Covidiots. Conspiracy theories, hostility and telling us all to "wake up"

[PeddlingInTheRain]

It's rife. Where has this crap come from? Do they actually believe what they're saying or are they trolls?

My friends list just keeps going down because I'm so sick of reading the same rubbish.

I will attatch some photos to show you the type of thing I'm talking about.

Have you experienced anything like this among your extended circle?

Another example of hostility today, threatening to assault people if they "believe in coronavirus"

if anyone disagrees or wonders about C19 on MN, then you are an idiot and smoking weed confused

The people I know who are coming out with this stuff do smoke weed and given the nature of their rants, are idiots.

I did not say 'everyone' who has questions smokes weed.

My Dad is a serial conspiracy theorist. Long before the pandemic.
I haven't spoken to him much lately (partly because the stuff he comes out with is exhausting and upsets me and the DC) but I imagine he's having a field day with all the tripe people are coming out with.
He already had a thing about 5G before they decided it was the cause of all the deaths in the world.
It's sad because of you truly believe the nonsense of alien reptiles on earth etc, it must be absolutely terrifying.

For the people who just share shit on social media, I just roll my eyes and move on.

if you have a different opinion the insults and removing people from their life seems so extreme. This post is a perfect example of that. What is so wrong with people questioning things?

Nothing, but there's alot wrong with the hostility that comes hand in hand with these people having questions and the way they ask them. I've been sworn at and called every name under the sun for having the audacity to say actually, coronavirus is real and has affected my family. You can't have a civil conversation or debate. If you believe covid is real you're automatically an enemy and can't be associated with.

It's extreme.

Look at my last post above for an example of this.

Another example, somebody tries telling another person that actually it is real.

Sworn at.

Colombian flu by the way, is a euphemism for when you've stuck too much cocaine up your nose.

You can't fix 'stupid'.

Smile then subtlety change the subject if you are with misguided friends and family. Don't get drawn it it will feed their beliefs. If they won't change the subject or you are feeling undermined and even threatened, quietly leave.

My lovely mother in law would say 'Smile and wave my dear'.

This is why I've said it's sad people are so divided.
Yes, there are the examples which you've given above, from those swearing etc.
You also have people, who believe everything about this virus, who are acting in a superiority manner, belittling those who dare to think differently. Telling them to educate themselves, those who can't bear to talk to those with a differing opinion etc.

I remember reading a Mumsnetter once saying that the people who believe in conspiracy theories like this are also the sort of people who cannot cope with authority and truly believe that they have no freedom or autonomy and The Man is out to get them.

And then you realise they were raised to push against authority since they were at school, moving on to hating the police who don’t allow them to commit petty crimes/drug offences. Weed paranoia probably has a lot to do with it, tbh.

Hadn’t thought of weed. I’m thinking more and more that the internet itself, particularly social media, is acting as a drug. The stimulation we can all get from it is immense and we’re just not equipped to know how to turn it off without other humans there. It’s like sugars taken outside the fruit packaging. While we’re in lockdown the effect is doubled.

“Stupid people think they’re clever”, no, clever as in fast brains firing round and round making short circuits with no reality to ground in.

It's OK to question things, but the conspiracy theorists tend to be a tad crazy and insult those who don't believe them. It's also hard to trust someone who smokes weed a lot to be honest, considering the side effects of it.

Think about things, question them, but be open to the possibility that you're also not right. There's still people out there questioning the effects of the mmr vaccine when it's been proven wrong that it causes autism so bloody often. And yet people still argue the case that it causes autism. I cannot take someone seriously who believes that, it shows a complete lack of intelligence, why would I listen to someone like that?

The idea that the governments across the world could have united to make us all think that covid is real when it isn't, and got all of their doctors and nurses involved in that too to lie as well, is kind of laughable. They can't agree on anything, and our PM is boris johnson who couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. I doubt that they managed to create a fake pandemic across the world, and thought it was a good idea to destroy the economy. The only reason they'd have done it would be an attempt to save the planet and that idea went down the toilet thanks to people littering with their face masks and gloves.

@KeepingPlain exactly, to even think that all the governments of the world could unite and agree to to perpetuate a fake pandemic like this is laughable. They'd soon be falling over each other to stab eachother in the back/capitalise on the situation as others expense.
Poor China must have pulled the short straw when they were deciding who was going to be blamed for it.
Never mind all the others that would have to be in on it, all the medics, all the scientists and researchers.
And that is before anyone and even give a rational answer of WHY?

Oh and if those that are behind this have the power and ability to carry out such a fraud on such a global scale then i'd be a tad worried about shouting out against it because you know they kind of have major megga power and it wouldn't be so simple for them to 'vanish' the trouble makers.

I can't decide if they are gullible or stupid. or both.

I don’t think the gullible or stupid labels will help much tbh. I think of it as some are more vulnerable / sensitive to the stimuli than others. Some on the other hand are so robust and desensitised that they go to the other length and don’t pick up the signals of real problems. Most things are a spectrum. I’ve worked with autistic kids who really are hooked into gadgets and that’s what it makes me think of.

FGS.. Dont post about pizza!!!

Personally I would just block and move on . Or refer them to the American man who went to a covid party as he thought it was a hoax and died.

The most upsetting thing is how it is so insulting to all the health care workers who have had to deal with this .

The word covidiots is so daily mail though. I was called it simply for saying I don't believe all that is in the newspapers.

You see the last one, I can kind of get where they’re coming from. I’ve had so many friends who work for the NHS say that if someone dies with Covid they are deemed to have died from Covid even if something else caused the death because it was easier and no post Mortum - prob why we have such high numbers.

It seems to be everywhere at the moment, in all spheres of enquiry that are not yet set. Ideas are whizzing around on speed themselves. Social reinforcement takes care of them sticking.