DDs father has turned into a conspiracy nut

[Shinygreenelephant]

I’m really at a loss what to do here. DDs father has always been a harmless idiot - not around very much and he smoked a lot of weed in the past, but he assured me never near her, and I never felt she was unsafe with him.

However, he has suddenly started sending me long rambling messages about how God has spoken to him and sent him on a journey to spread his word, and a lot of nonsense about pedophiles af the devil mixed in. He didn’t seem able to explain himself but begged me to watch a documentary which would “open my eyes”. I’ve watched it - it’s all about how the elite are Satan worshipping pedophiles, many of whom also eat children. There’s a lot more as well, including time travel, some racist ideas, anti vax stuff and all about how Covid is a hoax.

I’ve now looked at his SM - don’t follow him but it’s public - and he’s made comments on these conspiracy videos saying things like “this is the end of days” and “we must save the children whatever it takes” and “even if we die in the fight this cannot carry on”.

This has come out of nowhere and I can only imagine that the weed has finally got to him and he’s had some sort of mental break. He keeps saying he know he seems crazy but it’s the rest of the world who are blind and need to take the red pill. I’ve begged him to speak to a doctor but he won’t and is insistent that he is fine and it’s the rest of us who are crazy.

Am I being unreasonable to keep DD away from him until he gets some kind of help? I just don’t feel she’s safe with the kind of statements he’s making, and I don’t want her hearing stuff like this and worrying. She’s 11 and very perceptive. She only sees him sporadically anyway (once or twice a month) so I can put it off for a while without her knowing anything is up. Is that wrong? What would anyone else do?

@knittingaddict thanks for the link it is that group. Some of the stuff is based on facts - the elite do have a huge amount of power, a lot of child sex offences are covered up - but a huge amount of it is just batshit and really frightening, and he’s just the last person I would have expected to be involved in stuff like this. It seems to have gone beyond watching a few YouTube videos and questioning things and really taken root in his head to a scary extent

It's strange how quickly vulnerable people can get so on board with this. Many of them end up lonely and ostracised by their families, with only a keyboard for company. I don't blame those families as it's hard to live with people like this, as they become obsessed.

There have been a hand full who have taken it further, but they are a tiny percentage. Having said that I think your first priority must be towards your child.

This might be of interest too:

www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/us/politics/qanon-trump-conspiracy-theory.html

Yanbu to be worried
But he’s not wrong. There is some very disturbing things going on in this world and it’s foolish to be in denial about it.

I think people who become dependant on weed are more likely to already have mental health issues and are self medicating with the weed.

@Lalalamps

Yanbu to be worried But he’s not wrong. There is some very disturbing things going on in this world and it’s foolish to be in denial about it.

If he thinks god has spoken to him and told him racist, anti-vax conspiracy theories then he's probably wrong.

Have you seen George Andreetti on Instagram? Check him out...sounds a lot like him!

I think weed is a red herring. There are plenty of people who believe this shit along with other conspiracy theories who don't do any drugs. It sounds like he has "red pulled" himself by reading loads of shite on the Internet.

Red pulled even

Omg fat fingers!! Red pilled

If he thinks covid is a hoax, does that mean he won't be social distancing and trying to keep himself, and her, safe from it? That would worry me. And the possibility that he might pass on his racist views.

OP I would just like to say that you sound like you are doing a very good job of looking our for your child's best interests. That is not easy when the other parent has what sound to be very significant mental health issues.

Arf at "this is understandable, it has truth....." "Come on! We all know that the elites are all-powerful and extremely corrupt. We all know that stuff will come out about COVID later that will make our hair stand on end. But for healthy people this will not consume them and rule their whole lives.

Weed can be harmless. High THC, low CBD weed... not so much. I've lost an extended family member to weed induced psychosis so dont bloody well tell me it is harmless. The evidence is pretty bloody strong when it comes to skunk. Grow your own mild lovely old-fashioned sativa?? Less harmful than alcohol by a country mile. A heavy street-traded skunk habit?? Kiss goodbye to a functioning life and the real world if you have even a hint of genetic or environmental predisposition..

I watched an ex partner fall down that particular wormhole. One day he rung me and told me that god had spoken to him when he woke up. He was in the room. Hed told him to turn the gas on and not look back. Luckily someone called round at that point and took him to a safe place

@Whathewhatnow that’s so scary, gave me the chills

DDs dad is acting normal now, he’s promised his mum he’s stopped smoking and she’s convinced he will be fine once he’s back in work and less isolated. However, he’s still posting stuff all over Facebook, the latest being how all NHS staff are being forced to pretend there was a pandemic but a few have been brave enough to admit it was all made up, and have now disappeared. I’m not bringing it up with him as if he blocks me from his SM I’ll have no insight into his mental state, but he will not be seeing DD any time soon. I’ve been letting them FT with me in the room and that will have to do for the forseeable. It’s so sad because they adore each other but I’m taking no chances

@Cybercontroller I can only assume he wouldn’t be taking any precautions, as he’s posted a lot of anti-mask rubbish on his SM. Just one of many reasons he sadly can’t be trusted at the moment.

Sounds like it's for the best.

Yep very scary. I've just had more communications from him saying he has had a bad time recently.... lord knows what's going on. I think in his case there are pre existing MH issues and the weed is like self-medicating but it really isnt the best.

Anyway you keep doing what you're doing and keep reinforcing your very sensible boundaries.

Sorry to hear about your ex partner . I have a friend that seems to be going through a similar thing. Well, been 'red pilled' by the quanon crowd. She's a single parent of a toddler and since the lockdown, I think she's become more isolated and gone down a 'rabbit hole' as it were on the internet. She goes in for all the conspiracies, first it was 5G, then bill gates/anti vax, then coronavirus is a hoax and masks are pointless and recently posting relentlessly about celeb 'peadophiles', Tom Hanks is the latest obsession. She's even started saying she's 'seen the light' and trump is good (she didn't like him before). I fact checked every meme and 'news story' she shared recently and every one of them was fake to some degree. If anyone tries to question her she says 'do your research' and just claims the MSM is all lies and makes out any one who doesn't believe or actually does do research and finds out its bs is 'conditioned' or stupid. Even though most of the people who do research and fact check all this properly seem to be quite intelligent . She pointed people to 'pizza gate' and Q .

She does smoke weed but I've heard it's not just stoners who get into this, apparently a lot of older people 'boomers' fall for it because they are not as internet savvy as the younger generation and can recognise a meme that's sometimes just created as a joke! The person I know has even shared things as 'real' when they are clearly meant as satire or a joke! When pointed out, she still can't really see it 🤷🏼‍♀️. It's quite worrying and I think there's a lot of it out there at the moment being peddled by far right pro trump people, because of the imminent election.