1. My new piece for @Slate on election violence in the US, but a look at one peculiar reason for why we haven't seen much of it so far. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/qanon-post-election-violence-trump.html

2. When it comes to conspiracy theories, most of the academic literature looks at why people tend to be attracted to them, and the kinds of impact they have on behavior.

3. Study after study has shown that people who deeply believe in conspiracy theories are less likely to vote, less likely to vaccinate their children, have dwindling levels of trust in government and expert systems, and are generally unlikely to donate money or volunteer.

4. But, for this piece, I look at something that is less researched: the way in which, at least sometimes, conspiracy theories serve to mitigate violence - how the very conspiratorial bubbles these individuals lived in and Trump’s own conspiracism had the opposite effect

5. This notion that Trump “has a plan,” a sentiment deeply engrained in QAnon lore, kept these individuals glued to their seats. They drank their own Kool-Aid, and it largely kept them glued to their seats, waiting for this mystery plan that will never come.

6. Conspiracy theorizing as protective factor isn't something we've thought about much before, but judging by the conversations on Telegram and Parler, it's definitely a dynamic that is present in these communities.

7. Their very rationalizations in the face of prophetic failure are serving to, quite surprisingly, mitigate extremist responses. Me and @_MAArgentino talk about some of this here: https://twitter.com/AmarAmarasingam/status/1321495694704812033?s=20

8/8. Anyway, the full piece is here. Thanks to
@joshuakeating for being a great editor, and for the quick turnaround. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/qanon-post-election-violence-trump.html