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".

the only saying goes you can't argue with stupid

It’s so frustrating! It’s worrying that there are so many people getting brainwashed out there!

What’s ironic is that the ones saying face masks don’t work to protect you from COVID are probably the same ones who deny COVID exists.

I'm sorry OP, I don't think there is anything you can do. I think until critical thinking and information literacy are taught much better in schools, this is only going to get worse.

This article by a game designer is fascinating (although pretty long) and explains the ways in which conspiracy theories are similarly addictive to games: mssv.net/2020/08/02/what-args-can-teach-us-about-qanon/

Have you actually ever researched any of these so called conspiracy theorise, because the people that make them do. All their sources are always listed in the discription and they come from legitimate sources. You're the one whos so inconsiderate and ludicrous that you choose to blindly follow along with obvious lies.

@Thegereldine3000

Have you actually ever researched any of these so called conspiracy theorise, because the people that make them do. All their sources are always listed in the discription and they come from legitimate sources. You're the one whos so inconsiderate and ludicrous that you choose to blindly follow along with obvious lies.

What do you mean like the faked Epstein flight logged that was meant to show Chrissy Teighan as a murdering rapist. Yet she would have been a child at the time.

Watching YouTube is not research and faked images are not proof.

I posted about the same thing too. My cousin now in America believes the same thing. She also started supporting Trump
Scary

@redbushtea

That works both ways. There is plenty which is demonstrably false about the mainstream media coverage of the current corona virus drama. In Nazi Germany, if more people had challenged mainstream opinion instead of slavishly going along with it, many lives would have been saved

A delayed response as been away a couple days and there's so much wrong with that post I'm not sure how to address it but....

You need to be able to separate the politics around covid (and other diseases) from the science. Do mainstream platforms bend things to their agenda? Of course they do, and I'm not saying you should believe everything you see on the BBC or whatever.

What I am saying is you can't go around disregarding actual medical fact because someone on youtube claiming to be a doctor says vaccinations or what ever don't work. If you, or any of the people you prefer to listen to, have evidence that contradicts the current thinking then please, for everyone's sake, submit it to the appropriate medical society/journal for review and publication. If you, or your prefered sources, feel these societies/journals are corrupt or "part of big pharma" then you can publish the comments they make on your evidence for everyone to see and prove it.
If not then you need to accept you, and your preferred sources, don't have the knowledge or understanding to go against the science and shouldn't be disregarding it.

Edit - I actually typed up the above before seeing your later post but it appears you do just take whatever random person claiming to be a doctor on youtube says as truth. It took less than a minute to find that the Dr Blaylock you quote has many, many questions surrounding his motives, integrity and work and I can only assume you're quoting him because he confirms your bias.

@Thegereldine3000

Have you actually ever researched any of these so called conspiracy theorise, because the people that make them do. All their sources are always listed in the discription and they come from legitimate sources. You're the one whos so inconsiderate and ludicrous that you choose to blindly follow along with obvious lies.

It's not research to watch a lot of YouTube videos and post links from personal websites. Those are not 'legitimate sources'. They are fellow conspiracy theorists.

If I'm wrong then please share an example of where someone sharing a conspiracy theory has quoted their legitimate sources, because I've never seen one yet.

Well, Noam Chomsky has shown countless blatant mainstream fabrications across the span of his long and illustrious career. (His stuff on the Vietnam war and the New York Times literally reversing the actors in some circumstances is mind blowing.) His sources are impeccable - usually whistle blowers and documents secured under FOI. I see everything through his prism, for better or worse. Pretty sure politics and power haven't 'improved' since the 60s and 70s...

[quote redbushtea]@Buccanarab
Being entitled to an opinion isn't the same as your opinion being right, or even acceptable. Opinions that are demonstrably false or wrong need to be challenged whenever they're raised

That works both ways. There is plenty which is demonstrably false about the mainstream media coverage of the current corona virus drama. In Nazi Germany, if more people had challenged mainstream opinion instead of slavishly going along with it, many lives would have been saved.[/quote]
I'm surprised that this post hasn't been challenged. It was the Nazis who relied on conspiracy theories, about the Jews. Those views were not the mainstream in Germany, until they had achieved power, when they suppressed dissent to those views.

In fact, many lives would have been saved if all Germans has recognized what dangerous lunatics the Nazis were, rather than simply most of them

If you watch the first few episodes of The World at War you will find a very good explanation of this.

There has been some mention of religion on this thread.

We need to be a little careful. Mainstream religion, ie, Anglicanism, Catholicism isn't a conspiracy theory because it doesn't rely on the belief that some secret knowledge is being withheld from the public by TPTB.

Even at the conservative end, this is still true. For example, believing that homosexuality is sinful or that men should run everything is a view based on an interpretation of the Bible, one which in my view is wrong, but the point is that it's not based on the belief in some secret information that is out there somewhere.

However, there are groups that say that the world was created in 6 days and that this can be proved (this is the important bit) as a scientific fact. That's a conspiracy theory- because the science is against them they say it's bring suppressed. Because of the decline in mainstream churches, these voices have become more influential, and it's very troubling.

@Somevampsarehot

My dsis is the same. She's just told me she's anti-vax and believes the government deliberately released Covid so they could force us to take a vaccine. I tried to tall her back round but gave up pretty quickly. She's absolutely adamant she's right, and has been sending me random youtube videos of 'experts' (none with a science degree of any kind though ) and screenshots of comments on facebook. She does have mental health problems, and has fallen victim to mlm's before. I iist shut it down whenever she starts to rant about it, but I'm not sure what else to do.

