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?

Yes! I work in Comms and find it hilarious when people think something is a pr stunt or staged. 99% of the time, it's simply pure incompetence

This!

I also think it became utterly impossible for most countries to choose their own path/response. It began with us seeing pictures of people keeling over in the streets in China followed by tales of people being bolted into their homes.

The fear and terror of that spread and one by one, countries copied each other. It would have been political suicide not to.

Do I think there was a global cabal or people plotting? No, of course not. But I do think fear is contagious.

It was real (still is) but the response was disproportionate.

I don't believe it is a hoax, but there was an awful lot of propaganda, fear and sheer bullshit rules being decided and often last minute and they made me anxious and stressed for two years, when a lot of that was unnecessary. And then you find out that several of the main leaders of government believed the rules didn't apply to them. They just royally took the piss out of the general population in the worst possible way.

With these surveys, it really depends on the content of the questions and how they are asked. If it's a online survey then people who have stronger views - for example that the whole thing was a hoax - would be more likely to respond.

Covid is a mine field and peoples opinions often contridict themselves. Like my brothers friend who says covid didnt exist, then next time I see him, he says it was created in lab on purpose. So which is it🤷‍♀️

I also think it became utterly impossible for most countries to choose their own path/response. It began with us seeing pictures of people keeling over in the streets in China followed by tales of people being bolted into their homes.

The fear and terror of that spread and one by one, countries copied each other. It would have been political suicide not to.

Yes, and it's interesting how resistant people can be to this idea. Lockdown wasn't part of our pandemic planning at least, and because it had never been tried before, it was inevitably an experiment. It may still be that it was the best option available, I don't rule that out, but the reason it happened in the UK at least it because it was politically impossible to resist the calls.

This is what happens when stupid people believe that they are smart.

Those misleading percentages are extrapolated from an online survey of 2274 people. There is no indication of how those surveyed were selected, so it’s entirely possible the sample was self-selected from online nut jobs. Or not. Who can tell?

Me I follow the main stream media narrative.

There isn't enough info in the link to the survey to know if the survey is giving a true representation of the populations beliefs. Im surprised so many posters are so accepting of the results. It shows a lack of critical thinking.

So doctors, nurses, police, politicians etc. across the entire world are in on it?

I've never understood what people thought was the overall aim of covid was a conspiracy theory?

I'm a bit cynical about the 15 min cities. Of course having more amenities within walking/cycling distance is a good thing ....but they have to be paid for....and the penalties for similar schemes often hit those who can afford it least. (Eg those who wfh in a well paid job, and lease a Tesla won't give 2 shits about ULEZ but someone driving a non compliant van for work every day will notice a massive impact)

But with covid what would have been the result or outcome to create a fake pandemic and stop people travelling. Economies were trashed all over the world. I'm just not seeing the alleged gains (unless it was all the microchips disguised as vaccines...?)

I think it’s unfortunate that people have a sneery stance towards conspiracy theorists. Yes some of them are totally bonkers in my view but I find it very interesting to listen to many of them and try to understand. Often the people are refreshingly open minded and interested in debate. Others of course are just blindly interested in following whatever thread on SM uncritically.

Personally I find it hard to imagine who thinks covid itself was a hoax (are they saying that the illness didn’t exist?) but I think the theories it came from a lab rather than bats are worth listening to, while I haven’t given it enough time to have a definite position. Certainly our government made questionable unscientific decisions that most of us went along with, to our society’s cost.

And the idea that concerns about the covid vaccines is a conspiracy theory - I think that’s extremely narrow minded since there’s now a wealth of scientific debate on this.

Once you believe one conspiracy theory you are more likely to believe others even if they contradict other conspiracies you claim to believe.

MN had long been a place where a lot of vulnerable people come so there is more likely to be a lot of radicalised women on here.

I agree with this and actually that is the biggest concern people should have- do we have people with skill set, intelligence and knowledge to deal with all the areas of concern so AI, climate change, dangerous viruses? The conspiracy theorists just don't want to take responsibility for human failures.

I enjoy reading the conspiracy theories. But don't believe them obviously. Have a look for Meghan and harry actually had twins, Meghan was never pregnant, poor Nicola Bulley was working for Mi5 and she was murdered etc. People are mad.

You think covid was/is a hoax?

I disagree.

Conspiracy theorists always existed. It has increased exponentially with the rise of the Internet, social media and particularly, since COVID.

I worked in MH for decades, primarily for a time in psychosis services and there was a huge rise in referrals over the last 20 years for people who weren't psychotic but were causing concern to people around them due to 'delusional beliefs ' aka conspiracy theories which they were heavily involved in via the Internet and social media.

Davis Icke as just one example went from 'that nutcase ex-footballer who thinks the royal family are lizard aliens' to having a major platform on the Internet and he sells out lectures.

The problem with the conspiracy theorists like him, and like most conspiracy theorists is there is some truth to what they say or believe and then people thanks to the Internet, get access to everything they say and think 'well he was right about Jimmy Saville so...'

Covid is just incredibly fertile ground for distrust and conspiracy.

The underlying problem, I think, is that the authorities behaved just badly enough to plant the seeds even amongst the sort of person who doesn't think Mossad/aliens/the Vatican are behind everything. So in England we had the government specifically trying to stoke fear as a matter of policy, then obviously Partygate. On a wider scale, the WHO were obviously afraid of China and the assumption that the wet market was not only the likeliest explanation but the least racist doesn't stand up to any scrutiny at all. Lots of rich people got even richer during the pandemic, as is often the case in times of turmoil. Then in respect of vaccines, some governments did grossly overreact and curtail freedoms.

These things all make people notice there's a problem, but it doesn't follow that they're going to be able to identify and articulate exactly what it is. It also means they might be less willing to accept that something is a genuine coincidence or error. And fwiw, I think most of the things listed are good examples of how incompetence is usually a better explanation than evil plans.

I mean you have said it for yourself but the things you have listed are government ineptness. Human failure is the cause.

We are sheep we like being told what to do. A thousand people were dying per day back then we were the worst in Europe. I think the reason why we were in lock down longer is because our health care system is useless. We pay into a healthcare system that can't look after us.

death figures attributed to covid during the pandemic was vastly inflated even according to government ongoing investigations otherwise how come the death rate for non covid deaths was below average for that period in time?

Covid vaccinations did kill people with no prior illnesses personal experience and post mortem confirmed, the disbelief in this is mind blowing but each to there own ( by the way not just astrazeneca)

Do I believe in covid yes! had family working medical front line

do I believe in conspiracy theories? according to some people but when they are confirmed in RL maybe nobody knows all the facts and should just understand people have differing opinions and different experiences

Just my two cents!

I agree with this. You can't constantly lie to people and think it will have no impact.

Not at all surprised. Remember how many voted to leave the EU. Stupidity is becoming a national trait.

People hardly bought flu remedies at that time people were wearing masks so coughs and sneezing was being caught in the mask. My son and daughter had COVID. It was a free for all and healthcare workers didn't have the necessary equipment to keep safe.

It's a running joke in my house even Nigel Farage had to admit it hasn't worked. The people who voted leave didn't know that Farage and his family had European passports so they were fine. When I told the leave voters and it was with pleasure their jaws dropped. Jacob Rees-Mogg moved his business to Dublin because he isn't stupid.