This doesn't exactly fit in this section but it is way off if placed in the political topics, so here it goes... This is new to me and thought it may be of interest to some who drop in the mind over matter area... It does explain why some i knew decades ago in the so called "new age" (there is nothing new under the sun) movement back in the 70's and early 80's made a 180 degree change... Back then they were not involved in politics much and were just into being free spirits, they were "pro choice" and believed in science. They avoided bigots and rednecks like the plague... Nowadays they don't believe in the C19 plague thanks to all the disinformation from the orange guru, "Qanon" and all the RW pundits as well as those gone over the sanity cliff like Alex Jones... When i found out these people who at one time were so liberal (not neo-lib) but old school anti-establishment lefties (think Woodstock & Easy Rider)... They were either grooving on cannabis, yoga or both, some into meditation... It turns out they were easy targets along with the "moral majority" fundamentalist evangelical "Christians" for the disinformation that has escalated the past 5 years or so... It all makes sense now... Even though they were blaming it on Obama and i do see why, it was the RW anti-science restore "family values" and "law and order" pundits that created the shift apparently. "A conversation with the hosts of the Conspirituality Podcast website: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker. As they describe it, their podcast is... A weekly study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. " "A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it. The term “conspirituality” first appeared in 2009 as the name of a Vancouver rap group that unironically dropped conspiracy keywords into beats calling for political awakening. In 2011, Charlotte Ward and David Voas used the term academically to analyze the growing overlap between the paranoid conspiracism of right-wingers and the New Age’s yearning for spiritual transformation."
I don't know if Trump actually believes all of the conspiracy theories his worshippers do, but he sure does play on their beliefs including the so called family values "pro life" "Christians" who gather around their golden messiah to pray and lay on hands upon his holiness... (cough cough)... The link below is from a pastor or former one who has been calling out these so called "Christians" and their golden idol... More of the easily duped by conspiracy theories? By all appearances it's that or they are simply frauds playing on more serious Christians for money which is common... Trump likely doesn't have a clue as to what motivates them to lay hands on him and pray in what must sound like total gibberish to him... But for compliments, votes and of course ratings, he would likely let a bunch of puppies lick the toe jam off his toes... What a magical mystery tour millions in this country and the world, truth known, live in their minds... "I’ve seen this movie before." It doesn’t end well. As a Christian for most of my life and a pastor for nearly three decades, I’m quite familiar with the story: supposedly faithful people fashioning an idol made of gold and cravenly bowing before it, in complete contempt for the God they claimed to believe in because they had lost their collective minds. This 2021 reboot is a little on the nose. It’s also far more tragic. We’ve had a few thousand years to get it right. We shouldn’t be here." "Watching the collective soul-selling of my fellow Christians here in America over the past five years has been something that has grieved me more than I can measure or accurately describe. It’s been particularly disheartening to watch ancient religious history repeating, and worse—to realize that nearly every disfiguring ugliness here in America: from the violent parade of white nationalism to the defiant anti-mask pandemic-deniers to the propagators of an abject election fraud lie to the suppressors of the voices and votes of people of color—is coming from professed Christians." (continues at link) God Wrecked America
That is the scary thing about brainwashing and playing on peoples primal fears. This stuff is well studied, and it wouldn't surprise me if there were even more studies done in secret that reveal more subtle or powerful waya to manipulate and control people.