I think the difference is faith in authority figures. People who trust those in authority will believe what they're told (quite correctly, in this case), but they won't understand the full argument--they're not authorities themselves. That is, after all, the whole point of having authority figures and experts: the world is far too complex to understand everything yourself.
People who don't believe the authority figures need a reason _why_, and will concoct something. They need to validate their skepticism, both to themselves and to others.
If a skeptic really wanted to understand the argument for the COVID vaccine (in this case), all the information is out there to be had. But to really understand it they'd have to become experts themselves--actual experts, with an understanding of epidemiology, statistics, immune responses, and so on. Years of study. A google search that points out a few problems in isolation doesn't cut it.
A certain degree of skepticism for authority is definitely healthy, but I'd say it borders on pathological in modern American society.
The problem is anyone can be an "authority" if they're persuasive enough. Trust in authority is dangerous from any point of view. Evaluating authority is the hard part, my mother in law sees my brother in law as an authority on everything because he has a PHD from a prestigious school. I see him as an authority on fossilized turtle teeth but that's about it.
I wonder if we've failed to explain the world to our kids... Like why don't people understand specialization? Division of labor is critical to the structure of our society and has been for a VERY long time, significantly accelerated by industrialization and education, yet people still talk about "scientists" and "doctors" as if they're two giant masses. It should be basic that if someone wants to know about whatever that they go to an expert in that and then evaluate them against the other experts in that field. Why isn't this just obvious to every school child?
This doesn't match up with reality though. Most anarchists are in the science camp and thus wearing masks, getting vaccines and, fighting deforestation, fighting climate change, etc. I can't think of any group with less trust in authority.
People who don't believe the authority figures need a reason _why_, and will concoct something. They need to validate their skepticism, both to themselves and to others.
If a skeptic really wanted to understand the argument for the COVID vaccine (in this case), all the information is out there to be had. But to really understand it they'd have to become experts themselves--actual experts, with an understanding of epidemiology, statistics, immune responses, and so on. Years of study. A google search that points out a few problems in isolation doesn't cut it.
A certain degree of skepticism for authority is definitely healthy, but I'd say it borders on pathological in modern American society.