Or on the individual level -- I labour this point because I sadly see it in people I know -- at the kind of mental gymnastics an abused partner inevitably uses to explain away their situation and avoid challenging it.
The thing is, analysis paralysis happens even in situations without a malign actor.
Many malign actors have an instinctive, almost unknowing ability to exploit it.
Usually, it’s a strawman. People in favor of lockdowns, masks, and similar interventions ridicule those who aren’t by falsely claiming they “don’t believe in Covid”.
Whether it’s worth accepting X amount of suffering to increase average life expectancy by Y years depends on the values of X and Y. If someone argues it’s not worth it in a particular case, that doesn’t necessarily mean they think Y is zero.
But there are people who literally think the world is 4000 years old. There are people who believe evolution doesn't happen. There are even people who believe the earth is flat. And you find a strawman that there are people who think that nobody is dying of covid?
Neither is the US. But you and me have seen during this pandemic, to people able to reason that pneumonia can kill, and covid can cause pneumonia, but unable to reason that covid can kill. Propaganda is like that.
You only have to take a look at what sects do to people to see the kind of gymnastics people can do in their reasoning because propaganda.