I refer to the right-wing propaganda machine as the safe-space because that's what it is.
The safe-space told conservatives to believe that COVID-19 is a harmless Democratic hoax.
The safe-space also told them to believe that COVID-19 is a bioweapon created in a lab by the Chinese with help from Dr. Fauci.
Here's the thing: if it's harmless, it can't be a weapon. If it's a weapon, it can't be harmless. At least one of those two statements from the safe-space has to be false.
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Both of those statements can be false, but they can't both be true. If one is true, then the other must be false because by definition, something has to cause harm to count as a weapon.
If a source told any reasonable person to believe two logically contradictory things, that person would immediately treat that source as being less credible.
But not conservatives.
Conservatives went ahead and believed both. You can point out that two of their beliefs contradict each other, and it will…
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…have zero effect. They will simply ignore you and go back to believing both.
I can't think of anything that shows how hopelessly brainwashed they are, or how immune to facts and logic they are. Even when you point out that the safe-space MUST be lying to them about at least one of those things, they still believe. Both.
It gets even funnier when you look into the origin of the "bioweapon" conspiracy theory. It hinges on not understanding what hypothetical means.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-A_OPWa5VI
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I can confirm, in real life, pointing this out does, in fact, have zero effect. It's bizarre.
@BE
I've noticed that there are a lot of contradictions in the propaganda from the safe-space, this one just happens to be more glaring and carries a bigger body count than normal.
I sometimes wonder if this isn't on purpose.
If you can make your audience believe in logically contradictory positions, then every piece of evidence from that topic will confirm at least one of the two beliefs.
I've wondered this, too. At first I just thought they just put out plenty of different propaganda pieces and everyone latched onto one, or more, and in essence there was something for everyone. But it seems like that would be less efficient than making up a single story and sticking to it. You might be right on the reasoning there.
@BE
It might be related to the fascist thing where every enemy is to be feared because they are strong and to be looked down on because they are weak.