Could you be friends with or date a conspiracy theorist?

[annabel85]

This is priceless. Just heard from a friend about a mutual acquaintance who has been dating this man for a month or two. They'd been out a few times and he'd promised to surprise her on Saturday for the date and got they got the train into London (i'm assuming with masks).

As they got there it turns out the surprise was 'to see David Icke' at Trafalgar Square. She thought it was a joke but it turns out he's this blokes idol. He'd sold himself as being 'anti-establishment but in reality he believes all the 5G theories and all of Icke's theories.

What's less funny was she went along with him and didn't wear a mask the whole time as that was the point of the protest, therefore she felt really uncomfortable. Needless to say she doesn't want anything to do with him and he thinks she's being unreasonable and 'shallow'.

Would you be willing to be friends with a conspiracy theorist? I kind of know an old friend who's gone down that road and it made me realise i've been giving them a wide berth.

Where do you draw the line?

@TeenPlusTwenties

Friends with? Maybe if it didn't dominate their life & conversation. Just like I can be friends with people on all sides of the Brexit debate, and with people of different religions and none.

Date - no way.

Lol please don't compare Brexit to David Icke. Brexit is not a mental illness. Believing that the royal family are lizards probably is.

It seems to be a large section of people now believing that Covid is a hoax, either it doesn’t exist or it exists to depopulate the world. Amongst other conspiracies that have been touted by friends, including its not a virus but a bacteria that is causing blood clots and death and that is why autopsies were not carried out in Italy at the beginning of the pandemic.
I cannot believe my friends who I have known for many years Can be so easily taken in.

Funny how "doing some research" nearly always means watching nutty YouTube videos ; never reading scientific papers.

No. I cat bear stupidity.

I cannot believe my friends who I have known for many years Can be so easily taken in.

I know that what you mean. But we've all had a massive shock and this is a classic way people respond - denial or conspiracy. is worrying, presumably if we have a second spike they'll get worse?

@cariadlet

Funny how "doing some research" nearly always means watching nutty YouTube videos ; never reading scientific papers.

Yes! Also total objection to any actual peer reviewed science as apparently that is all controlled by "the government" and is part of the conspiracy.

And they ask you to be open minded (which translates as believe the crap that I'm telling you) but if you ask whether they're open minded to the possibility that they're wrong, they have no answer.

No I could not have any kind of relationship with a conspiracy theorist.

I have no patience with bullshit.

I couldn't keep a straight face.

How could I have affection and respect for someone whose judgement is so skewed?

How could I allow them around my children?

Total deal-breaker.

I think the moon landings were faked, DP thinks 9/11 was an inside job. We have respectfully agreed to disagree.

(And before anyone starts, this has never been a serious debate, it's just something we tease each other about)

Your friend should feel lucky this happened fairly early on in the relationship. Imagine if they were together for years and then he started coming out with this stuff. Hopefully she can make a swift exit and let things go without it being too awful for her.

I have a FB friend like this. They keep going on about the rest of the population as being a bunch of sheep. I'm sat there thinking "given that you all spout the same shit, you sound like sheep too". It's almost like they're in a cult!

I was also thinking "what will they do when a tonne of people catch COVID from being at that demo? How will they explain that away?"

Yes, I think the term conspiracy theorist is widely used in negative connotation and to insinuate the individual believes in every questionable statement. I would happily date someone who gives thought to plausible theories not disproved wholely by science or 100 percent evidence

@annabel85 I hope she’s blocked him on all available channels.

No because they mostly spout anti semantic bullshit and incapable of thinking for themselves. I would assume that anyone who considers David Icke a hot date is either a 14 year old boy or a seriously mentally challenged stupid idiot.

Narrow mindedness *and yes I believe the earth is round, no I don't believe 9 /11 was an inside job (but I do believe there were serious structural problems and cover ups), I do believe the princess Diana incident was potentially foul play, I believe the Mandela effect could have plausibility and I believe that we have only discovered a very small portion of the universe, also the electromagnetic spectrum we know to be true is only a portion of reality and that anything is possible as an existence at a greater scale 🙃, coming from a bio science graduate 👍

The guy I dated a while ago is, we are still friends. He’s actually very intelligent and open to reasoned debate. Some of the stuff (not the full lizard people!), but some of it is worth the debate. He was in finance and if you follow the money it’s interesting.

Could I date him again? Hmmm well that’s difficult because I can’t get on board with some of it, but actually he’s a very thoughtful emotional man.

You can’t write people off entirely so long as the debate can be had.

Could I be friends with or date the man you describe that put her in that position? Hell no!!

No, I have an acquaintance who spouts this stuff whenever possible, and frequently sends “important links”. it’s rage inducing...eg Hilary Clinton eats children, Michelle Obama is a bloke, JFK junior is still alive and is helping Trump to win the election, Bill gates wants to microchip us all and Covid19 is fake News...just a few examples of the twaddle you can find on YouTube. Gaaaaah!

@Rentacar

I have a FB friend like this. They keep going on about the rest of the population as being a bunch of sheep. I'm sat there thinking "given that you all spout the same shit, you sound like sheep too". It's almost like they're in a cult!

I was also thinking "what will they do when a tonne of people catch COVID from being at that demo? How will they explain that away?"

Projection is the second most common identifying characteristic of a conspiracy theorist after denial of reality.

Either they're a liar spreading lies, or they're an idiot spreading lies.

Either way I don't want them in my life, or my family's life.

Messing with a child's reality by watching QAnon videos around them is surely child abuse. You might as well AirPlay porn on your tv in front of them.

Im glad somebody else has noticed the link between MLM people and conspiracy nutjobs. They're increasingly one and the same. Whats all that about?

Sorry what are MLM people?

A friend of mine is a conspiracy theorist; she's currently catastrophizing that she'll be forced to have the covid vaccine despite not being in an at-risk category.

She won't drink drinks with artificial sweeteners in, but she'll happily smoke a 10 pack of cigs every few days.

It's starting to wear me down a bit actually.

@JimmyThe Brave MLM is multi level marketing. It's an updated form of pyramid selling. Basically people who are all over social media saying the cosmetics (or whatever else they're flogging) are wonderful, have changed their life and they can't believe how much money they're making. They try and sell to their friends or - better still - persuade their friends to buy enough stock to become sellers themselves, on an even lower rung of the ladder.

I'm struggling to tolerate one at work at the moment so definitely wouldn't date one!