Conspiracy Theories and Mental Instability
We need to have a conversation about conspiracy theories and mental illness.
What causes any person to join a cult? What causes them to believe the lies they are told fully, to the point they would die for their beliefs?
Why did so many drink the Kool-Aid from Jim Jones in 1978?
How did so many fall for David Koresh to live and die a Branch Dividian?
Some may claim it is mental instability.
Some may say they are looking to belong and be accepted.
Whatever the cause may be, it does not generally end well for these believers.
The woman shot by police as insurgents stormed the US Capitol apparently fully supported the cult of Donald Trump. Not a political belief or a religious belief, but a belief in a cult of personality. According to some reports she followed and believed the conspiracies of QAnon. Many of us laughed at the far fetched conspiracy theories,even when they were repeated by Donald Trump or other political leaders. Then our family members or friends started subscribing to them. Family members and friends who we knew were mentally unstable. They fell down the rabbit holes of social media. No longer believing mainstream news, but Breitbart, Infowars, and the Daily Caller. No amount of proof of the truth could change their minds. QAnon preys on mental instability. Whomever "Q" is...Donald Trump, Trump Jr, someone in their circle, they are responsible for preying on vulnerabilities.
I feel sadness for the family she left behind. I'm sad that she spent so many years in the military only to commit an act of treason against her country. She threw her life away on the belief that Donald Trump would "make America great again", when she should have known America is already great. She served four tours in US Air Force only to die after storming the Capitol of the country for which she fought in order to over turn an election for a demagogue who had respect neither for our military or our democracy.
Mental illness, brainwashing, sacrifice of life, belonging. The hallmark of a cult. Ironically, also the hallmark of insurgent terrorist groups. We saw that today on the US Capitol grounds.