To ask if you know any ex-conspiracy theorists?

[Merryoldgoat]

A friend has got caught up in the ‘covid isn’t real’ party and I’m a sheeple and won’t see the truth blah blah.

I’m not getting into a big fight with my friend but she’s well and truly fallen down the conspiracy theory well.

Do you know anyone who realised and came ‘back’? Or is she gone forever?

This is an intelligent (I thought) professional who seems to have become unrecognisable over the last 4/5 years.

It’s very sad 😔

YABU - lots of people wake up from this crap

YANBU - she’s gone forever I’m afraid

'The speed of light was different . . . ' Haven't had the privilege of hearing this before - probably because I'm a sheeple and haven't done enough of 'my own research'. Did you get an explanation for it?

I’ve certainly never heard that interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis. It has certainly never been suggested by any genuine theologian or ancient Hebrew scholar so I think it can safely be dismissed.

You’ve clearly not had the pleasure of reading anything from Answers in Genesis or the Institute for Creation Research.

Here you go: www.icr.org/article/uncertain-speed-light/

I don’t think creationists would like to be put in a group with conspiracy theorists but the tactics are very similar. If you want to get someone to start doubting evolution it’s quite easy to make it sound crazy due to the immense timescales involved.

I voted yabu in the hope I will get my sister back and then mortified at such high % for yanbu
My sister is one of the face nappy brigade, she's always been the most sensible of my siblings and I'm truly shocked she's fallen down the conspiracy hole ☹ She has a daughter who she's feeding this crap to and she doesn't know if she's coming or going in school, wear a mask to protect everyone and do what's right.. or please her mum, don't wear a mask and get sent to sit at the back if the class and be ridiculed by her mates. My sister thinks the vaccine is a load of bollocks, that it's changing people's DNA and that covid was manufactured to control people. I've really tried to read all the stuff she agrees with but the kind of people who post this shit are disgraced/LONG retired doctors and social media attention seekers like Laurence Fox and Katie Hopkins

My mum is a JW - she 100% believes that the Bible is factual and literal in every sense. Her argument against the point that it was written by humans is that they were writing under divine inspiration and God would not have allowed them to write anything that is false 🙄

She has a counter argument to every point you try and make, most of which revolve around her faith in God never letting her down, no actual scientific or tangible evidence. You can’t argue with that “logic”.

I used to believe in certain conspiracy theories then I got a temporary job working in local government. When I saw how incompetently it was run, it made me sceptical of how central government could put into and implement a cunning plan of that magnitude and reliability.

Also, I wanted to add that I think the people who believe these conspiracies have been frightened by the pandemic.
Some frightened people will latch onto a different theory because the truth was actually terrifying to deal with. In my sisters case, being asked to play a part in making her daughters life lonely and restrictive in lockdown, was an expected step too far for her.
I also think that there's a fair few people in this world now who only care about themselves, my sister caught covid and had no symptoms so in her eyes why should she live half a life

In my late teens and early twenties I used to smoke a lot of weed, take a lot of LSD and thought I was a right hippy. I used to believe David Icke and similar. I am now a lot older, an academic and am fairly mainstream with my views.

I have a friend I worked with many years ago who is continually ranting on FB that Covid isn't real. She argues with anybody who posts an opposing view and won't accept that others believe differently
When I knew her she was lovely, great at her job and professional. Now she sounds like a maniac.
I found out that my now XH also believes that the the Holocaust didn't happen ( he still believes this ) and tries to counter any argument that he's wrong and convince other people.
I don't agree with either of them and they are entitled to their opinions. What I hate is that they constantly try to push their beliefs onto others whilst firmly believing they are right and everybody should be agreeing with them.

I used to believe in certain conspiracy theories then I got a temporary job working in local government. When I saw how incompetently it was run, it made me sceptical of how central government could put into and implement a cunning plan of that magnitude and reliability.

^Very true, and certainly true where Boris and his Cabinet are concerned.

My mum was quite conspiracy theorist-esque when I was younger and very much anti-vaxx. She saw the light once she had a chronically ill child (me) and managed to get a grip of herself thank goodness! So I think they can get over it, but it's rare and it needs to be an extreme life change.

I've been down a few rabbit holes (or as I describe it, being led down a forest path and turning around and the forest is on fire and having to find a way out).

Each time, there has been a large social element and an element of fearing a threat which the social element would then compound by making it seem large (with a sprinkle of not the best science education). From what I've read since, that's true of a lot of people -- I remember I think it was a Flat Earther being asked if he was given proof that the Earth was round would he recant and his answer was pretty much no, as he'd lose all his friends and all the occasions they had together.

Each time involved someone sympathetic, some who were previously involved or involved in adjacent groups, talk through the issues and concerns. Coming out of it required connection, another social light -- which is why those who come out are at risk of just falling into another rabbit hole with similar traits even if very opposing beliefs if that's where connection comes from. I view it as much a social issue that gets worse as loneliness gets worse in society.

