Has anyone lost a friend to conspiracy theories?

[MerryPerry88]

....and what was the outcome? The covid pandemic really did a number on a close friend of mine....and anxiety fulled paranoia has meant that they have gone down a rabbit warren of conspiracy theories. It started off with the Great Reset stuff, but now has gone full blown into Chem trails, Flat Earth, Royal Family are lizards...you name it. They have pushed everyone away with how aggressively they air their views, and cannot be reasoned with at all. They are still holding down a responsible job, but colleagues have been making comments, as they air their views forcibly at work. My partner does not want to see this friend anymore, as their views have also gone into right wing US republican territory. I'm also good friends with this friends partner, and our children are all friends. It's such a sad situation as our friendship has gone down the pan. I'm still meeting up with friends partner and the kids, but it feels awkward. The partner to some extent is pandering to a lot of these views. I don't know how to put it nicely but they are a bit of a push over and have put up with a lot in the past from this friend. Sorry there's probably a lot of background stuff I've missed out....I guess I'm interested to hear from people that have experienced the same, and whether friendships have ever recovered. I'm struggling to see how we can repair things unless they have a massive reality check, but I'm not sure how that is going to come about so feeling a bit hopeless.

That I can understand your frustrations.

I'm aware of his work..
Thanks for clarifying, I get what you meant now.

My brother and a really good friend.
I do a lot of “mmm-hmm” and swiftly changing the subject!

It could be debated that one of the most biggest and well kept secrets from the public until the using of said weapons, that would of been classed as a conspiracy theory was the development of atomic weapons.

Did anyone voice it as a conspiracy theory before it happened, out of interest?

That one, I've not a clue.

Graham Hancock is utterly batshit 😂

Maybe, or he's quite correct eg the weathering on the sphinx etc,

How many conspiracy theories have happened in history then years later oh by the way public x was actually true etc.

We can agree to disagree then

@Cailleachian out of interest what do you think was different about 9/11?
I remember it unfolding vividly. I heard something on the radio which made me turn on the TV whilst working at home and was still watching hours later having gathered with friends

Not quite sure why you are banging on about a conspiracy theory in relation to me saying I have no relationship with my parent but ya know... 🙄

I have a 'friend' who I knew was very Christian and believes god can cure all issues etc but it went to another level in covid. Full blown conspiracy theory. Messaging all contacts etc
Lots walked away

I think I may have got my wires crossed, my apologies.

It has been proved time and time again that the government (whichever one is in power) couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery, let alone conspire to secretly control the population or 'reset' the global economy.

Let's face it. Some people are just raving crackpots. Some enjoy the feeling of superiority it gives them in believing they are 'in on the secret' and know something you don't. Some like thinking that they are clever and you are stupid. Some are gullible fools, and some are suffering from mental health issues and in their disturbed state, they end up falling for all this ludicrous nonsense. And a few, of course, are a combination of all these characteristics.

I'm sorry you are in this unfortunate situation with your friend OP, but I really don't know what to suggest when it comes to dealing with it.

I bet you are the friend in the ops title. 😏

You got me, hand in the biscuit jar. The names Walter Burke.

Sounds exactly like my SIL. Started with Covid, then chemtrails and flat-earthers, the end of the world is nigh... She won't shut up about it - it's exhausting. Luckily we live in a different country, but DH has to see her if he visits his mum.

Reasoned scientific arguement does nothing... as DH says, you can't argue with stupid(ity)!

Undercover cops infiltrating political movements is common - that's the government trying to prevent the movement from fulfilling its aims.

That's not at all the same as the government funding a political group.

Evidence? Where is this evidence

My husband bloody hell! Can’t stand listening to him he doesn’t stop. He thinks the government are poisoning us and that they are listening into everything we say.
That eventually we won’t have any control over our money.

He’s probably not that wrong tbh but some of the stuff he tells me is insane 🤣

The spy cops scandal that broke over the last few years - look up Mark Kennedy for instance.

The police used the identities of dead babies to create fake activist personas for their undercover agents. Some were embedded in peaceful environmental movements for years. One had a baby with a female activist, and so her kid's dad doesn't actually exist.

Some of the victims tried to get the police prosecuted for rape, as they never would have slept with those men if they had known they were cops. Their bid failed, unsurprisingly. The cops in question were paid around £250,000 a year to do all this.

Maybe, or he's quite correct eg the weathering on the sphinx etc...

And completely wrong about the Mayan Pyramids being 12,000 years old and the same as the ones in Indochina and Egypt. They're all from different eras and of different designs.

And he made up constellations to match the shape of the temples in Angkor Wat, which excluded the temples which didn't fit. And the position ratios and angles were all badly wrong.

How does he believe history differs? and what does he use for his primary sources?

No historian worth their salt would try to suggest that what’s in a history book is gospel truth. Often two experts who spend their lives studying a particular period or event, will differ hugely in their interpretation of what happened, the characters involved etc.

That’s not a conspiracy theory - that’s how history works.

it doesn’t mean there’s a huge cover up.