AIBU To feel like I'm losing my sister to conspiracy theories?

[Thestreets]

My sister is a very intelligent, funny, interesting woman but recently , probably since lockdown she has been spending more and more time online and reading into conspiracy theories about the Hollywood elite and politicians and child sacrifices and all kinds of ludicrous claims.

This has utterly consumed her, you cannot have a conversation with the her that she does not turn to her trying to show some you tube video as "evidence". I'm so worried but do not know what to do as everything I say is met with "well that's what they want you to think".

It’s really strange that he hadn’t made an public statement about it tbh.

Why would he give it the oxygen of publicity?

I had no idea that Tom Hanks was being battered on twitter but if he spoke out and said ‘I’m not a paedo’ you can guarantee that millions more people would suddenly believe he was a paedo.

If you haven't already seen it, John Oliver/Last Week Tonight recently did a show on conspiracy theories thriving during COVID. It's really frustrating, but like others have said - targeting the belief can be futile.

The conspiracy can be as real to the believer as the sky being blue, or ice being cold. If someone starts telling you that the sky is magenta and ice is hot - you'd probably get defensive of the argument, and dismissive of the person making it. Not that it is right, but it is biological/psychological.

Humans struggle to understand that massive events often have small and/or random causes. Conspiracy theorists think they've 'solved' these mysteries - whereas many others don't think there's a mystery at all.

OP if my friend had a sister, I'd think you were talking about her. She's been sucked into a huge conspiracy theory about scamdemics, the evils of vaccines, Bill Gates etc. Keeps posting youtube links and telling people to wake up.
She's not a weed smoker but she had tendencies before, she's quite an angry vegan.

let her figure it out on her own eventually.

A friend was telling me a couple of weeks ago about some hormone ''chromium'' that was released when children were in terror and that various celebrities used it as a fountain of youth potion. I remember thinking what.the.fuck......... I got home and googled chromium and it's a skit from a film.

I had to stop looking at the Tom Hanks/Ellen/Red shoe society stuff as I could feel myself being pulled down in to the rabbit hole so to speak. I'm still not convinced there isn't something going on but it was starting to consume me a bit so I stopped looking in to it.

@Devlesko

She could be right OP, have you thought of that? Not saying she is but who are you or anyone else to say she's wrong. You can only conspire against something you know to be correct, so unless you know, how do you know she is wrong or that her opinions are conspiracy. She maybe thinks you are a conspiricist because she believes what she does to be fact. so if you think she is wrong, you must believe everything you are being told then.

This!

You have my symathies OP.

I have lost my sister and mother to religion, both "born again".
I have cut off all contact with my sister, she is so overtaken by her views that it is impossible to have a normal conversation with her.

You have lost your sister to weed...awful, paranoia inducing drug!

Who here admits to bring a reptile?

I think conspiracy theory is a huge rabbit hole. People idiots read one and get sucked into lots of different bonkers ideas.

I quite enjoy watching a few. Not because I believe them but they have been a great source of entertainment. (Like flat earth on Netflix)

Anyway, my friend is similar to your sister. He fed off the debate and loved trying to prove us non believers wrong. Now I just don't react to it, I just say 'sounds interesting' to his theories and it seems to have died down a bit. He has moved onto trying to convert other people, not me !

She could be right

She isn't.

I had a convo like this with a neighbour recently, posted about it on MN.

The only thing I can compare it to is religious mania. Human beings seem to have a compulsion to believe in organised evil, and I guess, salvation. It's not so different to people centuries ago believing that pandemics and crop failures were caused by witchcraft. It's just alarming that our educational system churns out people incapable of critical thinking.

I think the right word is 'radicalisation', and if this WERE happening around religious or political belief, there might be more concern expressed at a higher level. You may say 'what's the harm?' but people who believe this stuff are fodder for extremist political ideologies.

She maybe thinks you are a conspiricist because she believes what she does to be fact. so if you think she is wrong, you must believe everything you are being told then.

Anyone with half a brain would take 10 minutes to look into the "details" of such conspiracies and know that they are total fabrication.

there is a friend of mine on facebook who is doing the same thing .

