A quarter of people in the UK believe Covid was or was probably a hoax (as well as believing other conspiracy theories)

[cakeorwine]

Quarter in UK believe Covid was a hoax, poll on conspiracy theories finds | Social trends | The Guardian

"The UK is home to millions more conspiracy theorists than most people realise, with almost a quarter of the population believing Covid-19 was probably or definitely a hoax, polling has revealed.
About a third of the population are convinced that the cost of living crisis is a government plot to control the public, and similar numbers think “15-minute cities” – an attempt to increase walking in neighbourhoods – are a government surveillance ruse, and that the “great replacement theory” – the idea that white people are being replaced by non-white immigrants – is happening."

I guess that there are people out there who believe in conspiracy theories - but I am very surprised by the numbers.

I wonder what the cross over is between theories - in other words, if you believe 1 conspiracy theory, you are more likely to believe another?

I am not surprised. The government lie to us constantly, they lie when they know they are lying, they lie when we know they are lying, they lie when they know we know they are lying. The opposition are the same. 2 cheeks of the same arse. No wonder people believe the 'gurus' and the 'leaders'.

I saw the headline and thought the same as you, OP. Where are these people? If I asked people where I live I’m sure 1/4 wouldn’t say it was a hoax.

Which just goes to show we’re all living in our own bubbles, I guess.

People are waking up!

I'd like (and I've only skimmed the article so maybe it's there but I didn't see it) to see the actual questions asked. There's a big difference between, for instance, thinking there never was any such disease as Covid, and thinking the government's response was an over-reaction, and that they used Covid to gain more control over the population (not planned, just taking advantage of an opportunity).

Agree with the previous poster. The government are openly lying to us. Also it depends what question was asked. While I don't think COVID was a hoax, I certainly think there are elements of the way it played out which were only a version of the truth. For example inflating the number of deaths by recording 'death with covid' even when COVID wasn't the cause of death. So if asked a yes/no question I might fall into the category of believing it was a hoax.

Where are these people @FastandLoose? unfortunately, they are on the thread.

I think we're about to find them

It appears we’ve found the 25%. Covid minimisation is a conspiracy theory as are deaths being overcounted as covid even if covid wasn’t the cause of death.

Lots of people still think the Earth is flat too. There’s nothing you can do about these people except let them get on with it really.

The research

conspiracy-belief-among-the-uk-public.pdf (kcl.ac.uk)

It's the original research

I’m jealous of those people. It must be so reassuring to believe someone somewhere is in charge.

18% of people believe the Manchester bombing involved conspiracy actors

That's shocking

I blame the Internet. Too much information, too much misinformation and too many 'qualified experts' able to set up YouTube channels to spread their ideas.

During COVID more people than ever before had time on their hands to 'research' the Internet.

Agree with others, it depends what questions were asked and how the survey was pitched.

Do I "believe in" Covid as in accepting it exists - yes.
Do I believe that the vaccines contain chips or kill people - no.
Do I believe that the lockdowns went on far too long and rapidly became disproportionate to the risk - yes.

I am never shocked by the stupidity of some of the general public. I taught their children.

A lot of the covid conspiracy theories piss me off. I was working on a ward throughout covid and I think it’s easy to say it was all fake if you were sat at home bored and anxious but it felt extremely real to me and the people/families that I was nursing.

The survey is in the link above.

Ironically, people underestimate the number of people who believe in conspiracy theories - according to the data

As well, it just goes to show you can't argue with stupid.

There's a lot more stupid people than you think. I've come across people like this in my estate.

I guess once you lose trust in government on one thing it becomes easier to lose trust on lots of things.

I am surprised that more people accept climate change. I guess becsuse governments arent pushing it so its more likely to be true?

Im not into any of those particular conspiracies but i dont really think we hear the truth a lot either. Just a version of it.

Yeah but the "link above" is the Guardian and I'd rather not give them the clicks.

Indeed
I mean why would the government and all.other governments around the world lie to us and get the NHS,to collude with them?
What possible reason is there to shut the economy down for months on end ,pay people to.sit at home ( furlough)
Make themselves look bad with party gate
Why just why would they do that?

It’s much nicer to think that one evil person has caused something ie, Covid. That way, you don’t feel you are at the mercy of whatever nature throws at you.

It’s just people reassuring themselves that everything is ok.

The public were not always told the truth about covid. That’s a matter of record. The idea that politicians were ‘following the science’ has been totally trashed by the scientists involved.

It’s not a huge jump to believe that the lies told were on an even greater scale.

15 min neighbourhoods: they do involve huge amounts of population monitoring and that’s not something I, or anyone, should be in favour of. The concept is a good one but enforcement via CCTV is not acceptable to me.

Lots of people are idiots that's why. I can understand people not believing in lockdowns, being critical of whether we recieved all of the info and whatever else, but plenty of people don't believe covid happened at all and it's stupid.