The result “blows the lid off of this idea” that such beliefs are held by only a fringe population of individuals who are uninformed or ideologically driven, says David Bersoff, head of research at the Edelman Trust Institute. “This is not like a small problematic group.”

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[–] CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 days ago

So many people in this thread aren't getting how we got here.

It's not about understanding. Flouride conspiracy, raw milk, et al all have a a tinge of truth to them but they also have a larger cognitive bias and that is that it allows people to buck government regulations.

This is "rules for thee but not for me" wrapped up in pseudoscience. These people benefited from flouride, pasteurized milk, regulated beef, etc. but believe that the over reaching government is holding back their freedom. This is about conservatives wanting to push their policies at the detriment to the population because conservatism is that they must be the group that pushes the rules and never have to be bound by them.

This is ultimately about oppression.

No amount of education will fix the empathy they lack.