It is primarily this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism

Mixed more generally with this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism

Someone who is anti-intellectual doesn't believe that their theory of the world being flat (or whatever) is actually a rigorous idea. Being "right" isn't even part of the thought process. They have an issue with science and the intellectual process itself and see those who practice it to be an outsider to their worldview.

This is why so many people fail to convince flat-earthers that the world is round. Because they don't really give a shit about what shape the earth is, they just have contempt for the intellectualism that says it is.

I suspect many of these people are insecure about their own lack of knowledge, and so by rejecting a mainstream narrative of science they can feel in-control of their own sense of intellect.

I think this is an unfortunate consequence of the state of politics in the US (and in many other countries tbh).

Collectively we should really be getting angry with wealth inequality but those with wealth stir up any number of other issues (e.g. race, religion, gender, etc) in order to divert attention from them continuing to get richer at our collective expense.

Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity hits the nail on the head here.

He argued that in WW2, the people who were not able to question what they were doing were enabling a lot of the cruelty [0].

[0] https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-e...

I think that's always been a feature of contrarianism itself. It's so much more difficult to be contrarian and correct than simply contrarian that it applies most of the time, especially if someone uses that label explicitly.

"Contrarianism" can't be the only qualifying term unless you mean to lump in the majority of HN commenters.

Boomers get all the hate but GenX really is the absolute worst. They took the me-me-me of Boomers without the civic minded temperance of their G.I./Silent grandparents. Life goals of that generation include climbing mount everest, writing a novel, really anything that would make you sound "cool" at a cocktail party, but they never realized that nobody cares unless you've made the world a better place for others.

> Is there a term for this sort of brain dead contrarianism?

Reactionary[0]? Trump and the MAGA movement embody this desire to return to the "golden age" which is an idealized period in the 1950s where you had a factory job, a house, a family, and a simple life. Of course, "idealized" is the keyword there because it ignores the state of civil rights, medicine, workplace & car safety, etc. at that point in time.

Anyway, I think that's the term you're looking for. Contrarians are annoying, reactionaries are more akin to cult followers.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary

This has nothing to do with contrarianism, but all to do with the foundations of right-wing and fascist psychology, and more precisely, hierarchy.

Things like this allow you to prove for one that your leader is above you, and that you are loyal, unlike some other people who hence are beneath you.

This is why evangelicals can stomach Trump, he gives them an opportunity to have someone above them and for them to struggle with loyalty. It is more important to them than whether he has pressured someone to have an abortion or somesuch that does not fit the ethics they promote.

It is also why so many on the right and in fascist movements endure suffering caused by their leaders and don't hold them accountable to their promises. The ongoing wars of aggression that the US is partaking in is splitting the MAGA movement into the more conservative wing that isn't as uncompromising with their lust for hierarchy as the fully neo-fascist wing, who are going to try and weather pretty much any absurdities, any suffering they are exposed to.