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?

"I love the poorly educated". D Trump. And why wouldn't he? He's their god.

Alabamawhirly1

Excellently put.

Its a sign i think of a mental health crisis brewing as a result of this pandemic OP,

I don't personally know any of these types but I smell them everywhere

@Alabamawhirly1 at risk of having her education and that of the 160 kids in her bubble disrupted, at risk of passing it on to her teachers who may be vulnerable, or to a classmate with a condition making them vulnerable, or a classmate who lives with elderly relatives, at risk of being one of the unlucky ones who ends up with long term lung damage, or me getting seriously ill and putting the baby in harms way. Just because shes personally not high risk should we throw all the safety guidelines in the bin? If everyone did that we'd be in a far worse position than we are.

And I've never seen a beach or pub where people were packed in shoulder to shoulder shouting together the way him and the other nutjobs were on the videos he posted, but if he went to one like that then I would absolutely judge him. Everyone I know who went to BLM protests wore masks and social distanced as much as was practical so also not comparable, added to the fact that was an important civil rights movement not a load of people having a tantrum because they're scared.

Hi OP. I too dislike the conspiracy theorists. However the reason for my dislike is that they cheapen my viewpoint of sceptism over the measures we have taken (lockdown etc.) and throws me in with the people who wear the foil hats.

I do not believe that COVID is a NWO thing, I am sure Bill Gates means well in funding vaccine research, and at heart Boris Johnson is a libertarian.

I also believe the COVID is a nasty little virus, however data shows that its IFR is similar to flu and that in places where prevalence hits 15-20% the virus enters a sharp decline. I believe lockdowns cause more harm than good and that however toxic the term has become, herd immunity is starting to develop. Therefore we should be looking to get back to as close to normal as possible, and what has gone before will ultimately be seen as a disastrous overreaction. But this overreaction came from a place of trying to preserve life (however mission creep has ultimately crept in).

Conspiracy nuts cheapen these rational and fact based arguments.

@Everanewbie I agree with you, I think there are lots of reasons to be sceptical about how efficient masks are, fast tracking new vaccinations, motivations of politicians and multibillionaires in general, pretty much anything and everything. Without having to bring in those age old stories of mark of the beast, god vs devil battles or their modern equivalents.

[quote echt]This is good on conspiracy theories and how to deal with those caught up in them:

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000dfqn[/quote]
Wahey, thank you. I'm slowly disentangling where I can atm and agreeing to disagree where possible

[quote Kljnmw3459]@Everanewbie I agree with you, I think there are lots of reasons to be sceptical about how efficient masks are, fast tracking new vaccinations, motivations of politicians and multibillionaires in general, pretty much anything and everything. Without having to bring in those age old stories of mark of the beast, god vs devil battles or their modern equivalents.[/quote]
Absolutely. I'm always open to questioning and challenging our government but I stop just before this level of suspicion

@PasstheBucket89

Its a sign i think of a mental health crisis brewing as a result of this pandemic OP,

Yes I think you're right. I have shaky mental health anyway along wwith various other health issues, and I have a lot to contend with, pandemic, home working home schooling etc nearly sent me over the edge so I can kind of sympathise and empathise. I think it's the anger and bullying and (in my town) the right winged origin of it all. It feels like thugs are leading the way and vulnerable people are following.

@cowthatjumpedoverthemoon

People are perhaps seeing things in the world they hadn't noticed before and it’s causing them to question things. A difference of opinion doesn’t make them a conspiracy theorist! We sadly live in a f* up world and although some of it is very far fetched a lot actually has some truth. Just scroll past if you don’t like it?

Quite difficult to scroll past actual humans. This is predominantly my friends I'm talking about, people I see in real life. Part of the freak out for me is visually, seeing their face change, their expressions and voice and rage and just the madness of it, it's quite a visceral reaction on both sides. Scrolling and unfullowing is simple online, I'm talking about human interaction and relationships. People I've waited for months to spend time with and the build up of joy and excitement to be marred with the bizarre conversations about money, masks, lizard, Tom hanks, Greece, child snatchers, germ warfare and all coming back to control annd sexual abuse. It's alarming and I am so surprised at how many people have jumped onto these combined causes and are furious about everything and shocked that I'm not furious too!

@Ceilingfan

Just scroll past...

Um, we do, and get called sheeple 🤷🏽‍♀️

And told to wake up or that we're complicit with institutional paedophilia

@WithGusto

I only see a hint of this from one person and it's my godparent’s son, but worryingly I do hear hints of this and mere hints not what you're seeing on social media, from my own bloody mother - we said today we would take a step back from her for a while.

Eek

[quote babybonboard]@DressingGownofDoom But if you know they aren’t factually correct then why do you care? What do you get out of trying to correct them?

If you look at something and see the colour green and the other person see’s the colour red would you stand there and argue with them over who’s right? I just honestly want to know why people are so threatened by another’s opinion?[/quote]
It matters because people read them and parrot the same nonsense to others and before you know it half the country thinks coronavirus isn't real, don't take safety precautions and end up getting it and potentially being very ill.

