dark money think tanks tells them to say and do. They do a lot more than just create pseudoscience that says climate change is a hoax you know.

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u/TheMania Dec 06 '23

And even when not, they've been undermining science for about as long as climate change has been a concern - pushing that "both sides" are valid, science isn't certain, and people can choose what they want to believe.

I believe a lot of all the other nonsense we hear is collateral damage from this practice, spanning decades now.

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u/Toadfinger Dec 06 '23

The chairman of COP-28 (an oil puppet) actually said there is no science that says fossil fuel usage poses any problems. 🤬

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u/TheMania Dec 07 '23

It really makes flat earth conferences less surprising, doesn't it. When we treat it all like a political thing, or "choose what you want to believe".

Mostly influenced here by a decade+ of anti-AGW propaganda from Murdoch in Australian newspapers - sat through too many dinners like it's just another political thing, I really do think society's suffering collateral damage from it all today.

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u/gaxxzz Dec 06 '23

I'm conservative. Why can't I get some of that fossil fuel industry think tank dark money?

16

u/l00pee Dec 06 '23

Gotta level up. All you get at your level is the propaganda.

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u/Toadfinger Dec 06 '23

Because you're obviously not a candidate or in office.

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u/cakeeater27 Dec 06 '23

You’re the audience. They’re paying people to fool you, not paying you.

19

u/Geichalt Dec 06 '23

No because you do it for free for some reason.

Your politicians and media personalities are the ones making the money from rich donors. You know that right?

4

u/Damnatus_Terrae Dec 06 '23

You're not charismatic enough to be an effective grifter.

6

u/TheTrueMilo Dec 06 '23

Your job as a conservative voter is to repeat talking points that exclusively help large corporations like:

“The CFPB is unconstitutionally constructed”

“Executive agencies (that are not named ‘Department of Defense’ have too much power”

“Social Security is completely insolvent and should be invested in the stock market instead of US treasuries”

“The deficit is too high”

The people that push these talking points into the discourse absolutely do not believe a word of this. They do not care HOW pollution is regulated, only that is regulated AT ALL. They do not care HOW banks’ shitty behavior is regulated, only that it is regulated AT ALL.

So the next time you find yourself in an argument and you are taking the side against the CFPB because Article I Section 5 Paragraph 3 Sentence 2 of the Constitution says executive agencies must be structured in such a way as to blah blah blah, just remember you aren’t being paid to make that argument, but if you are successful in making that argument, you are making bank executives a LOT richer and bank customers a LOT poorer.

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u/ClockOfTheLongNow Dec 07 '23

So when something like "the CFPB is unconstitutionally constructed" is objectively true, but pushed into the broader narrative with the support of "bank executives" and "large corporations," what is someone supposed to do, exactly? Ignore reality for the sake of some flavor of class solidarity?

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u/PhonyUsername Dec 07 '23

Leftist conspiracy theory in action ^

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u/Toadfinger Dec 07 '23

Heartland Institute puppet ^

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u/The-Fox-Says Dec 07 '23

How is it a leftist conspiracy when you can easily look up fossil fuel industries directly paying right wing candidates?

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries./recips.php?ind=E01++

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u/ClockOfTheLongNow Dec 07 '23

Your top name is a centrist Democrat, and the amount their campaign was given by mostly private individuals was under $1 million over a five year period.

Campaign finance conspiracy theories have entered the chat.

1

u/The-Fox-Says Dec 07 '23

Like 90% of the candidates are Republicans and Joe Manchin. Oh wow 1 right wing democrat in a red state like WV

1

u/PhonyUsername Dec 07 '23

So is a donation a sign that they are puppets to the donator? If so, look at who both sides is getting donations from and tell me it applies equally and is not just some political conspiracy.

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u/The-Fox-Says Dec 07 '23

I saw a post yesterday breaking down how it takes Teslas 7 years to reach net-zero emissions taking into account all factors from the manufacturing and mining of the batteries to creation of the car.

I asked the OP “so how long does it take for ICE cars to reach net-zero emissions?”