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".

I can't understand why those who believe 'they're' out to control us aren't wearing masks.

Masks are useless for facial recognition cameras and software.

Wearing a mask makes tracking our movements harder for 'them'.

And I don't understand the anti-mask thing. Okay, it's one thing to not believe in Covid. But surely, wearing a mask isn't going to harm you, is it? It's not going to make you suffer (unless you have a pre existing condition). So why not wear one anyway? Just in case?

There have in fact been studies showing that mask wearing can be dangerous.

A report published in the British Medical Journal showed that face masks make breathing more difficult. anyone who has a breathing problem will find that a mask makes it worse. Also, some of the carbon dioxide which is breathed out with each exhalation is then breathed in because it is trapped. Together these factors may mean that the mask wearer may breathe more frequently or more deeply and if that happens then someone who has the coronavirus may end up breathing more of the virus into their lungs. If a mask is contaminated because it has been worn for too long then the risks are even greater.

Also when you wear a face mask some of the air you breathe out goes into your eyes. This can be annoying and uncomfortable and if, as a result, you touch your eyes you may infect yourself.

Also there is a risk that the accumulation of the virus in the fabric of the mask may increase the amount of the virus being breathed in. This might then defeat the body’s immune response and cause an increase in infections – other infections, not just the coronavirus.

Dr Russell Blaylock, a retired neurosurgeon, reported that wearing a face mask can produce a number of problems varying from headaches to hypercapnia (a condition in which excess carbon dioxide accumulates in the body) and that the problems can include life threatening complications.

The risk of side effects developing when wearing a mask depend to some extent on whether the mask is made of cloth or paper or is an N95 mask filtering out at least 95% of airborne particles.

One study of 212 healthcare workers showed that a third of them developed headaches with 60% needing pain killers to relieve the headache. Some of the headaches were thought to be caused by an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood or a reduction in the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Another study, this time of 159 young health workers showed that 81% developed headaches after wearing facemasks – so much that their work was affected.

Another study, involving 53 surgeons, showed that the longer a mask was worn the greater the fall in blood oxygen levels. This may lead to the individual passing out and it may also affect natural immunity – thereby increasing the risk of infection.

An N95 mask can reduce blood oxygenation by as much as 20% and this can lead a loss of consciousness. Naturally, this can be dangerous for car drivers, for pedestrians or for people standing up.

Dr Blaylock also pointed to a study entitled The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence.’ This study looked at 17 separate studies and concluded that none of the studies established a conclusive relationship between the use of masks and protection against influenza infection. When a person has TB we have them wear a mask,’ concluded Dr Blaylock, `not the entire community of the non- infected.’

The two widely acknowledged hazards of wearing a face mask are first that the mask may give a false sense of security and stop people taking other precautions – such as washing their hands. Secondly, if masks aren’t worn properly – they can do more harm than good.

Go to YouTube and look at Anna Breeze’s channel. She and the rest of the people on there are clearly very seriously unwell and could with some urgent psychiatric intervention. That’s not being unkind, it’s true.

I’ve already I friended one Covid denier on Facebook this week. I’ve got zero times for these nut jobs.

Every committed conspiracy theorist I've ever met has had a serious weed habit. It's a common feature of cannabis-induced paranoia.

Yeah my dad's the same, also a stoner. He seems to have drawn the line at flat earth theory but believes every other conspiracy going.

OP - this could be written about my DM - however she is a retired intelligent professional who has never smoked weed in her life, so can’t blame that.

To the posters saying it isn’t an obsession or likening it to sharing news on BBC - this is so different. She is utterly consumed by it, and spends whole days on the internet reading stuff to back these views.

I listened to a really good podcast on this - Down the Rabbit Hole - it explains how algorithms on YouTube enable this to happen by feeding really right wing or left wing views and never the opposite to an individual, thus strengthening their beliefs by not showing any counter arguments etc. Worth a listen if anyone else is in a similar situation

I enjoy the odd jazz cigarette but have still not lost my ability to spot a load of QAnonsense when I see it.

Believing in conspiracy theories is attractive to some people because it makes them feel superior ("I know something that most sheeple will never understand") and makes them part of an in-group ("we the chosen ones who know The Truth"). In fact, adhering to these absurd beliefs tends to demonstrate a lack of critical thinking skills.

As the saying goes, you're entitled to your own opinions but you're not entitled to your own facts. If you have no evidence to support your opinion, it is meaningless. The idea that there is some truth in nonsensical conspiracy theories can be dangerous. Holocaust deniers have used this strategy for decades, sowing doubt and attempting to place their notions on an equal footing with actual scholarship. But facts remain facts. The Holocaust is a historical reality, and we know a great deal about it. But there is absolutely no evidence to support the insanity of QAnon or similar conspiracy theories. A pizzeria in Washington, D.C., is not and never has been the site of a child sex ring. Wayfair doesn't engage in human trafficking. And so on.

