A few fresh links relevant to our subject. First, the one I mentioned last week from the Opinion editor of for the Times who lurked in a QAnon audio chat room for three weeks and then wrote this piece. He includes recordings of some genuinely alarming comments that participants made. Next, conservative Jonah Goldberg reflects on the tendency of conspiracy theorists to fixate on Jews, Jewish space lasers, etc. One more, an interview in the socialist quarterly Jacobin with a long-time observer of the far right about some of the genuinely implausible things QAnon followers purport to believe.

A couple of items for your consideration as we discuss social media. This NPR story relates to themes in the Haidt and Rose-Stockwell article we’re reading next: “How Outrage Is Hijacking Our Culture And Our Minds.” In this new essay in Foreign Affairs, Francis Fukuyama describes how social media and polarization are wrecking our political system: “Rotten to the Core? How America’s Political Decay Accelerated During the Trump Era.”

In the days since January 6th, many mainstream conservatives have been calling for a cleaning of house on the right or are just trying to make sense of how things got so out of hand. Here are a few examples.

First, Senator Ben Sasse calls on his fellow Republicans to expunge QAnon kooks (my term) from their ranks while constructively working to address people’s legitimate concerns: “QAnon Is Destroying the GOP From Within.”

Second, the editor of the Jewish, conservative magazine Commentary argues that we should be skeptical about polling data reporting that large majorities of Republicans believe former President Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. This one is interesting to me also as a sociologist who teaches students proper survey construction and interpretation.

Third, and this one is already out of date, but what a world we live in when KARL ROVE can be the voice of genteel, middle of the road politics! In this Wall Street Journal op-ed from the week after the capitol siege, Rove calls on the outgoing president to minimize the harm he did the to the country by at least calling for an end to further violence: “Trump Has One Thing Left to Do.”

Fourth, I’m seeing a lot of  “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” type pieces from movement conservatives who were always revolted by President Trump and are pleased to see his term of office concluded. This (somewhat crass) example captures the mood, (and is mocking of Trump’s supporters – prepare to be offended if you own a MAGA cap). Kevin D. Williamson is reliably smart and funny, and he sounds like the people I grew up with in Dallas: “Witless Ape Rides Helicopter.”

Finally, a couple from conservative writer and commentator David French. In this first piece, French calls on his fellow Christians to turn away from QAnon gibberish and admit that the capitol riots were largely Christian riots. His discussion of “enabling lies” and “activating lies” in this context is interesting: “Only the Church Can Truly Defeat a Christian Insurrection.” And then in this piece, which has generated much discussion among American evangelicals, French argues that evangelical culture is largely southern culture, based on concerns about shame: “Where Does the South End and Christianity Begin?”

The full name of this course is “Anti-Intellectualism in American Culture and Politics.” Hostility to science, experts, and academia is a common impulse that shapes contemporary American society. In this course, we will explore how anti-intellectualism promotes populist politics, hyperpolarization, and belief in implausible conspiracies, among other topics.