How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence

A man broke into Nancy Pelosi's house and attacked her husband with a hammer a week and a half before the election. David DePape, charged in the attack, had posted a bunch of rants that included references to a conspiracy theory that claims that Democratic, Satan-worshipping pedologists are trying to control the world's politics and media.

Christopher Rufo, a right-wing activist, was interviewed by Tucker Carlson several hours before. He said that the people who support these events want to create a sexual connection between adults and children, which has been the kind of final taboo of the sexual revolution.

The pedophile conspiracy theory has contributed to a growing spiral of threats and violence, including the January 6 Capitol insurrection. There has been an increase in aggression against the gay community. Conspiracy theories about Pelosi, Clinton and others have been created by right-wing media.

Dehumanizing and vilifying a group of people can make people more likely to attack the targets of vicious claims.

One of the strongest and most complex emotions is disgust.

In my new book, I explain how psychologists view disgust as a kind of behavioral immune system that helps us avoid harm. Disgust can be triggered by things that can make us sick. The emotion can be used against people.

The propagandists dehumanized Jewish people as vermin, Black people as subhuman apes, Indigenous people as savages, and immigrants as sexual deviants.

Political extremists are creating dangerous new strains of contempt and hate. There has been a rise in racism and violence against foreigners who are wrongly blamed for imported disease and crime.

Disgust can cause harm even if it doesn't cause violence. According to Steven Taylor, author of The Psychology of Pandemics, the ongoing monkeypox outbreak has made bigotry worse. He says that the disease is a perfect vehicle for eliciting disgust because of its modes of transmission and symptoms. Its name and origins in Africa have given rise to racist misinformation about how it is spread, and it has a link to men who have sex with men.

People who are trying to outlaw gender-affirming care for trans kids and purge pro-gay books from library shelves have stirred up disgust by using the spectre of sexual "grooming" and others have made the same accusations against those speaking out against such legislative efforts. There has been another round of moral disgust and outrage.

Carlson, who has an average of three million viewers, linked drag queens to pedophiles in response to Rufo. Rufo suggested that parents should fight back against the child sexualization agenda. Carlson said, "People should arm themselves."

People have. While not a direct link to violence, scientists have linked disgust sensitivity and authoritarianism to a higher opposition to the rights of the trans community. In the past few months, attackers have made threats to kill drag queens and other people, as well as school officials, librarians, parents and lawmakers who have come to their defense.

In the lead-up to the elections, a lot of far-right radio ads targeting Black and Hispanic stations in swing states have made false statements about the Biden administration's plans to make it easier to remove breasts and genitals. There are ads that claim minorities are destroyers of social norms. A person decries anti- white bigotry. The war on our children should be stopped.

The cynical appeal to protect children by attacking minorities has exposed a bitter irony, as disgust evolved to keep us out of danger, but people have long used it to harm.

No one will be able to reduce the boil of this stew. We can break free of disgust if we understand how disgust works and how we can be manipulated by it. Habituation and desensitization can make it less potent. Research shows that interventions based on compassion, empathy and trust-building can weaken prejudice. Awareness and education can reveal unconscious biases and expose the tactics of those who weaponize it.

Hillary Clinton reacted to the attack on Paul Pelosi by suggesting that the Republican Party was spreading hate and conspiracy theories. Violence is the result and it is shocking. We must hold them accountable for what they say and do. The news site that blamed Pelosi's attack on the LGBTQ community had a conspiracy theory that Musk deleted but joked about.

What can be done to break the cycle of disgust and violence? It's important to turn off the source of fuel. Some successes have been achieved by programs that emphasize early intervention and deradicalization. Other programs disrupt the ideologicalecosystem that creates radical conspiracy through counseling, education and other community interventions. We can refuse to buy into false equivalence and the normalization of dangerous rhetoric if we understand how our emotions can be used to demonize others. Hate speech and insinuation to violence can be punished by the law. We can disengage from media platforms that make money by being disgusted, fearful and forgetful of our own decency.

The views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those ofScientific American.