For me, further education like pp discussed played a role, but it wasn't the big role that many think. I don't think we can innoculate people against this just through education, even critical thinking, without considering the social element and fears involved and that people have cultural, external concepts of good and worthwhile that are being met through these conspiracy theory groups.

I was one of the first flat earthers .

It was a time when I was young (15) and living in a beautiful country (South Africa) but had no friends due to our location and no TV. All we had were books and magazine subscriptions.

I read somewhere about the society of flat earthers and wrote to them. They let me join their society and I became obsessed with the idea of the world being flat.

Happy to say I don’t believe that now. But looking back, I think I was just bored and wanted to feel important. Maybe that’s what it’s like for some people being jobless.

Lists of “conspiracy theories” that decades later turned out to be true..
Just saying.

www.buzzworthy.com/15-conspiracies-that-turned-out-to-be-true/
www.rd.com/list/conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true/
www.mentalfloss.com/article/587232/conspiracy-theories-that-were-true
www.wearethemighty.com/articles/conspiracy-theory/

@JesusWearsPrada

I said previously that I’m aware conspiracies happen but all of your examples are quite small - they involve a small organisation or number of people therein covering up facts.

Not the wholesale deception perpetrated by all governments in the world.

There are also obvious gains from the deceptions listed in your link.

There are no gains for trashing the world economy, overwhelming our health service and pretending there is a deadly disease out there that doesn’t exist.

Also, if you can give me a reason why they want to microchip everyone that would be good, as I can’t imagine anyone interested in my trips to the garden centre and softplay.

Why is the Bilderberg Group not listed? That one turned out to be true (but boring).

Rich people have secret meetings. Corporations try to influence policy-making. People in power can't be trusted. Those are just tedious facts of humanity.

you can give me a reason why they want to microchip everyone

They want to create a trans human race that is humans mixed with computers.

Or they want to be able to track your every move (even though they could just check your phone).

Or it's the Mark of the Beast from Revelations.

The Netflix documentary on Flat Earthers is great. Behind the Curve, I think it's called?

Disappointing @noblegiraffe, I was hoping for a more simple explanation such as 'it was darker then' or something similarly easy to grasp. Obvious innit?

Isn't the speed of light thing because it was based on 2 different theories, with 2 different measures; a mathematical constant and the speed of photons, and if you try to combine the two you get weird answers.

I only have an inkling because I know someone who is balls deep in conspiracy theories and is nowhere near as clever as his Facebook posts sound.

Oh, and given that it is all based on or around the theory of relativity not many people can understand or explain it all 😊

@Merryoldgoat

To just clarify a few points:

I’m not threatened and I’m not upset because she has a different viewpoint.

She is anti-vaxx, she thinks all of our freedoms are about to be taken away, she thinks Covid is a conspiracy and not real.

All she does is post videos about how ‘the truth’ will be out soon and we’ll all wake up soon.

I have many friends with different opinions to me - political and religious, deep and superficial. That’s no problem for me at all.

I am perfectly open to the fact we aren’t necessarily told everything and that there are some issues surrounding how covid has been dealt with by the government.

But I’m not open to being told masks do nothing, covid isn’t real, asymptomatic transmission doesn’t exist and that ‘I don’t need vaccines as I have an immune system’.

Replies on this thread suggest it’s more widespread than I realised.

I've lost a close family member to it - whether temporarily or permanently. What really hits me, every time I read a thread like this with similar stories, is not just how rote the beliefs are, but also the way conspiracists talk: what they say, how they say it. It's as if they've all learned their lines from the same book.

This suggests to me a shared complex - an unconscious meme of sorts - that they're under the influence of. It would also explain why it is impossible to break them out of it: this is not rational, and is driven by something far more powerful than thought. It's like being faced with a group of Stepford Wives on autopilot.

Stepford wives on autopilot I am stealing that one, the mental image is brilliant 😁

@LosingMyMarblesRun

I used to be an antivaxxer, much to my chagrin. I was in a very low point in my life, married to a gaslighting narc, and my mental health was shaky. I was also religious and part of a cult, so I feel like I was probably just looking for reasons to feel special or better about myself. I was bloody miserable and scrabbling around for relief.

When the situation with my ex escalated to DV, it's like I woke up from sleepwalking through life. I stopped all the conspiracy nonsense because I recognised their impossibility. Occams razor etc.

It's good to know some escape, @LosingMyMarblesRun - it sounds like you went to your own personal hell and back.

My family member also has that idea of "specialness". I used to as well; we were quite the pair, coming from a family that was riddled with addiction and dysfunction.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

Stepford wives on autopilot I am stealing that one, the mental image is brilliant 😁

I've been trying to articulate for months what it is that I'm facing when I speak to them - a deep-seated sense of frustration and powerlessness to do anything.