More than ever, modern political leaders across the globe are issuing statements that defy logic, science and history.
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that → issue → logic
Yet, instead of facing ridicule, these figures are frequently met with applause from their supporters.
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figures → face → supporters
Last week, when Polish foreign minister Radosaw Sikorski claimed that Poland could swiftly defeat Russia in a direct conflict, political commentators across the United States and Europe met his remarks with mild mockery.
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commentators → claim → mockery
However, within Poland, social media exploded with enthusiastic endorsement.
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media → explode → endorsement
Rather than facing critical pushback, Sikorski’s exaggerated claim was embraced as gospel by supporters.
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claim → face → supporters
This perfectly illustrates how readily absurd political rhetoric is now absorbed.
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rhetoric → illustrate → ?
In a 2019 interview, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while discussing India’s air strikes against Pakistan, explained that he advised military officials to launch the attack despite heavy rain and cloud cover.
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he → discuss → rain
He ‘reasoned’ that clouds would block Pakistani radars.
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clouds → reason → radars
Even though radars operate via radio waves rather than visual sight, his supporters championed the assertion as an example of “military genius.”
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supporters → operate → genius
Modi’s historical claims are often even more surreal, such as his declaration that the birth of Karna in the ancient epic Mahabharata proves that test-tube baby technology was invented in ancient India.
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technology → prove → India
In a live 2021 television QnA, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan attributed rising sexual violence to women wearing “vulgar” clothes.
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Khan → attribute → clothes
He argued that “men are not robots” and that “if a woman wears very few clothes, it will have an impact on the men.”
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it → argue → men
When he was criticised by women activists, his supporters (including many women) rallied around him, asserting that his critics were trying to undermine “traditional cultural values.”
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critics → criticise → values
In an age of algorithmic outrage, identity politics and collapsing trust in institutions, the most outrageous claims can become expressions of loyalty and powerful instruments of persuasion
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in 2021, Khan praised the event, declaring that the Afghan people had “broken the shackles of slavery.”
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people → collapse → slavery
The statement ignored the ensuing human rights crises while framing a complex geopolitical takeover as a glorious anti-imperialist victory.
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statement → ignore → victory
Many of his supporters applauded his ‘bold’ statement.
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Many → applaud → statement
During the global Covid vaccination drive in 2021, then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro warned citizens that taking the Pfizer vaccine could cause people to turn into alligators and make women grow beards.
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women → warn → beards
His core evangelical support base accepted this without hesitation.
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base → accept → hesitation
In the US, Donald Trump remains a master of uttering similar hogwash.
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Trump → remain → hogwash
During his first presidency, he dismissed global warming threats by claiming that rising sea levels would simply create “more oceanfront properties.”
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levels → dismiss → properties
He reduced a complex ecological crisis to a real estate opportunity while ignoring basic coastal geography.
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He → reduce → geography
His supporters praised his insightfulness.
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supporters → praise → insightfulness
These are just a handful of examples highlighting a shift in modern political discourse.
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These → highlight → discourse
This move from facing ridicule for spouting outright nonsense to this nonsense enjoying widespread applause is the result of some drastic changes in media ecosystems, societal psychology and the nature of modern political power.
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move → face → power
The primary engine driving the acceptance of absurd statements is what the American academic Dan Kahan calls “identity-protective cognition.”
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academic → drive → what
According to Kahan, when political identity becomes tightly tied to a group, individuals process information not to evaluate its objective truth but to protect their status within the group.
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individuals → accord → group
Accepting an absurd claim made by the group’s leader confirms an individual’s loyalty to the group, whereas rejecting the claim means aligning with political opponents.
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rejecting → accept → opponents
Research led by the American professor of psychology and neural science Jay Van Bavel suggests that political loyalty in this regard acts as a “cognitive filter.”
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loyalty → lead → filter
It overrides basic critical thinking and yields psychological rewards that reinforce one’s sense of belonging to a group, even when a leader’s claim contradicts reality.
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claim → override → reality
Historically, mainstream media often acted as gatekeepers.
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media → act → gatekeepers
A ridiculous statement was processed through editorial standards, highlighted for its absurdity and derided on public platforms.
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statement → process → platforms
Western media used to take apart various leaders for this — for instance, leaders such as Uganda’s dictator Idi Amin, who was reduced to being a joker, and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
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who → use → dictator
Now the same West is struggling to comprehend mouthy far-right leaders in its own backyard.
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West → struggle → backyard
In Pakistan, Pir Pagara was often treated as a jester for making outlandish political predictions.
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Pagara → treat → predictions
Cartoonists often showed him with a parrot.
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Cartoonists → show → parrot
Altaf Hussain was another politician who was regularly satirised and ridiculed, even though, to his followers he was a ‘visionary’.
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he → satirise → followers
The rise of algorithmic platforms has gradually dismantled the role of gatekeepers.
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rise → dismantle → gatekeepers
Various studies show that repeated exposure to a statement increases its perceived truthfulness, regardless of how implausible it sounds.
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it → show → truthfulness
Social media algorithms prioritise outrageous content because it drives engagement, causing absurd claims to be repeated millions of times in digital echo chambers.
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claims → prioritise → chambers
Studies by psychologists Gordon Pennycook and David Rand on misinformation show that repetition lowers a reader’s analytical guard, transitioning statements from sounding ridiculous to familiar and, eventually, to plausible and true.
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repetition → show → familiar
…and 19 more, not listed.
The Aporia
