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But conservative media figures have begun to use the term in a more vague and abusive manner, seemingly alleging a government conspiracy targeting Americans. Even if any of these theories are remotely plausible, they are illegitimate.
Actual psychology experts are not convinced by this latest wave of claims.
“Most people realize it’s just stupid,” says Herbert A. Friedman, a retired military master sergeant who worked in psychological operations in the Army.
FOX News host Jesse Watters is perhaps the most influential superspreader of the word. In January, Mr. Watters proposed using the Just Ask Questions formula. Taylor Swift is a psychic at the Department of Defense. Why? Although he didn’t exactly connect the dots for viewers, he did note that Swift, who supported Joe Biden in 2020, had urged fans to vote.
The Pentagon shot it down with a tongue-in-cheek statement: “When it comes to this conspiracy theory, we’re going to wipe it out.”
Watters acknowledged that there was “obviously no evidence” for the claim on his show, but tangentially linked it to one comment. In remarks at the 2019 NATO Cybersecurity Conference, speakers mentioned Swift’s influence on social media. However, the speakers never claimed that pop stars were government assets, and the event was not organized by the U.S. government.
Mr. Watters seems to have repurposed the word on other occasions in fancy ways that I just don’t happen to agree with, to call something a myth, a lie, or just an evil PR campaign. Last summer, he claimed that climate change was a “psychological operation on the American people by big business and the Democratic Party to get you to worry and spend more money,” and went on to say that “there are dozens of He also mentioned the liberal media’s social psychological operations over the years. It’s a broken and outdated facility. ”
But in November, there was even more murky discussion about how FBI “control freaks” and liberal-leaning Twitter staffers constituted some kind of anti-Trump psychological operation, but no evidence was available. Not only did they not show it, they could not explain it, but what does it mean?
Watters’ Fox News colleague Greg Gutfeld also expressed concerns about psychics. In November, he asked a panel on his evening show whether media coverage of Trump’s possible second term was a “psychological operation,” but added, “I hate to use that word. It’s a conspiracy theory.” “Because it falls into territory,” he admitted. Nevertheless, a month later, he declared on the panel show “The Five” that social media is “psychology.”
Appearing in late December, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy talked about both “trans psyops” and “covid psyops,” but without any context or explanation of what they meant. Ta.
The fact that none of these people seem particularly committed to a clear definition of the term may be significant.
“It has a negative connotation and can be used to negatively brand something that they want to brand negatively,” said Todd C. Helmuth, a senior behavioral scientist at Rand University. It’s a scary word.”
The term is also popular with two conservative cable news channels that are trying to outdo Fox. Newsmax anchor Rob Schmidt recently called the federal indictments against Sens. Bob Menendez (D.N.J.) and Hunter Biden, and the federal investigation into Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri) “fooling everyone.” He said it was a “psychological operation” for the purpose of the attack. He believes the criminal charges against Trump are “in some sense normal and believable and not strange.” In late January, the One America News host said that sexually explicit artificial intelligence-generated images of Swift circulating online were “another psychological operation.” A few days ago, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who hosts a show on Salem Radio, said he doesn’t often watch movies because “they’re all CIA psyops shows.”
Mike Rothschild, a conspiracy theory expert who has written a book on QAnon, said he sees profit motive in conservative media’s use of the term, and that the term is on the rise.
“There’s a real need for people to stir up content and be scared of things they don’t understand or don’t know much about,” he says.
The ironic genius of calling something “psychology” is that such an accusation “really doesn’t require any evidence, because there isn’t any evidence. It’s a crime.” That’s true. secret Surgery. “
A poll released last week by Monmouth University suggests that at least one so-called “psychology” claim is gaining ground, with 18% of Americans saying “Taylor Swift is trying to help Joe Biden win.” President-elect said they believed in the existence of “secret government operations”. ”
Helms said he expects the term will continue to be widely used in conservative media, even if it doesn’t match its actual meaning.
“The problem with these conspiracy theories is that they sound crazy at first, but they grow legs and people keep doing it, and there will always be believers in these conspiracy theories, so people who believe it… There will be some.”
But he added, “It would be better for Taylor Swift and for truth in general if they disappeared.”
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