The Trumpanzee cult rally on Jan 6, 2021, prior to their failed coup d’état.
In an article in Psychology Today, Dr. Gary L. Wenk, a Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience & Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics at the Ohio State University and Medical Center, explains why so many Repuglicans believe the blatant QAnon lies.
His key points are:
Controlling followers with comforting myths is a well-established political technique, so it is not surprising that Trump, in alliance with the shadowy group behind QAnon, should be using it to try to set up and control the Trumpanzee cult. The same technique has also been successfully used by religions for several thousand years of course, so it is not surprising either that Trump's technique has resulted in a virtual new religion to replace the failing Evangelical Christianity. For God so loved America that he sent his misbegotten son, Donald, to save her from Satan, Black people, liberals, homosexuals, Jews, Chinese and all those other evil foreigners that God hates too. God bless America!
- QAnon is a recent example of leaders controlling followers by offering a comfortable myth that comforts and confirms fears.
- Frontal lobes in the brain are apt to accept lies told to ourselves and each other.
- Humans have been accepting myths as truths for millennia, for some they reduce the feeling that the world is dangerous and frightening.
Coincidentally, that very point was made in an article by Mark Silk, Ph.D., writing in Religion News Service, where he showed how the Repuglicans have de facto adopted a new religion to replace Chistianity, 'Trumpianity'.
Dr. Wenk explains that parts of our frontal lobes seem to be adept at telling lies, even to ourselves. Lying is a complex task requiring attention to detail and a good memory. Narcissists, like former president Donald Trump, lie almost constantly because they have a low regard for truth and honesty, and need to boost their fragile egos by over-claiming their abilities and superiority. Because the narcissistic personality disorder is closely associated with a psychopathic personality disorder, this also means people like Donald Trump are likely to become richer and more powerful than normal people.
The ability to retain lies, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, is possibly a survival trait as old as the Homo sapiens brain itself. It was more advantageous to cling unshakeably to the comforting group mythology in a frightening world, than to be sceptical and reject the group norms and so be rejected by the group. The comforting creation myths we told one another were important in bringing some semblance of understanding in an otherwise incomprehensible Universe, and to help build group cohesion.
Marduk slaying the evil goddess Tiamut, Steve Simon
According to the Babylonian creation myth,Marduk then used her body to create the Earth (which then consisted only of the Mesopotamian region, apparently) and was proclaimed king of the gods by the other gods.
One of the earliest and well-known of these [myths] is the Babylonian creation myth Enūma Eliš that was found written on clay tablets in cuneiform script. It describes the creation of the world and a battle between gods; the story focused on the god Marduk. If you lived in Mesopotamia four thousand years ago, you probably worshipped Marduk and were comforted by the knowledge that he would take care of your interests, such as bringing good luck or good health. You would have genuinely believed the myth; you would have willingly killed or died for the honor of serving Marduk.People need to be given something that seems plausible, even believable, no matter how unlikely. What better than to tell them they live in a world with great evil at work, where those in power are trying to take their children away to abuse them and even eat them in satanic rituals, but, by supporting a particular political party and its favourites, they can be heroes helping to right this monstrous wrong?
During the intervening millennia, the names of the creator gods changed to Faro (who incidentally saved the world from a flood by building an arc) or Unkulunkulu (if you were a Zulu). No matter when or where you lived, you embraced the lie because doing so made it more likely that you would survive.
The simple technique is constant repetition. I remember hearing an American saying how he could hear some insane claim in the morning and, by the evening, after having heard the claim repeated over and over again in the news media, and having heard 'experts' explaining how it could be true, he was convinced of the truth of claim. Over the course of a day an obvious lie had become a probable truth with never a shred of evidence being provided other than the opinions of other people. If the unbelievable is believed by enough people the unbelievable becomes easily believable. Remember Sadam Hussain's 'Weapons of Mass Destruction? There are still people who believe they really existed, and that the Iraq war wasn't about regime change but about preventing him using them!
Worshipers at the new Church of Trumpianity
The same is true for the conspiracy theories supported by QAnon. The myth has to be repeated over and over again. No matter how unbelievable the stories might sound, the believers accept the lies as fact and, most importantly, act as though the details are all true. Trump’s followers only needed to tune into their favorite pundits on social media, such as QAnon, and be told the lies they wanted and needed to be true.Pan narans, the story-telling ape (the alternative name for Homo sapien), requires a consistent story.
Humans love a good myth rich with heroes who seem larger than life, fighting against injustice and leading people against their oppressors. This need fit exceptionally well with the narratives that QAnon and Trump offer. Their myths reduced the feeling that the world is dangerous and frightening because it is full of chaos and scary people. Trump’s and QAnon’s lies comfort and confirm their fears.The central QAnon/Trumpanzee myth is the there is a secretive group, controlled by 'rich global Zionists' (read, 'Jews'), of child-trafficking paedophile cannibals (the old 'blood libel' again) who are running the 'deep state' behind the scenes, and an anonymous, whistle-blowing insider, 'Q', is exposing both the activities of this group and the equally secretive campaign by Trump and senior military figures to fight them.
Any day now, real soon, this battle will come to a head and the nefarious leaders of this Satanic, cannibalistic, child-trafficking paedophile ring are going to be arrested, tried and executed and America will be made safe again because you did what God wants and voted the good people into power, or, because you can't trust democracy anymore with so many liberals, homosexuals and black people voting, overcame the evil plotters who 'stole the election', by supporting the violent overthrow of the 'deep state'.
Just like those who voted the National Socialists into power in Germany in 1933 and supported the violent putsch - with which they destroyed democracy and instigated the Holocaust in order to 'save Germany from the evil Jews, Communists and socialists'. There are still Germans who believe Jewish Communists and Socialists burned the Reichstag.
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