As if the government is purposely controlling us and wanting to ruin the economy on purpose? and covid does not exist . Its very insulting to all those who work in the NHS and those that have lost family . She is normally a nice person . I started by posting kindly the facts that she had wrong and could be proven wrong . In the end I gave up and I just snooze her for 30 days when she posts something ridiculous , thank goodness I don't see her in real life .

Freedom of thought, freedom of speech. She's not hurting you, and engaging with her is obviously stressing you out and wearing on you, so just leave her be. Maybe you don't like how her behavior has changed, but she has the right to think what she wants.

There are many conspiracy theories that actually can be proven wrong with literally 5 minutes research so for those saying she is right then you should know what these people are posting is not opinion they are posting things as fact, and can be corrected .

And then there is the crazy, just as annoying group of people who believe everything they read in the press as fact - before it is announced by the Government . That is just as annoying and devisive and dangerous. Get everyones backup just so they can make a political point before something has happened - or it may not even ever happen at all , but that does not matter because people just want to have a rant about it .

People have too much time on their hands.

infuriating .

Tom Hanks hasn't moved to Greece. He has been given honory citizenship because he helped out in an emergency.

What I don't understand is why do people not see the bullshit. Look at the people targeted by Qanon. Left wingers. Critics of trump. How can these people not see this is political manipulation?
How can they not see that the "proof" they keep bringing up is so obviously fake it's funny?

Buy her a subscription to the Fortean Times.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortean_Times

It does a pretty good job of holding this kind of stuff up to the light without appearing to be overtly dismissive and 'debunking'. And it's pretty funny in places too.

I saw someone I thought was a sensible and intelligent human being post a picture of a small glass bottle containing clear liquid on instagram. This was apparently a substance that "hollywood elites" had extracted from the adrenal glands of tortured children. Said hollywood elites use this substance to keep them looking young and beautiful. Apparently this child torture ring has been going on for years and all the left wing hollywood celebs and other powerful people are involved.

I mean, how do you even begin to argue with that level of stupidity?

@JingsMahBucket
They are really good suggestions. I will start with some of those thank you

There's a lot of this about. It's a phase, your sister will get over it when things go back to normal. In the meantime just tell her she is becoming a bit of a bore.

Arguing with a conspiracy theorist is impossible. Any counter-argument is taken by them as proof of brainwashing, that you can't see the truth, that you're a sheeple.

I feel sorry for you, OP. It must be very draining.

The irritation for me is that conspiracy theorists are rarely interested in making the world a better place but far more in having such low self esteem that they need to put others down.

A ridiculous colleague was bleating about "sheeple" and turned to me and said you need to wake up and not believe the news and what you see online. I rather shrugged and said "I don't". He got very excited and started twittering on and I had to point out that anyone who is silly enough to believe without question everything you read in the media then you deserve to be horrified when it turns out it's been spun or changed. Anyone who believes that people with lots of power and money hide things then you don't understand the concept of power on identity. However he was doing the same thing and not using his brain when he read every conspiracy going so he was just as naive. Automatic embracing of every pseudo science claim was exactly the same as believing a single person like Donald Trump was a bloody saviour or that everything on BBC news was true.

I have a healthy scepticism of most things really, I don't automatically believe what the BBC says anymore than I believe what the online journals say unless they can publish empirical proof and even then only when its verified, peer reviewed etc.

My DP mother was and still is going down this rabbit hole (previous MH issues , socially disenfranchised and has had a horrendous time,also the most lovely woman I have ever met ) , she was concerned about Agenda 21 (or whatever number it was) I did some looking and when I mentioned the only groups it involved in the UK were power defunct NGOs she just found something else to worry about.

If you use the word sheeple your beliefs have nothing to do with the content and everything to do with feeling so desperately empty you need to push others down to feel you are remotely relevant.

I'm really sorry OP it does sound like the weed is affecting her , as to what you can do I would be non committal so you can stay nearby to keep an eye on her DC. Not easy but right now I suspect the only option.

My sister has been like this for years. It started when she got pregnant and she became anti-vax and she’s got worse and more extreme as time has gone on.

I think weed smoking is a red herring. She doesn’t touch the stuff, or even alcohol. I think there’s a paranoid mindset that can be exacerbated by weed, but I don’t know that it’s causative.