To feel intimidated by conspiracy theorists

[famousforwrongreason]

I have a lot of friends who seem to have moved into plandemic territory, masks are evil etc. Some people are who I'd least expect to have these beliefs, rational people.
They have linked covid to 5g and are now crusading for the save our children campaign saying anyone who doesn't join them is complicit in child abuse and people trafficking.
They literally say this.
this is not even one group of friends, but disparate unconnected from each other.
I feel like they're dropping like flies.
I have every reason to believe that these campaigns have right wing connections, many of them are using American spelling for things which are also being shared by qanon people and there is some crossover.
I am not keen on our government, not overly happy with masks but also not overly bothered, I'll do what I can to help get things back to normal, maybe I'm being naive there
I just want to rant really, I keep inadvertently insulting people when I bring it up irl and each time a new person tells me their thoughts on it all I just become more alarmed!
I would also do anything I can to protect children, I just feel that linking up with these militant groups is not the only way.

Plus the friends who are heavily involved seem to have become friends with some really heavy and sinister Tommy robinson types.
I feel worried about the mass hysteria, but also sad I'm losing friends and worried about where this will end.
Is anyone experiencing this?
Aibu to feel this is slightly sinister?

There are a number of 'irregularities' that have been suggested/identified - not all of which have been explained, or at least to the satisfaction of the doubters. Just some of them are:

The difference in temperature between burning aircraft fuel and that required to melt steel girders. Also the relative difference in tensile strength between girders designed to support immovable skyscrapers and the body of an aircraft designed to be as light as possible to fly through the sky;

The discovery of an intact and identifiable paper passport(s) in the wreckage where metal and bricks were burnt to a crisp;

The nature of collapse of the buildings, which some have suggested more closely resembles that of a controlled demolition explosion;

Building 7 completely toppling in the aftershock of the destruction of the twin towers - which was reported as having happened by the BBC, 20 minutes before it actually seemingly did;

Claims that highly-experienced senior military pilots have cast severe doubt on their own ability to complete such a precise manoeuvre at the same speed as was executed successfully by novices who'd had a few lessons in flying a plane;

Claims that the owner of the buildings had taken out an extremely valuable insurance policy specifically against the towers being the object of a terroriost attack, only a very short time before it happened;

Also from a cui bono perspective, the Patriot Act was rushed in almost immediately - a lot of Americans are deeply unhappy about the perceived disproportionality of its restrictions on their civil liberties, as well as surprised at how very quickly it was all drawn up, finalised and ready to enact.

I've also heard of murmurings about a document called something like 'Plans for the New American Century' and alleged quotes that 'a new Pearl Harbor would be necessary', but I don't personally know much about that avenue of claim/research/evidence.

I think Robin Cook was misquoted if I remember correctly.

People tend to jump on conspiracy theories (to an unhealthy extent) if they are unhappy in their life. It provides a distraction, sense of community and purpose that they are missing. That said, we are hardly getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth from BBC news and the press. Many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true and the real story usually sits somewhere between the wildest conspiracy theories and the sanitised version we get from news outlets.

I don't feel intimidated by conspiracy theorists, more sad that society is so broken that so many are searching for meaning in harmful places.

I've just seen that there's a programme starting in 10 minutes on Channel 5 about 9/11 conspiracies - I don't know what they'll be covering.

It hadn't actually occurred to me that it's 11th September today - although, in my defence, it's so ubiquitously referred to as 9/11, that I think the actual date (as we understand them) doesn't always instantly register to a Brit.

I've got a friend like this. We have to avoid the topic of conversation. They spend hours 'researching' on the Internet, following very right wing fb pages, watching YouTube videos, and talking to like minded people. There are loads of them.

The 9/11 episode of Conspiracy Road Trip is worth a watch. Think it's on youtube. Premise is that they take a group of conspiracy theorists to meet various experts who try to address the conspiracy believers concerns.

@Vigoro

The 9/11 episode of Conspiracy Road Trip is worth a watch. Think it's on youtube. Premise is that they take a group of conspiracy theorists to meet various experts who try to address the conspiracy believers concerns.

Sounds fab. A YouTube Louis theroux

It was actually a bbc series. Looks like the 9/11 episode isnt on YouTube anymore but very easy to find elsewhere.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

There was also a suggestion - I don't know if it was true or not - that Saddam was wanting/trying to change the currency for Iraqi oil to be traded in Euros rather than USD.

