Why are there so many right-wing grifters?

Notes • 378 Words • Politics, Sociology, 2024 • 11/06/2024

Conservative media seems to always involve fearmongering people and taking advantage of that. Why?

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There seems to be a lot of right-wing grifters while there seems to be little to none on the left side. Why is this?

• The Right’s Grifter Problem by Jim Geraghty
• Here’s Why the Right-Wing Grifter Problem Is a Right-Wing Problem by Kevin Drum
• Why does it seem like rightwing grifters are on the rise? - Reddit
  • Anti-science more distrust but in-group loyalty and deference to authority / people they respect
  • “there’s a lot of demand by people disillusioned by the mainstream media’s lies” so its people just getting told what they want to hear
• There seems to be some kind of connection to cancel culture
  • Right-Wing Grifters Love to Say They’re “Canceled” — but Get All the Elite Support They Want by Aurelien Mondon
  • When large online figures get cancelled for doing something wrong, it seems like they always try to cash out and go to the “anti-woke” right-wing audience who seemingly eat it up every time

Are Conservatives more trustful?

• They have less trust in mainstream media, but more trust in their in-group
  • Republicans, young adults now nearly as likely to trust info from social media as from national news outlets - Pew Research Center
  • Ideology reveals largest gaps in trust occur between conservatives and liberals - Pew Research Center
  • Political conservatism as motivated social cognition
• Trust Rises With Age - NIH News in Health
  • Conservatives tend to be older
    • There Are Two Americas, and Age Is the Divider by Sarah Kuta
    • They aren’t as used to lying on social media and things like AI and have generally higher trust
      • Older people more susceptible to scams (Correlates of Susceptibility to Scams in Older Adults Without Dementia)

Do Conservatives have lower memetic defense?

• Memetic defense is the psychological resistance to weaponized information (targeted plays to influence cognitive/emotional states), somewhat related to propaganda
  • Memetic warfare - Wikipedia
    • Memetic Warfare: How Ideas Become Ideological Weapons
• Are conservatives less intelligent on average? Why?
  • Do smart people tend to be more liberal? Yes, but it doesn’t mean all conservatives are stupid by Lazar Stankov
• Conservatives may have a neurological negativity bias which makes them more susceptible to fear mongering
  • Political Orientation as Psychological Defense or Basic Disposition? A Social Neuroscience Examination
• Are there differences in confirmation bias?
  • Conservatives self-report higher close-mindedness