From Other Words
Formal education is often a mark of privilege, not intelligence.
Conspiracy theories like QAnon are outlandish, dangerous, and often absurd. So why do people believe them?
In the U.S., higher education is tied more to your parents' income than your brains. Intelligence and work ethic play a role, of course, but the roadblocks between people in low-income families and a college degree are well-documented.
Take my school for example.
This school year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, students from the poorest 50 percent of Wisconsin families made up only about 20 percent of the freshman class.
The school covers full tuition for these low-income students, which is commendable. But in a world where your parents' income didn't affect your shot at a college education, students from the poorest half of the state would account for, well, half of the freshman class.
Then look at Donald Trump. He paid someone to take his SATs, called in a favor in the Wharton admissions office, and apparently had a lackluster record while at the school. Then he speculated on TV about the benefits of injecting bleach into the human body and became the country's leading election conspiracy theorist.
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