\nalways bothers me when someone explains why conspiracy theories/etc are popular by saying they “posit a simplified theory of how the world works” because conspiracy theorists “abhor complexity and ambiguity” because like
well, every theory of the world simplifies the world. that’s like. you reduced the world to words and stuff, that’s going to be an approximation. it’s inevitable.
moreover, you don’t have a choice but to simplify the world, if you want to do anything with thought. nuances take time to consider, and you only have so long to consider them. you also don’t like complexity and ambiguity beyond a certain point.
so that explanation doesn’t work. the problem is way more complicated than that, and people just don’t want to think about it because they abhor complexity and ambiguity.
The territory is not the map but you can’t keep the territory in your back pocket for when you need directions
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