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?

Exactly @kimlo.

And noone here is objecting to people questioning things - the MSM does have an agenda, the rich do have a shocking amount of power which they misuse, child trafficking does go on and its awful - but as a pp said, they're adding this all up to make absolutely crazy conclusions about lizard people, Ellen eating babies, JFK jnr working behind the scenes with Trump to fight the devil... then getting angry when the rest of us don't agree, spouting off their stupid catch phrases and trying to convert everyone into what is essentially a cult

And noone here is objecting to people questioning things - the MSM does have an agenda, the rich do have a shocking amount of power which they misuse, child trafficking does go on and its awful - but as a pp said, they're adding this all up to make absolutely crazy conclusions about lizard people, Ellen eating babies, JFK jnr working behind the scenes with Trump to fight the devil... then getting angry when the rest of us don't agree, spouting off their stupid catch phrases and trying to convert everyone into what is essentially a cult

This a million times over!

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.

Of course, that's the 'sensible' interpretation of what he meant - but if millions of tiny, vulnerable children are dying every day from the devastating, widely-transmitted illnesses that the vaccine would have prevented, how is the population staying high in the first place?

Temporarily, I suppose, but it takes the best part of a year to have a baby, and a year is plenty of time for the baby's older siblings to sadly succumb to a dreadful illness and die. It just doesn't 100% stack up for me.

Does anybody have any thoughts or conclusions about the Deagel website? It doesn't at all look like a frother's made-up 'back of an envelope' ranting, but it states that "The data has been gathered using information available on the internet from governments, the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms, internet news media and contractors such as Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and others. " It predicts devastating depopulation over 8 years, but 3 of those years have already passed (including a pandemic) without any major changes. Maybe it's intended as a worst-case-scenario/protest by anti-arms campaigners seeking to make a point. It just seems rather odd to me.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

People have large families because they fear that they will lose some of their children in infancy. Obviously, though, a lot of children do survive, which is why families are large.

Vaccines will also improve the quality of life for millions of people and give them a greater life expectancy, if they're not dying of preventable illnesses like malaria. This is another thing that Bill Gates has made part of his life's work.

Ffs Bill gates is not trying to kill Africans with vaccines or whatever bullshit conspiracy idiots have thought up now.

I've got a few people like this on my feed.

One has decided they're a legal expert and all laws since the Magna Carta are illegal and can't be enforced.

Another has such cognitive dissonance that it's funny. They genuinely believe that Covid 19 is a hoax designed to coerce us into giving up civil liberties and also a man made vaccine by Bill Gates to try and kill millions as a form of population control.

I have a range of people who either believe outright bollocks, or who similarly to me are questioning the proportionality of the response and how we move forward in a free society. The former is rather silly, but is also being used to smear quite reasonable questions as being a "conspiracy". David Icke turning up at the demo obviously didn't help.

I "know" very few people like this but I did go out, read up on this fervent belief they hold. Dug through it so I've recognised the glaring errors for myself and seen how they have been manipulated into their position.

There’s a number of studies which have linked the decline in religion in the West to the rise of acceptance of conspiracy theories . Both seemed to be linked to hyperactive agency detection (attributing life/spirit and seeing patterns where there aren’t any). I seem to recall there’s a part of the brain that is responsible for this.

Historically religion has always come to the fore in a time of crisis like we are experiencing now. With the decline of religion it stands to reason that some more earthly reasoning -connected in some way to the same reaction as religion is becoming more prevalent. In the past these sane people would be flogging themselves, offering animals to the gods/goddesses etc It’s not something I’m very knowledgeable about but I’d love to see some research into the link between the decline of religion and rise of conspiracy theories in the context of the current pandemic.

Spend less time on social media.

@Lifeisgenerallyfun

That's a very interesting thought. Although IME there are a lot of Christians who subscribe to conspiracy theories, sadly, especially in the US. (A lot of them are also Trump supporters.)

