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Candace Owens is Poison
How Can People Listen to Right-wing Pundits?
I have long wondered how so many can listen to right-wing pundits like Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, or Tucker Carlson.
Whenever I hear them speak, I question the state of our democracy. I’ve heard first-year undergrad students say more insightful things. But that is arguably by design. In political science, their approach is known as “simplism” — the notion that there are simple solutions to complex issues.
“Get Brexit Done,” “Build the Wall,” “Make America Great Again.”
Their popularity boils down to this: unequivocal certainty is appealing.
When someone speaks in a certain, dominant, and charismatic way, people tend to listen. We are all victims of this proclivity. And we should question it.
“The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.” — Bertrand Russell
Do you remember Milo Yiannopoulos? What was his appeal? I won’t get into the many moral failings of Milo, let alone his intellectual failings but his primary appeal was arguably in his quick, witty, and confident speech. He didn’t care what others thought about him. And he was avidly against…
