Why subscribe?

This newsletter is an attempt to understand why otherwise functional people believe obvious bullshit, and there’s an enormous body of peer-reviewed science on exactly that question that most commentary ignores entirely. Confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, the illusory truth effect, conspiracy cognition, cult psychology, algorithmic amplification, mass delusion: there are reams of published research across cognitive science, social psychology, behavioral science, and communication explaining how propaganda captures the human mind. Homo gullibilis translates that science for anyone who’s scratched their head at a MAGA and just doesn’t understand what in the actual fuck is going on with them.

What you will get

• Research-driven essays grounded in peer-reviewed science, with full citations in footnotes.

• Interview clips, annotated reading lists, and project updates tied to an in-progress documentary

• Case studies that connect the lab findings to real-world propaganda systems

I’m Jonathan Fowler. I spent a decade as Director of Video at Big Think, producing over 2,000 expert interviews on science, philosophy, politics, and human behavior. I studied Biological Psychology at New College of Florida and Scientific Filmmaking at Montana State University. I’m currently in pre-production for a documentary on propaganda, conducting long-form interviews with researchers including Robert Sapolsky, Lee McIntyre, and Cailin O’Connor. Clips from those interviews and annotated reading lists will appear alongside the essays. Homo gullibilis is the research spine and public notebook for the film, so subscribers will see the evidence, the interviews, and the story architecture develop in parallel.

Have a MAGA loved one? Me too.

Over 70 million American voters endorsed a pathologically lying con man in 2024, despite every bright red flag he waved in our faces. My own mother was one of them, and she’s still unapologetically knee-deep in MAGA. America’s slide into proto-fascism is horrifying, but the salt in the wound is that it happened inside my family. Things might be easier if she were helplessly duped by expert propaganda, but in many ways she handed them her mind willingly.

So, I went no-contact with Mom for my own sanity. In other words, we don’t talk. It’s too painful to hear her parrot Fox News talking points when confronted with anything critical of her precious MAGA tribe. It is bewildering to watch a person you love defend obvious lies with total confidence. Homo gullibilis is my attempt to make sense of it.

Subscribe for free to get every post delivered to your inbox.