Please reassure me-Uk column

[Whatsgoingon77]

Name changed for this, in case people think I’m nutty.
I ended up watching a few Uk column reports on YouTube after people had posted bits on YouTube, mainly just out of curiosity.
Has anyone seen this? Thoughts?
It’s made me totally anxious with what’s going on in the world, talks of military dining into the country and Ireland..why?
I already feel anxious about the strangeness in the world at the moment and really shouldn’t have watched it!
Are they all talking nonsense or is there something in it?

OP it always helps to google these folk. Even more so if it sounds convincing. The motive for fibbing on a large scale is usually to make money or get power and influence. The better they are at being convincing the more people believe and the more they can monetise the fibs!

Agree this is common or garden conspiracy rubbish.

Stick to reading proper news sites.

Too many people watching rubbish online.

This is why critical thinking should be taught in schools.

This website is interesting if you like this sort of thing spotthetroll.org

A list of things the military are helping with during the pandemic in the UK. Ironically helping to "tackle fake news" is one of them:

www.forces.net/news/coronavirus-how-military-helping

In the nicest possible way, and I hate to break it to you, but it is a shedload of made-up complete nonsense invented by idiots who have nothing better to do.

This is why critical thinking should be taught in schools.

I've often said this. We really need to properly equipt people for the sheer amount of misinformation and false reporting there is.

OP I just had a look at the YouTube stuff - it's laughable.
Seems some bloke has filmed a couple of UN troop vehicles on the dockside in Cork. They've been shipped home to Ireland after being used by Irish soldiers in peace keeping overseas. Absolutely routine and nothing out of the ordinary.

Okay thanks guys, it does make me worry a bit, why I’m tuning into this, anxiety is in overload, I’m not usually like this.

Taking a break from YouTube and social media in general, as well as genuine news sources, will help your anxiety. Have a couple of days off and see how you feel.

Right at the start before lockdown there was a video 'leaked' saying that the military were coming in the day after.
Some of my friends reposted it on Facebook
It's so obvious it's fake
Of course the day came, no military, and the video was deleted which I can only assume was because he didn't want look like an idiot
If it seems too out there, it probably is

This website is interesting if you like this sort of thing spotthetroll.org

7/8, I got the last one wrong. Probably means i spend too much time on twitter, my block/mute list is huge.

@Whatsgoingon77

Okay thanks guys, it does make me worry a bit, why I’m tuning into this, anxiety is in overload, I’m not usually like this.

Worrying times, it's probably getting to you

Is good you checked on here then.

Try to stick to proper news sites. Just don't give the headspace to nonsense.

I’m just going to leave these here.

Ok thanks all, they’re pretty convincing!
Convincing how exactly?
Just because 2 blokes have access to a shed, a couple of computers and one tie between them doesn't make them a reliable news source.

OP, I find it a bit worrying that you don't have a strategy for establishing if something is true or not. How do you usually fact check anything? Or do you assume that if someone has said it or typed it it's inherently got some kind of truth value?

@DaughterX

OP, I find it a bit worrying that you don't have a strategy for establishing if something is true or not. How do you usually fact check anything? Or do you assume that if someone has said it or typed it it's inherently got some kind of truth value?

Yes this.

OP it's a bit scary that you think stuff is true just because you have seen it on YouTube/FB.

Do you believe everything you read on Mumsnet too?

Just to add to the other sane voices, the military are always here and always doing something. They don’t sit around waiting for wars!

DH left the RAF after 20 years earlier this year, he’s been involved in so many “non-military” events like covering fire service strikes, disaster relief (UK and abroad), the London Olympics and, right up until he left, Brexit planning (ie planning to send in troops to help support civilian personnel at customs/border patrols). No doubt if he was still in he’d be heavily involved in the logistics of the Nightingale Hospitals and the Test Centres.

The military never take the lead on these things, they follow the orders of whichever Government department are in charge. Even if they know they could do a better job if they planned it themselves, they do it the civilian way as otherwise that’s just a military takeover!

I don't want to patronise you op but anyone with a smartphone and laptop can make real looking video reports. So please just get your news from reputable sources. Use fact checking websites on anything you are unsure about or isn't from a mainstream sources. Look at where the sources get funding from, if you can't find that out that's a read flag!

As I said, I’m never usually like this. I didn’t just believe it but with the current situation I’m questioning a lot, it’s so hard to know what’s real and what’s not, does no one else seriously feel the same?

Just because 2 blokes have access to a shed, a couple of computers and one tie between them doesn't make them a reliable news source.

It's obvious to some people, but not everyone has had the same life experiences that you've had. I don't think telling someone that they should already know these sites aren't real is helpful to them. There's too much mocking of people who believe this stuff and all it does it make it less likely for them to ask again.

@BrazenlyDefying

Stop watching shite on YouTube. Seriously. Any people can put any shite up on the platform, without fact checking or any journalistic standards whatsoever.

I could make a video right now saying that Covid was brought to earth by little green men from Uranus and there's nothing stopping me doing so.

Funny you should say this. Cosmologists have actually established that on Uranus, the solar wind can ionize and break apart methane molecules. The carbon sinks, and the hydrogen remains high up in the atmosphere, where it became deatomised and consequently Uranus contains every stable element on the Periodic Table.

Theories are gaining ground that this could sustain life forms particularly similar to bats, which as we know is where the CV-19 virus originated. So perhaps closer to the truth than you'd think?

If this isn't a veiled attempt to redirect readers to UK Column

..then my advice would be (as mentioned) to avoid using social media as a reliable information source.

Are you receiving help or treatment for anxiety? Use any anxiety management techniques you have been given or ring your gp practice. It is easy to get a phone appointment with a doctor during covid restrictions.
Don't hesitate to speak to someone if you're struggling to separate reality from fantasy.

I’m questioning a lot, it’s so hard to know what’s real and what’s not, does no one else seriously feel the same?

All the time - it's natural particularly in times like now - so you need to think about how you would go about testing if something is true or not. Consulting original sources is usually a good start - Hansard, ONS, etc.

More that 100 years on people believe that tanks were sent in to crush red clydesiders and they have a photo published in a newspaper to prove it.

You still see that quoted by the loonier end of the SNP today.

The facts - there was a riot in 2019. There is a photo of a tank in George Square. However the fact is the tank was there in 1917 for two purposes, it was to raise money for the war effort and the Battle of Cambrai had just taken place, the first time tanks were used to smash through the German lines and that is why they were mobbed - people wanted to see the new wonder weapon.

100+ years on and the false fact still surfaces because it suits the narrative.