The situation with your sister sounds so difficult, @Thestreets. I don't have any useful advice, just sympathy.

My Brother is like this and now you mention it he did say he had some weed in. I am such a sheeple that he decided that it would be better if we stopped contact ‘until the landscape changes significantly ‘. Fine by me me , I only got back in contact after the last argument as I thought he might like to know our elderly Dad is Ok and I had things in hand.

He did a fair amount of drugs when he was young as well. Pity his poor children as their Mother is very flakey too.

My brother is like this. He is unable to converse for long without bringing up his own agenda. I do think some of it is probably true, but certainly not all.

If you do a bit of searching online you can find stuff about how to support loved ones who have become involved in cult thinking.

I expect there are similar sources on advice about radicalisation.

The conspiracy theories are a massive distraction for the things which are genuinely wrong in government and society in my view.

You have to ask why does someone want me to believe this?

I think for my mum it has been a sense of comfort during this year which has been full of uncertainty. It has made her feel that good things are coming and helps her to understand this period during which we have little control of. She was very depressed during the start of lockdown, turned to the internet to try to find ‘answers’ to coronavirus and went down a massive QAnon rabbit hole

To be fair you would have to be a fool or a sheep to think there isn't more to this.
Have you seen the rise in world wide weather? There are countries and areas getting 40s and even 50 centigrade. The water levels are rising, whole species are disappearing, with the wholesale collapse of our ecosystem.
But all we hear is wall to wall coronavirus.
Its the ultimate tool of control, keep ppl where you want them, looking in the other direction and fearful.

@redbushtea

And I don't understand the anti-mask thing. Okay, it's one thing to not believe in Covid. But surely, wearing a mask isn't going to harm you, is it? It's not going to make you suffer (unless you have a pre existing condition). So why not wear one anyway? Just in case?

There have in fact been studies showing that mask wearing can be dangerous.

A report published in the British Medical Journal showed that face masks make breathing more difficult. anyone who has a breathing problem will find that a mask makes it worse. Also, some of the carbon dioxide which is breathed out with each exhalation is then breathed in because it is trapped. Together these factors may mean that the mask wearer may breathe more frequently or more deeply and if that happens then someone who has the coronavirus may end up breathing more of the virus into their lungs. If a mask is contaminated because it has been worn for too long then the risks are even greater.

Also when you wear a face mask some of the air you breathe out goes into your eyes. This can be annoying and uncomfortable and if, as a result, you touch your eyes you may infect yourself.

Also there is a risk that the accumulation of the virus in the fabric of the mask may increase the amount of the virus being breathed in. This might then defeat the body’s immune response and cause an increase in infections – other infections, not just the coronavirus.

Dr Russell Blaylock, a retired neurosurgeon, reported that wearing a face mask can produce a number of problems varying from headaches to hypercapnia (a condition in which excess carbon dioxide accumulates in the body) and that the problems can include life threatening complications.

The risk of side effects developing when wearing a mask depend to some extent on whether the mask is made of cloth or paper or is an N95 mask filtering out at least 95% of airborne particles.

One study of 212 healthcare workers showed that a third of them developed headaches with 60% needing pain killers to relieve the headache. Some of the headaches were thought to be caused by an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the blood or a reduction in the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Another study, this time of 159 young health workers showed that 81% developed headaches after wearing facemasks – so much that their work was affected.

Another study, involving 53 surgeons, showed that the longer a mask was worn the greater the fall in blood oxygen levels. This may lead to the individual passing out and it may also affect natural immunity – thereby increasing the risk of infection.

An N95 mask can reduce blood oxygenation by as much as 20% and this can lead a loss of consciousness. Naturally, this can be dangerous for car drivers, for pedestrians or for people standing up.

Dr Blaylock also pointed to a study entitled The use of masks and respirators to prevent transmission of influenza: a systematic review of the scientific evidence.’ This study looked at 17 separate studies and concluded that none of the studies established a conclusive relationship between the use of masks and protection against influenza infection. When a person has TB we have them wear a mask,’ concluded Dr Blaylock, `not the entire community of the non- infected.’

The two widely acknowledged hazards of wearing a face mask are first that the mask may give a false sense of security and stop people taking other precautions – such as washing their hands. Secondly, if masks aren’t worn properly – they can do more harm than good.

I don't know where to start with some of this...

The point about wearing masks is to prevent someone with the virus who is ASYMPTOMATIC and therefore doesn't know they have it from passing it on to those who don't - exactly like the TB patient in your example above, save for the fact that as most of us don't know whether or not we have Covid-19 we all wear them just in case we do have it.

