Seriously, it's like the default setting of most normies is set to maximum trust. They just read something and immediately trust it. They are told something and they simply trust it. Just like that! Does not matter what exactly it is or how absurd or unbelievable it is. If said information comes from some percieved authority, they'll simply trust it!
Sure, after a while they might start to question some things, but the very default is immediate trust.
Other huge problem is the inability of masses to comprehend complex concepts. You can put all the information right in front of them and they still won't be able to understand anything. Even if they start to understand something, usually they revert back to fallback questions like: who are they, why would they do it, it's not possible for everyone to be in on it or - at the very least - it's simply not possible, because that can't be true.
Who needs censorship when the masses are so dumbed down and their thought processes are so inert that even given all the information sitting right in front of them they still seem to be completely unable to get it?
Well, I specifically posted to point out that they can't, and not that they they won't, and I find insisting on it otherwise to be erroneous and counterproductive. But everyone is free to believe what they choose, and they freely choose they do. I have also found arguing about it to be entirely pointless, which is another thing I learned about how people actually think.
But on the extreme outside chance anyone reading this actually wishes to research the idea further, a psychologist named Julian Jaynes came up with a key insight regarding it almost half a century ago. His work was just a small part of the overall picture and he got important parts wrong, but it's close enough to lead to the next step.
A decent description of his idea (again, incomplete, flawed and out of context) is in the wiki on what he termed bicameral mentality:
So basically some part of population as literal unconscious NPCs. Hmm, could be... I'll check out that link you provided.
Still, I find it quite hard to comprehend the possibility that they simply can't. After all many of them are nice people overall, intelligent, with good sense of humour etc. It's only when the question of defying authority arises they kind of lock up. Almost like they have some red line in their minds that is simply not to be crossed no matter what.
If so, then that's probably the reason why they don't look into things. Perhaps unconsciously deep down they know that if they do look closer, that inevitably will lead to questioning authority and their established beliefs. In other words: uncosciously they know that at least some of the conspiracies are true. They simply can't bring themselves to accept that.
You're absolutely thinking of the same things I did as I moved along in my investigations. Perhaps I could offer another couple of key observations you can keep in your back pocket as you try to put the pieces together.
The first is that you have to recognize these are all the same people you grew up with, went to school with, worked with, and lived next to all your life, and until very recently you never noticed a problem with them at all. D's and R's, blue and white collar, rich and poor and middle class. If someone a decade or two ago asked you to point out all the normies you wouldn't even know WTF they were talking about.
But now there are stark faultlines, seemingly out of nowhere. I would suggest that those faultlines were not created but simply revealed. The normies were being told, well, relatively normal things, and that's what they accepted. We all just assumed from the outside that they arrived at those conclusions the same way we would have. Now they're being told all this crazy stuff, and that they accept such is evidence that no, no one would arrive at those conclusions through the conventionally accepted processes of reasoning.
The other phenomenon I would point to highlights the commanding role of the unconscious in their behavior. When you were a child, did anyone tease you by saying that you were adopted? You freaked out, right? Got angry, told them to take it back, and so forth. It was deeply upsetting.
Pretty much the same thing is going on when you tell a normie about 911 or COVID or the Moon landings. First, their subconscious determines that what you're saying is possibly or likely true. (If you tell them something ridiculous, like a guy you knew growing said he had a Dobby in his house, they won't react negatively at all. They may even want to know more.) But if what you say is true then that means all the people that control their world (the government, media, scientists, doctors, etc) are a bunch of fools, liars and murderers.
This is intolerably upsetting and their psyche has to find a way out. By far the easiest way out is just like it was when you were 9 years old: get increasingly aggressive until the claim is retracted. Voila, "safe" again.
The true nature of human consciousness is one of the biggest secrets I'm aware of, and that's because it's the main pathway to manipulating us. It's easiest to win a game if your opponents don't know they're playing, let alone the rules.
Those are some good points. Especially about normies of past being normal not because they've arrived at it themselves, but simply because they were told to behave normal.
One way of looking at it is that they've kind of outsourced most of their critical reasoning to some other entity and as soon as some other information arrives their subconscious gets its defenses up in no time. Actual reality or truth does not matter that much anymore. What matters, however, is whether that new information contradicts and/or threatens outsourced one. That's why ridiculous stories about Dobby are ok and even welcomed, while serious information about real life issues is a big no-no.
If you've followed it this far, the best way I've found to conceptualize their way of thinking is that it's inverted from what we all assume it to be. That is, they begin with the conclusion and engineer backwards through "moral principles" to "reasoning" to "facts". (Ever wonder why, for some, "my body, my choice" could just evaporate like the morning dew?)
They start with themselves being "good", and immediately after that they must have the "truth". Note that they didn't get reasoned into this view and it's virtually impossible to reason them out of it. Starting there and working reverse from the normal direction, they can find and fit whatever they require.
Even mainstream science touches on this phenomenon:
You create your own false information, study finds: People misremember numerical facts to fit their biases (ScienceDaily 12/9/2019)
As I mentioned, it's a big secret and so everyone just lightly brushes on it with their finger and never drives to the heart of it. When your "radar is on" for this kind of research and little factoids, you'll notice these types of confirmations too.
That does explain a bit why some grown and seemingly intelligent adults still believe in jewish desert fairy tales from men in dresses and robes…