My dad is a massive conspiracy theorist and it's so frustrating

thepariscrimefiles · Today 12:18

How can he be pro-immigration and pro-'immigrants are eating cats and dogs' Trump?

I know, it's ... incongruous, isn't it?

Very good point!

Echobelly · Today 11:55

It's disturbing that your dad is reaching to antisemitism - does he know anyone Jewish or live anywhere there are Jewish people. I am Jewish and because we are smaller minority than most people expect and hence a lot of people don't know any of us, we are all too easy to dehumanise. And 'I don't mean all Jews, just the Rothschilds' or whatever doesn't cut it.

I did Amazon deliveries for a while, during lockdown. I used to get Bensham in Gateshead quite regularly, which is a sizeable Jewish enclave. You could tell that a lot of them weren't really well off. I really, really don't get the whole, "They control the world, the banks, the press, Bilderberg... wibble..." schtick at all.

How can he be pro-immigration and pro-'immigrants are eating cats and dogs' Trump?

Being pro Palestine is 'woke' so how can he also be anti woke?

That's some massive cognitive dissonance right there.

My lovely SIL is the same. It's such a shame because we know when we see her she will dominate the conversation with anything to do with conspiracies. I change the subject as much as I can.

I did say to her she had so much more to talk about and she 'had a life' before all of this so why can't she get back to that? She said she just can't help it now it's all she thinks about. I believe she won't stop drilling it into us until we give in and 'wake up'.

Lockdown has ruined her, she spent it all down Facebook rabbit holes.

People are entitled to their opinions and noone is all right or all wrong.

But my take is that I don't care if we will all be blown to buggery this time next week, I still don't want to hear about it.

Don't whatever you do go down the line of saying ' the government is too stupid/ apathetic to control us'

'Ah but thats what they want you to think, it's part of the conspiracy!'

The way we handle it with FiL is literally ignore anything he says on these subjects and continue our own conversations. If he persists or starts ranting, my DH will tell him quite bluntly to give it a rest.

They view you, the same way you view them. Its like two parallel universes. I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist but I don't discuss it with anyone anymore. I just try find common ground and discuss normal everyday things. I keep my mouth shut about everything for my own peace. We all have the right to make our own personal decisions and to believe what we believe. It's just when opinions are shoved down another's throat that it's irritating. And that goes for both sides.

I think the thing with people like this is to acknowledge the genuine parts of their concerns.

In a sense, he's not wrong that we are controlled by a bunch of rich, powerful people but it's not remotely a secret, that's capitalism, particularly now that more and more wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer people, which disenfranchises everyone else to some extent.

It's disturbing that your dad is reaching to antisemitism @patrilla - does he know anyone Jewish or live anywhere there are Jewish people. I am Jewish and because we are smaller minority than most people expect and hence a lot of people don't know any of us, we are all too easy to dehumanise. And 'I don't mean all Jews, just the Rothschilds' or whatever doesn't cut it.

The real problems of control seem to me to be:

• Money, with its influence on media and governments pushes the line that We All Need The Super-Rich and it's not fair for anyone to go after their money (even if they'd barely notice) and we should all be grateful to them
• Ditto the line that any system except Milton-Friedmanesque free market capitalism is utterly unthinkable and has to be communism
• There are powerful and vested interests in fossil fuels to whom it is obviously advantageous to push the line that there is something impossible about renewable energy and sinister about getting people to act more sustainably

I think if one can talk to them about the real things maybe that could help? Acknowledge their concerns and point out what is literally in front of us. Because generally conspiracy theorists are the ones being duped by 'The Elite' into blaming Jews, climate scientists, immigrants, feminists, LGBTQ+ etc - ie, anyone except the actual 'Elite'

I also heard a very good point about the 'Mainstream Media' recently which is, of course it's not perfect and it has biases, but often only large media has the resources to have someone on the ground where things are happening, it has researchers, it has resources to mount months-long investigations before going to press. Which 'Bob's X-Files' YouTube channel does not have.

