The strongest predictor of whether someone believed in COVID-19-related misinformation and risks related to the vaccine was whether they viewed COVID-19 prevention efforts in terms of symbolic strength and weakness. In other words, this group focused on whether an action would make them appear to fend off or “give in” to untoward influence.
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Our findings highlight the limits of countering misinformation directly, because for some people, literal truth is not the point.
Those who think it’s good to believe lies/misinformation/disinormation: Religious people. It’s them. That’s what they do. Make up bullshit, then believe in it when there’s zero evidence of it at all.
They don’t care about literal truth. They care about belonging to the group of liars that they fit into, because they’re liars as well. They’re lying to themselves every single day.
Religious people were the #1 cause of spread of COVID. They just had to have church services for a fictional god that’s everywhere. Why? They dont’ know, it doesn’t make sense. They just did it because someone lied to them about some stupid religious crap.
There were plenty of non-religious people believing the lies, pretty much everyone on the right, and they’re not all religious. It was an us vs. them take.