On the blood oxygen saturation levels: I've seen this bandied about before. Apart from talking to DH (an intensive care doctor) who says it is nonsense (goodness knows how he didn't faint when treating all those COVID patients whilst wearing these masks) I conducted a little experiment of my own at home (we have a blood oxygen sat monitor):

I used a disposal surgical mask, a cloth mask and a 3M mask and spent 30 minutes wearing each of them in turn (it was hot but I like to be thorough! I'm not a masochist though so I did it over consecutive days). No drop in my sat levels.

@Cheeseandwin5

To be fair you would have to be a fool or a sheep to think there isn't more to this. Have you seen the rise in world wide weather? There are countries and areas getting 40s and even 50 centigrade. The water levels are rising, whole species are disappearing, with the wholesale collapse of our ecosystem. But all we hear is wall to wall coronavirus. Its the ultimate tool of control, keep ppl where you want them, looking in the other direction and fearful.

And there it is

@FrontToBackTree

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?

Well it’s not working for a lot of them is it?. The pap shots are very different to the photoshopped ones.

the mask wearer may breathe more frequently or more deeply and if that happens then someone who has the coronavirus may end up breathing more of the virus into their lungs

This doesn’t matter. Once you have the virus you already have it so even if you breathed some of it back in it would have no effect.

I first came across these conspiracy theories on a health-related forum, someone I knew there (and had seemed to be a sensible person) suddenly had an outburst about a group called QAnon and how we can't trust MSM and the Rothschilds are behind all the corruption... it went on and on. I could almost hear her not taking a breath as she typed it all in! She finished by saying we should 'take the red pill' and educate ourselves, giving a link to a YouTube video. Apart from thinking WTF is she smoking, I was interested in where she was getting this information.

I watched the video, by someone called Praying Medic (probably some of you have heard of him). He is one of the main spokespersons for the QAnon movement. He's easy to listen to and I watched the whole thing (about an hour's worth). I also found more on Reddit, where the movement was growing at the time. I still thought it was all barking mad, but went there to read about it. It is very US politics based and as such I didn't follow all of it as it talked about politicians I hadn't heard about. It seems to use a heady mix of religion, patriotism, support for the armed forces and central to it all, Trump. There are grains of truth scattered, definitely.

I think this type of fervent devotion to something like QAnon is very seductive, it taps into people's desire for change, to get rid of corruption in society and it also bonds people together very strongly. All this was well in action before Covid, and although the group is now banned from Reddit, I expect they've incorporated Covid (or rather 'scamdemic') into their narrative by now.

It is very disconcerting when someone you know gets involved in this kind of thing. You really can't reason with them, even with proper research, because they will counter that it's 'fake'.

The point ISN'T necessarily what you believe, but to what extent you feel you have to convince other people you are right to the detriment of real relationships. There are ways of politely disagreeing and moving on, and this is what most people do. You realise someone has different views to you on x y z and you change the subject to maintain sociability. It isn't hard.

There is someone from my home town who has taken 2 of her kids to Crete to “escape”. She’s got a big social media following and it’s terrifying as people with conditions such as type 1 diabetes were asking her what they should eat to “cure themselves” as she is telling everyone the NHS is evil!

@Ohfredcomeon

The thing with pizza gate is that Hilliary Clinton did delete thousands of emails. And out of the 12 cops that found the lap top with the emails on 9 have committed suicide and their still hadn’t been an investigation by anybody.

My family member showed me this rabbit hole but I checked on it later. There is elements of truth embedded in their some where and that’s why these stories end up getting out of hand.

It’s odd. All of it is.

I just thought bill gates made computers. You don’t want to go down that rabbit hole..

@Ohfredcomeon do you have links to reputable sources about the 9 out of 12 cops that "found the lap top" (what laptop? Weiner's? Was it not the FBI who consficated that?) committing suicide, I simply do not believe that is true, it would have been much more widely known if it was. Something like that could not be kept quiet.

This is really worrying as I’ve seen many more conspiracists coming from otherwise intelligent people. I definitely think that the increase of social media has affected this (it is essentially a form of brain washing/grooming and it’s one way terrorists are recruited) and with the stress of COVID people will look for anything to prove that people are responsible for something rather than having something that is completely out of their control.

I used to have a friend who refused to have a driving license as this was a way to keep tabs on you and there is a loop hole where it is not actually law. When I said the license means your a competent driver so have less accidents he said I was a sheep and that’s what they have you believe.

The amount of people who say your sheep if you believe the truth is embarrassing when they’re the ones that are acting like sheep - blindly following people’s views with no evidence.

Many of these conspiracy theories are anti-Semitism dressed up.

@bibbitybobbitycats

Many of these conspiracy theories are anti-Semitism dressed up.

Absolutely, yes.

@Cheeseandwin5 my post wasn’t directed at you as I hadn’t read your post yet but in response to your one about the weather temperature rising - this is because of climate change.

Many people are trying to change this by recycling, using the car less, planting trees etc. it is not great to have lots of disposable masks and gloves because of COVID but hopefully this won’t be for very long.