Summary
As California battles its worst wildfire, consuming 28,000 acres and killing five, MAGA figures, including Trump and Elon Musk, blame DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives instead of climate change.
Trump attacked Gov. Gavin Newsom over false claims about water policies, while right-wing media targeted Kristin Crowley, LA’s first LGBTQ fire chief, for prioritizing DEI.
Musk amplified conspiracy theories, and MAGA commentators linked DEI to the state’s firefighting challenges.
Critics dismissed these claims, citing unprecedented fire strain, climate change, and misinformation.
It’s an epistemic immune system. Every event that could challenge US conservative beliefs and value gets instantly reinterpreted as PROOF of those values.
School shooting? Shooter was secretly trans Domestic terror? Terrorist secretly an immigrant Climate disaster? False flag by eco-terrorists and elites.Under-regulated corporation fucks up? It’s DEI. Global pandemic? Actually the sick people were well and the vaccinated people are dying.
When a person sees events that conflict with their worldview, that can create cognitive dissonance, the uncomfortable mental disturbance that can be an opportunity for growth, learning and personal development.
That’s when the right-wing social mediasphere and broader demi-media kick in. Instead of resolving cognitive dissonance by re-evaluating beliefs, people can wait for an X Blue Tick or Tim Pool or whoever to tell them why their old beliefs were right and they didn’t see what they thought they saw.