TODAYS FUN FACT
MAGA is obsessed with Doctor Anthony Fauci. There are psychological reasons for that. I’ve done some “actual research” and come up with a short list of why MAGA suffers from FDS: Fauci Derangement Syndrome.
Anti-intellectualism: MAGA didn’t start hating experts when Fauci came along. They've always hated experts. In 1963, historian Richard Hofstadter at Columbia University published research on a pattern he found woven through the entire history of the United States. He called it “anti-intellectualism”. His research found that in American life, every time America faces a crisis, a “specific group” of people turns on the experts instead of listening to them. Not because the experts are wrong but rather because the experts make them feel stupid. These people have a deep suspicion of educated people, experts and anyone who speaks in the language of evidence and nuance.
Hofstadter's work won the Pulitzer Prize. He traced it through religion, politics, business and education. The same cycle happens every time an expert says something the public doesn't want to hear. The public doesn't argue with the evidence. The public attacks the expert.
Fauci is possibly the most qualified infectious disease expert in American history. He's advised 6 presidents. He's led the response to HIV, Ebola, Zika virus and COVID. He's been at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease since 1984. But, none of that matters to MAGA. It actually makes them distrust Fauci even more because in an anti-intellectual culture the more qualified you are the more threatening you become. Your expertise is verified by your credentials. It's an insult to them. Fauci is reminding these people that he knows something they don't know and they'll never forgive him for that.
Humiliating Donal Trump: Fauci did something that nobody in Trump's orbit is allowed to do.
He disagreed with Trump in public; on camera; in front of the entire country.
In 1971, psychologist Heinz Kahut, at the University of Chicago published research on what happens when a narcissist is contradicted or humiliated. He called this “narcissistic injury”; the finding that a narcissistic person experiences disagreement as a personal attack, not as a difference of opinion. They see it as an existential threat to their identity.
Trump said “hydroxychloroquine was a game changer.” Fauci said the evidence did not support that. Trump said, “the virus would disappear by Easter.” Fauci said it wasn't going anywhere. Trump said, “to inject bleach or disinfect it into sick people.” Fauci could not even stand next to Trump without his face telling the whole country what he was thinking. H later said,
“I couldn't stand there and be complicit in saying hydroxychloroquine works when it doesn't or that injecting bleach works when it doesn't.”
He knew it would cost him his job. He said it created a growing hatred between him, Trump and his allies. But his responsibility was to the American public not to Trump's fragile ego. To a malignant narcissist that kind of “exposure is unforgivable. Fauci didn't just disagree with Trump. He made Trump look stupid in front of the entire world. (Which in reality, isn't all that hard to do.)A narcissistic person will spend the rest of their lives trying to destroy the person who made them appear stupid.
“Don't tell me what to do”: Simply put: Fauci told people what to do and a very specific types of person cannot handle being told what to do. I
n 1966 Jack Bram, at Duke University published research on what happens when people feel like their freedom is being restricted. He called it “psychological reactance.” The finding that when someone tells certain people to do something, their brain automatically pushes back. It’s NOT not because the thing they're been told to do is wrong. It’s simply because they were told to do it. The act of being “told”, regardless of whether the instruction makes sense, creates a resistance response.
Fauci said to wear a mask. Millions of people refused specifically because they were told to. Fauci said to get vaccinated. Millions of people refused, specifically because Fauci told them to. Bram found that the resistance intensifies when the source of the instruction was perceived as an “authority the more authority a person has the more reactants”. Fauci was the highest medical authority in the country. That made him the single biggest trigger for reactants. MAGA didn't refuse because the science was wrong. They refused because being told what to do by a smarter person made them feel stupid. and for “ignorant” people, feeling stupid is the ultimate insult.
Fauci didn't do anything wrong. These people are insecure and uninformed and COULD NOT handle being told what to do by someone who they perceive to be smarter than they are. So instead of listening to an expert; they attack him instead and hundreds of thousands of these people died.
The Mirror Affect: There are people who know nothing about science and always seem to be the most certain that they knew more than the most published infectious disease researcher in American history. In 1999 psychologist David Dunning and Justin Krueger published research on why people who don't know what they're talking about, are always the most confident that they do know what they're talking about. They don't have enough knowledge to recognize how little they actually know. In other words: Stupid people are too stupid to know that they're even stupid! So they walk around with total confidence and certainty about things they don't understand at all. They referred to this as “The Dunning / Kruger Effect.” During COVID, this was observed when people who said “masks don't work because the virus is smaller than the holes on the mask” refused to “mask up.” People who said “ivermectin was the real cure” were watching online video’s from “unreliable sources and decided they knew more than a man with 50 years of published scientific research. They doubted Fauci. He wasn't just an expert to these people. He reflected everything they were not. Every time he spoke, he reminded millions of people how little they knew.
According to the research, people who score highest on the Dunning / Kruger Survey don't “self-reflect” or think to themselves “maybe I should learn more.” Instead they do what lazy people do. They attack the expert. They look at Fauci and say “he's a fraud.” They don't “hate” Fauci because he's wrong. They “hate” him because, deep down they he’s right and he’s smarter than they are.
The Scapegoat: Dr. Fauci said get vaccinated. Republicans said no. He said wear masks. Republicans said no. He said to practice social distance. Republicans said no. Over 1,000, Americans died because of it. So, Republicans said “prosecute Fauci.” Shocker!
In 1972, philosopher and social theorist, Rene Girard at Stanford University, published research on what happens when a community is in crisis and needs someone to blame. He labeled it “ Public Scapegoating.” When things go wrong, the group can't face its own responsibility. So they find “one person” to carry all the blame. Are they guilty or responsible? Not a chance.
They project every failure onto that one person. Every sin. Every consequence. Then they punish that person so the group never has to take accountability for THEIR OWN actions. Over 1,000,000 Americans died from COVID. Trump said, “COVID would disappear by Easter.” He promoted a drug that his own scientist told him DID NOT WORK! He turned masks into a political statement. Trump REFUSED to accept responsibility for any of this. So MAGA need a Scapegoat and Anthony Fauci is that scapegoat.
It doesn't matter that his recently publicized diary proves nothing. It doesn't matter if he's guilty or not. It doesn't matter that multiple investigations have not produced one shred evidence of wrongdoing. It doesn't matter that other leading virologists say that there is no proven link between NIH funded research and the start of the pandemic. The scapegoat has been chosen because the group needs someone to carry what they can't carry themselves.
Fauci isn't being investigated because he did something wrong. He's being investigated because a 1,000,000 people died and it’s “inconvenient” for the truly responsible party to be held accountable
The people responsible can't look in the mirror. They OBSESS OVER him because he's smarter than they are. They want to blame him because he embarrassed their cult leader. He constantly reminds them of how little they actually know and because somebody has to pay for 1,000,000 dead Americans.
The responsibility was never going to fall on Donald Trump. HE was in charge and he lied, mishandled and covered up the severity of the virus. Anthony Fauci told Donald Trump and the American people the truth during a pandemic and that is the one thing the ignorant MAGA cult will never forgive.
ITS A FACT!
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