I can see how the world becoming a bit more complicated and a bit less kind and forgiving of people's struggles can be very bad for mental health I guess in the extreme it's yet more proof that someone is out to control us, if you're that way inclined.

My guess is he’s lonely, got too much time on his hands, so he’s fixating on poor TV/video/social media choices, and cherry picking the bad things that fit his agenda. I find it really strange that often very intelligent, quite rational people often get mixed up in all this bunkum. Does he have any non tech hobbies, creativity likes at all? Can he get out and go for a walk?
All you can do is change the subject, keep away from certain subjects, keep him busy in other ways.

I had a friend who got swept into conspiracy theories during the lockdowns. She was adamant that I was going to drop dead on 12th February 2022 due to being vaccinated.

She messaged me on the 13th asking if I was still alive, and if I was still alive she “would bet everything she owns and loves” that I have a plethora of serious health issues. I responded and told her I was alive & healthy and she said “you must be one of the lucky ones that they injected with saline.” 🙄

Although, she was thrilled when I actually caught Covid as that is PROOF that the vaccine doesn’t work. I said “I thought I was injected with saline?” and she told me that I had obviously received a “watered down” version of the vaccine, designed to kill me slowly… I should be dead by 2025 apparently.
My only symptoms were a slightly sore throat & a perfectly manageable headache. She told me the headache was the start of an incurable brain disease as a result of the vaccinations I’d received throughout my life & the sore throat was because of air pollution due to the diseases the government are releasing into the atmosphere.

Safe to say we don’t talk anymore!

Not ironic

Most of the 'agitators' after the dreadful Southport stabbings, were from overseas

Not saying foreign influencers are the cause of half this nuttery, but they are amplifying the nutters

Not everything is a conspiracy but there are nafarious things that go on ie Epstein Island, P Diddy are just the most recent. I think once you start looking into things perhaps it's made him paranoid about everything. There's a fine line. I think there are a lot of shady goings on but don't believe in flat earth and can see Russell Brand is a complete con artist / attention seeker. Some people cross the line and believe everything some people don't even want to look into things or question anything because perhaps they are scared or it's just easier that way. Each to their own. I hope you can find some middle ground with your dad.

Oh the irony...

Oh dear, we have a neighbour like this. He used to be OK, but his wife died in 2018 and he'd retired to look after her. He spent his time watching Youtube and started on about the "MSM" and how they were out to get Trump, as he's a brilliant good guy etc.

That progressed to Covid is a hoax and how many people he knew who'd had a jab and died within 24 hours. He couldn't name any, but then a dog walking acquaintance died of Covid - he told me he'd had the jab in the morning and was dead by midnight and that his family would follow... None of them had had the jab, he was a refusenik and his 3 kids were too young at that point.

Of course, all Ukrainians are Nazis, they invaded Russia, which is only defending itself etc etc. Apparently, Biden wants to invade Russia for the oil and gas...

Oh and 5G burns oxygen and causes brain tumours, there's an epidemic of brain tumours, which the Government is covering up, naturally. 5G frequencies are what used to be terrestrial television frequencies and are at far lower power levels, I explained. I was "wrong" of course, probably because my mind had been taken over by Covid jabs, as you'd expect!

I do my best to avoid him, these days!

I'm interested in the oil companies one. What does this consist of? My colleague is a climate change disbeliever. Apparently, weather systems are man manipulation, and planes routinely spray to change weather on a daily basis. All a plan to tax us and mind control through chemicals. he rants at the sky daily.

Where does he want to go?

George Monbiot did a piece in The Guardian about this. He was fascinated that there are honest to god conspiracies out there that we SHOULD fight but these people choose the fantastical ones that leave them powerless. Am boarding a flight so can't link but it's worth looking for.

Where can I meet these people? All I have is normal friends 😂