@Mittens030869 - maybe that group Is worthy of study in its own right as believing anything they’re told lol.

Oh the Christian element is huge! There’s loads of them (mainly in America) waiting for the great awakening and god bless Donald trump the saviour who is ridding the world of evil and satanic practices.

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

You've already answered yourself on the Deagel website. Doomsday nonsense (that was already spectacularly wrong about their previous predictions of population collapses in certain countries).

No doubt when 2025 comes, they'll erase their current predictions and replace them with similar nonsense for the 2030s.

Evangelical Christians do love Donald Trump!

Yes I had someone on Facebook all of a sudden very pro trump posting constantly that jfk will reappear, save the children all the q stuff basically I just unfriended .

@KenDodd that is, evangelical Christians in the US. I'm an evangelical Christian and I can't stand Trump. Evangelicals in the UK tend to have very mixed political views, thankfully.

There’s a number of studies which have linked the decline in religion in the West to the rise of acceptance of conspiracy theories

How come people who believe nonsense conspiracy theories all seem to be religious and the conspiracy theories often seem to be centred around religion? I follow some, this is my experience. Flat earthers all seem to be Christian.

Yeah, a bit, but I think it's just a side effect of wider societal changes. Internet and the access to so much information just confuses a lot of people- the more they are exposed to, the more they realise they don't understand. But they don't want to admit they don't understand, they can't admit they don't understand, so they look for other reasons why it all baffles them. And lo and behold, here is a nice ready made explanation: they aren't ignorant and limited, they are being lied to. It's all a big conspiracy. And they are special and wise and can see it.

They don't intimidate me. Worry me a bit, yes, because they have the potential to do harm, but I can't be intimidated by someone who thinks coronavirus is a conspiracy to get us all to accept a vaccine which will allow us to be controlled via 5G masts. I feel sorry for them, and very sorry for any children or dependants they have power over.

Well OP we live in a country thankfully where free thought and speech is allowed. not everyone has to think like you or vice versa do they? Or there would be no critical thinking. Also part of the grief cycle of adapting to the loss of our normal life is denial. People are in denial about the disease. It's ok if people want to home school. It is legal and a justifiable way of life.

Oh for heavens sake! Whilst it’s true that governments can and do some really shady shit, as well as also attempting to cover them up. No government is competent enough to pull off conspiracies of this sort of magnitude and scope.

I will buy that opportunists may use the climate of fear and uncertainty to infringe on civil liberties. The reason why conspiracies like this are so comforting is because it centres humanity as the agent of power in the equation, and ok you might not be the powerful human in question in charge of the situation but at least human motivations can be apprehended like greed, corruption and tyranny. The idea that a tiny and humble virus could bring humanity so low, killing us, causing us to entirely reevaluate the entirety of how our societies are structured, and can and do bubble up at anytime with little warning is a fecking terrifying reality to have to face.

I can empathise with anyone who doesn’t want to tackle that fact head on.

Yes we are seeing it too & from some people I'd least expect it from, one has quite a following & I'm sick & tired of hearing of his doctor ex wife who agrees with him. It's the first we've bloody heard of her 😐

It's rife around here & I'm at a loss to understand the stupidity of it, from otherwise sensible & intelligent people ☹️ & yes they are aggressive 😏

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Out of curiosity, upon viewing the Deagel website, what is it the makes you think 'this might be credible'? Particularly given that you've already observed its predictions haven't transpired to date.

@KenDodd I really think US Evangelical Christians are a bred apart though. They exist in a country where between 50-95% of the population believe in God, their religion is definitely more cult like, more likely to be following a charasmstic leader than a theology (similar to following Trump despite his policies) which would make them more likely to follow any charismatic person presenting a conspiracy theory.

I think the studies have maybe looked at more state like religions in Europe.

But it’s an interesting point you make, are people who are more likely to follow charismatic religions more likely to latch onto other charismatic leaders and are they following the leader rather than belief?