This belongs here:

Yes I have seen this. There are two people on my street who I know do not talk to each other (no falling out, they have just never met) and they both have the exact same conspiracy theory about the government (not plandemic).

We went to a location for toddlers last week and starting chatting to a random mom who announced only a small fraction of deaths actually occurred.

Not sure how well informed I am really, but some of what I am hearing just doesn't sound plausible.

There’s a big difference between those who are questioning the seriousness of Covid-19 and whether it’s been dealt with effectively, and believing that trump is the saviour is the earth and that Hilary Clinton, lady gaga, Tom Hanks Etc are clones who eat babies to look youthful.

For me, the latter is a true conspiracy and the former - well, time will tell if guess but I understand more why people would be questioning it so wouldn’t classify them as ‘nuts’.

@Coriandersucks totally agree. I do think though that you can question it without going to a protest packed like sardines frothing at the mouth screaming FUCK MASKS like a crazy person. Even if you don't believe everything is as the media portrays it, surely you'd hedge your bets at least

[quote ShinyGreenElephant]@Coriandersucks totally agree. I do think though that you can question it without going to a protest packed like sardines frothing at the mouth screaming FUCK MASKS like a crazy person. Even if you don't believe everything is as the media portrays it, surely you'd hedge your bets at least[/quote]
I'm definitely in the hedge my bets category when it comes to covid. Although... I sent my children back to school and once they're out and about all bets are off really if news be believed about the virus living on things for 72 hours they could be carrying it everywhere and passing it yo and from teachers etc, so although I follow guidelines I'm generally pretty relaxed about the whole thing.
Who knows, maybe we are being controlled. I was brought up with the bible and heavy emphasis on the book of revelations, bar code fear (666) was replaced by microchip fear and now we're using less and less cash, the universal currency of the prophesies is apparently coming to pass as well as the various forms of Satan and devil worship, sodom and gomorrah etc.
It's as though people have taken some of the more kerraaazy aspects of the bible and brought them into modern day parlance.
Which fits perfectly with the rhetoric spouted by hysterical white middle American Conservative Christians, eg Trump supporters...

Ooh think I'm building my own conspiracy.

I should just add, as a good Christian child, the book of revelations was always my favourite because it was fucking batshit crazy. Four horsemen of the apocalypse and so many mad graphic depictions of The Last Days.

The craziest conspiracy theories, especially around covid and vaccinations but also q stuff to some extent, I recognize them from 30 years ago when the religious group my parents belonged to were busy predicting the end of the world every week.

@Kljnmw3459

The craziest conspiracy theories, especially around covid and vaccinations but also q stuff to some extent, I recognize them from 30 years ago when the religious group my parents belonged to were busy predicting the end of the world every week.

Lol. Are we related?

Bill Gates is on record as having expressed concerns about unsustainable population growth and stated something to the effect that 'but with vaccines, we can bring that number down sharply'. I don't really know what he meant by that, but at simple face value, it does sound like it could be nefarious. You can't blame people who hear a clear statement like that for at least asking questions and then starting to wonder if everything is as they've been told - like with the Rockefeller quote I mentioned above.

Then you have things like the Georgia Guidestones, which aren't just some graffitti scrawled on a tree by a random vandal loon looking for a reaction, but clearly well-thought out and planned by somebody who spent a lot of time, money and effort on erecting them; and then it now comes within the local police department's official remit to protect these stones which, among other apparently less controversial ideals, preach a necessary reduction in the entire world's population to 500m.

Then there's the Deagel website, which appears to be completely serious, is very detailed and thorough and cites official government and military forces to explain its predictions of the populations of some countries decreasing massively within just five years from now - including the UK to decrease by 78% and the US by 70% between 2017 and 2025 (and apparently not explained by mass migration to other countries either).

There's a huge amount of lunacy out there - a lot of it potentially very harmful; but there are also very many concerning things that it's perfectly reasonable to question and wonder if some of the conspiracies might just have a bit of truth to them.

If you told the average person on the street today about the CIA's MK Ultra programme, they'd think you absolutely bonkers; but it did indeed happen, admittedly and officially documented. It's not automatically a sign of a confirmed idiot when somebody starts to question the motives and operations of governments, huge corporations and billionaires.

cites official government and military forces

Sources, not forces.

People like Gates are definitely backing world de-population. But its not chem trails agenda 21 shit like the conspiracy theorist think.

Firstly, its gonna be the developing world they want to de populate. Why de-populate the west. They need us to keep buying their crap that makes them rich. Secondly its through education and contraception not a secret genocide, they'd never get away with it. Although I don't think they're above stealth sterilisation.

if parents in the 3rd world have more children survive in to adulthood because of vaccines and avoidable diseases they are more likely to have less children. Thats what he said. Not that he thinks that existing people should be killed for depopulation or microchipped.