A couple of days ago I touched upon the bewildering phenomenon of flat earthism. Tomorrow we will see the second inauguration of a proven charlatan and criminal. Needless to say, I am dumbfounded by both. Yet I think it’s worth pointing out that I think they boil down to the same highly concerning social trend: both are about the knowing, deliberate rejection of mainstream knowledge and the shunning of what most people think is obvious. Both stem from a profound mistrust of society as a concept, and the belief that one’s own point of view outranks and overrules everyone else’s. I think we should find this trend very worrying indeed, as history shows us that it leads somewhere horrifyingly dark.