I have a friend who did the same thing. Screenshots from someone’s bloody Facebook page! She’s a smart woman. She researches for a living and would have done so at uni. Yet is happy to rely on Facebook “evidence” to decide on whether to get her kids immunised etc. Mind boggling.

To be honest it's something I struggle with a lot and I have not smoked pot. That's because dreadful things do happen (holocausts etc) and usually there is some malign motivation/interests behind them (slave labour, theft anyone?). Then there are conspiracies designed for pay back and it's all just one big mess. We don't tend to fare very well in either situation and it does my head in a bit because it sucks being poor and powerless.

If I'm wrong then please share an example of where someone sharing a conspiracy theory has quoted their legitimate sources, because I've never seen one yet.

Please can someone share a conspiracy theory that has been proven right.

I can’t think of one in the thousands of years that they’ve been around, but surely when something is true it would be easy to prove so therefore there should be loads of conspiracy theories which have turned out to be true.

I'm surprised that this post hasn't been challenged. It was the Nazis who relied on conspiracy theories, about the Jews. Those views were not the mainstream in Germany, until they had achieved power, when they suppressed dissent to those views.

You are absolutely right.
Honestly I saw this and just could not find the words to even say.
Everyone knows the nazis relied on conspiracy theories and look what happened!

I can’t believe anyone is that naive so I don’t know if they’re a troll and just joking or they have no intelligence/common sense at all. So I wasn’t sure how to respond. I am genuinely worried about this persons mental health.

@TomPinch

You are right - the religious organisation I am describing is not a conspiracy theory - unfortunately it is far more rooted in society as a physical, public-facing organisation that receives millions of pounds every year in donations. It is involved in toddler groups, youth work and food banks - all good stuff on the surface, but the theology behind it is far more extreme.

I have no objection to individual members of religious groups living by any moral code they wish to hold themselves to. What I do have a problem with is evangelism, especially towards young people.

My own family member has given tens of thousands of pounds to this organisation in one way or another, beginning when they were just twenty years old.

This is exactly the same as the group of religious fanatics who came into our school and taught my DC that dinosaurs have never existed.

Oh yes, they do assemblies too! My view is that headteachers need to be far more careful about the organisations they allow into schools, as per the Prevent strategy.

I would be interested to know if this was the same church - could you message me if you know?

Northern Irish society has not been improved by this sort of thing.

Communities demonised each other for decades, each claiming that Rome/the Republican movement, or the Orange Order/the 'British war machine' are trying to crush the other. The tensions were whipped up by demagogues like Paisley, who used to refer to the Pope as the Antichrist. Conspiracy theories can actually become institutionalised and part of the fabric of a society. They sow division and mistrust and are not 'harmless.'

@Sunrise234

I'm surprised that this post hasn't been challenged. It was the Nazis who relied on conspiracy theories, about the Jews. Those views were not the mainstream in Germany, until they had achieved power, when they suppressed dissent to those views.

You are absolutely right.
Honestly I saw this and just could not find the words to even say.
Everyone knows the nazis relied on conspiracy theories and look what happened!

I can’t believe anyone is that naive so I don’t know if they’re a troll and just joking or they have no intelligence/common sense at all. So I wasn’t sure how to respond. I am genuinely worried about this persons mental health.

This document specifically was used by the Nazis to justify their anti -Semitism.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion

But though it has been proved to be fake, time and time again it is still used and quoted by conspiracists such as Q as legit.

I think the world runs 95% by cockup but Ive no doubt that -something- very very nasty in the conspiracy way lurks at the top of British society (and probably other countries too) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westminster_paedophile_dossier

@MaybeDoctor

www.spicerstreet.org.uk/about-us/what-we-believe/

It was that church.

It's part of this group, who focus on young children:

www.biblesociety.org.uk/get-involved/open-the-book/

@Chickenkatsu
Thanks, not the same group of churches but of a very similar flavour.

That website is interesting to say the least:

'If you’re excited about sharing Bible stories with school children and want to have fun with a team dressing up in costume to act the part, perhaps you’d like to be a Storyteller and get a team started from your church?'

The volunteers are DBS checked and have online training, but fundamentally it is anyone who wants to do it.

'The programme consists of three years of Bible Storytelling with an additional, but optional, year of material called 'Christian values: A biblical approach.'

I am an ex-teacher and believe that RE is a very important part of the curriculum. I also think it is fine to use Bible stories in collective worship and visits from ordained ministers of religion, but it should be teachers leading the assemblies not volunteers from random churches. The recommended programme of twice a month for three years (as per the template letter to headteachers) is giving a lot of exposure to people who are fundamentally not accountable to the school or its governing body.

@MaybeDoctor

It was the head master who brought them in, so it was very difficult to lodge a complaint. They've stopped doing it now though. I think that nailing someone to a board and having them die slowly in front of the reception class was a deal breaker for a lot of the parents.

That is shocking!

The National Secular Society has written something about this issue here:
www.secularism.org.uk/evangelism-in-schools/

@MaybeDoctor Yes, I was livid, they used a lot of fake blood too. They would have a baddie who didn't believe in God and the children would all boo him, really biased.