<
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-stochastic-terrorism-uses-disgust-to-incite-violence/>
"A week and a half before the midterm elections, a man broke into Speaker Nancy
Pelosi’s house, screaming “Where’s Nancy?” and attacked her husband with a
hammer. David DePape, charged in the attack, had posted a slew of rants that
included references to a sprawling conspiracy theory known as QAnon, which
claims that Democratic, Satan-worshipping pedophiles are trying to control the
world’s politics and media.
Several hours before, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson interviewed right-wing activist
Christopher Rufo, who claimed drag queens participating in book readings were
trying to “sexualize children.” The people who support these events, he said,
want to create “a sexual connection between adult and child, which has of
course long been the kind of final taboo of the sexual revolution.”
With the support of former President Donald Trump, the pedophile conspiracy
theory has contributed to a widening spiral of threats and violence, including
the deadly January 6 Capitol insurrection. A revival of the “groomer” smear
against the LGBTQ community (a reference to a pedophile) has ramped up the
aggression. Right-wing media personalities and activists have created or
amplified conspiracy theories about Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates and
others.
Dehumanizing and vilifying a person or group of people can provoke what
scholars and law enforcement officials call stochastic terrorism, in which
ideologically driven hate speech increases the likelihood that people will
violently and unpredictably attack the targets of vicious claims.
At its core, stochastic terrorism exploits one of our strongest and most
complicated emotions: disgust."
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
