Radicalisation of older people

Yup peace. Burning books is never a good thing although I did chase the old guy in my village down the street and tell him not to deliver his 💩 to my house again. 😂

Well, the burning books implication seemed a bit on the offended end?

There is absolutely no reason for me (or you) to have reported your post.

You are participating and contributing to a discussion. I was just pointing out that it was amusing that whoever distributes or publishes that publication is clearly watching out for more opportunities and jumped onto this thread with a link. I can almost guarantee that anyone who clicked on it would end up in an algorithm designed to lure them down precisely the path under discussion.

Peace?

No. I'm telling you, factually, that the two people I know who have gone in this direction also consume GB News and the DM as their main sources of 'mainstream' news. I do not know whether it reinforces this world view - although I do know quite a lot about Fox News and their largely fact-free coverage - but I do know that whatever these sources are presenting them with does not conflict enough with their reality to penetrate and/or be shunned/disbelieved as they do with other mainstream sources.

p.s. Nothing I've said can remotely fit the definition of slander, but nice try.

Where did I say I was offended? I asked a direct question of were you going to report it ? That seemed reasonable in response to you telling me that you had already reported and had deleted a link to the same " paper".

I have reported my post to mn myself to offer it to be deleted if they think it should be.

I reported it too. It was obvious spam.

No. That one was clearly a spammer, trying to get people to visit the site, as opposed to participating in the conversation. Which is why I reported it and MNHQ clearly agreed as there's no sign of it now.

Is it actually worth getting offended in advance for something I haven't done and don't have any intention of doing?

my aunties the same since her other half passed away and her kids are grown shes gone off the deep end =p

which makes her more isolated as other family members start shuffling away when shes spouts all this crap

Again this shows prejudice. You don't agree with the views in the DM or GB news. That's fine. But they are not connected to the extreme, anti-reality views expressed in the OP, so they cannot be reinforcing that world view The world view of conspiracy theorists is that there is a shadowy, 'them' controlling the world for their own nefarious purposes. This is not the news you get in DM or GB. By trying to link them you are simply trying slander one thing you think is bad by linking it to something else you think is even worse.

Will you be reporting mine? I don't think we should be in the business of burning books - this is a democracy.

Sorry. I didn't see that .

I just reported a post, now deleted, from someone spamming this thread with that site (the paper, not the wiki link).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Light_(newspaper). In my village there is an old guy who delivers this shit to all the houses. Maybe this is the source.

I think you're right, but I also think that people who do go that route are not consuming the FT and BBC as they're more mainstream sources. Judging by the two I know, they are watching/reading the DM and GB News where, maybe not the specifics, but their general worldview is being reinforced.

Anecdotal, I realise, but I know someone, very well-educated and interesting, who is now widowed and unwell herself, who has gone completely down that rabbit hole and she's moved from The Telegraph (not my cup of tea, but still relatively mainstream) to those two sources.

The people saying its due to the Daily Mail or GB news need to check their own prejudice and conspiracy theory adjacent mindset.

The beliefs OP highlighted are not from Daily Mail or GB news, they are full on conspiracy theorist world views which long ago detached from reality. Those of us who have had real life conspiracy theorists in our circle will recognise views like this.

Sorry OP, I don't what you can do. People I have met who have formed these beliefs have a strong psychological attachment to these views and often an online, and maybe real life too, community that they are also very attached to. You can't reason with them as any evidence present is from sources that are part of the conspiracy...

I would definitely agree with that as a factor, yes. Lack of exposure to multiple viewpoints and healthy debate takes its toll.

I do think it's pretty obvious the OP was referring to some older people specifically, not 'old people' generally, so that seems a bit unfair?

@DefinitelyMaybe92 I suspect that's right, but I also think that the social isolation many older people experience is a big contributing factor.

Be careful - Grandmothersnet will come after you! In seriousness, I’ve found personally it has much less to do with age and much more to do with education levels.

God, old people are shit, aren’t they? Mumsnet is so right.

it would REALLY worry me if AI came back with "how do you know he isn't?" 😂

OP, not sure if you're still about, but you might find this podcast episode interesting and relevant - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4vqMyjMPaLZc06BBSzBEk3. (or access the transcript here - https://www.buzzsprout.com/1112270/episodes/6725503-losing-relatives-to-fox-news)

Radicalisation of older people is a very well observed phenomenon in the USA.

My parents too. Mind you my dad (80) is a fan of Jeremy Corbyn so he's all good 😂

Another day, another ageist thread.

Really @MyWiseMaker? You think posting a far right conspiracy theory paper on this now quiet thread is the way to go. It's almost like you might not be a genuine poster... Think I might flag this posting up to MNHQ

This is what happens when you get your news from Twitter. The problem is you follow enough nut jobs then all you'll every see is nutty crazy stuff that will eventually turn the most sensible people full blown crazy whacks

Misinformation is this century's new poison. Now Trump has won the tech giants have removed what filters we had so unfortunately our leaders in Europe will have to make a choice....do we allow it in the name of free speech or do we take it down ...I'm edging towards banning certain platforms altogether... because I don't think it's worth the risk of ending up with someone like Tommy Robinson in a seat of power.

There was an interview on woman’s hour today with a woman talking about how to deprogramme the radicalised.

She said that you can’t tell them what to think, tell them they are wrong as it cements the belief

Better to reconnect them to society and positive relationships.

I wonder if older people become more isolated and this more vulnerable.

Because no one is saying everyone over 70 suddenly falls for conspiracy theories and it’s an inevitable part of age to lose discernment.

This is out of character behaviour from these people, which is why people are raising it.

And perhaps like teenagers, we need to keep them healthily occupied with real world relationships to bolster them against the creep of isolation.