There was a lot of talk that Bin laden actually died in 2001, soon after 9/11. He was reportedly a very ill man, on kidney dialysis and living in a cave, and some believe that his well-publicised assassination/execution was pure invented theatre designed to bolster public opinion for Obama. I don't know at all, but it would have been quite a trophy if they'd brought his dead body back to parade through Washington rather than just chucking it in the sea.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll - Also, Christina Amanpour went on Bill Maher's show and basically said where Bin Laden actually was

Source - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/christiane-amanpour-osama-bin-laden-bill-maher_n_857026?ri18n=true&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9jb25zZW50LnlhaG9vLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKMXuLyi5p6C23iknjy_J5YgeEkaaxrgKEen-W6cwW2Zq8bnj_8xylImrmNLWlQV_zmnQCRmA1lLPshtKR97okqbxTa19KJXn-XwjEk-AupYW89UAz4-f_lB3fN-bMA5VwF70fSPda2c41fF9GCyRHwXM_eqJWd2nBTFOzZRo4zh

Be glad Op there are people that think differently than you. It's called questioning things. The reality would be being forced by the government to all think the same things (as in China). We are not far off that TBH.

The reality would be being forced by the government to all think the same things (as in China).

Very slightly off-topic, but we were watching the last of the excellent Lucy Worsley History's Royal Fibs series last night, and she was mentioning the days in Britain when you were told what religion/faith you had to have - and then, if a later monarch believed something else, you were told that you now simply had to change to a very different one - expected to completely change your faith, beliefs, observances and even identity to that of the king or queen.

I realise that this is still the case in large parts of the world, wrt religious faith; but (call me paranoid if you will), I can see worrying parallels in the UK today, where there are alternative/unfashionable/unwoke views that you're simply not socially allowed to have - often at the risk of your job, liberty or reputation.

Of course, I'm not talking about genuine hate speech, defamation, ad hominem attacks or incitements to violence; but look at people like JK Rowling.

Nobody seems willing to debate, criticise or disprove with facts and agree to strongly disagree - you are simply denounced as being 'wrong' ("we don't need to justify why you are wrong, because you so clearly just are"), get called all of the names under the Sun, deplatformed, cancelled and treated as a non-person.

Claims that highly-experienced senior military pilots have cast severe doubt on their own ability to complete such a precise manoeuvre at the same speed as was executed successfully by novices who'd had a few lessons in flying a plane;

To address that one point- that particular claim is nonsense:

I'm not sure who these "highly-experienced senior military pilots" were but having many years of flying aircraft both military and civil I can promise you there was nothing difficult from an aviating POV in flying those aircraft into the buildings they were aimed at. It certainly could be done by anybody who had had a "few" flying lessons.

@Boredbumhead

Be glad Op there are people that think differently than you. It's called questioning things. The reality would be being forced by the government to all think the same things (as in China). We are not far off that TBH.

Yeah like I never question anything , just an automaton sheeep 🙄 it's not about that is it though? It's about being shouted down, called names and being addressed in soundbites. There's no room for questions in these discussions with people like this. Only this week I was called fake and inauthentic for wearing a mask in shops , actually shouted at by a friend in front of other people. there's a point where it becomes intimidating for some people.

@Macramacious

I think Robin Cook was misquoted if I remember correctly.

People tend to jump on conspiracy theories (to an unhealthy extent) if they are unhappy in their life. It provides a distraction, sense of community and purpose that they are missing. That said, we are hardly getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth from BBC news and the press. Many conspiracy theories have turned out to be true and the real story usually sits somewhere between the wildest conspiracy theories and the sanitised version we get from news outlets.

I don't feel intimidated by conspiracy theorists, more sad that society is so broken that so many are searching for meaning in harmful places.

Yes I agree, it is sad and it is divisive. We know that there is corruption and abuse everywhere where this a chance of money,fame, power or control, it is just the very black and white way some of these theories are presented, I'm sure there's truth in some of it, it's the single-mindedness, the name calling and the announcement of theories as fact, with scant credible evidence other than Twitter and YouTube rabbit holes and right wing publications

I've seen comments by Covid conspiracy theorists on social media in general, but never from anyone I actually know, thank goodness. If I did, I think I'd unfriend them tbh. I just can't be doing with such bollocks.