To think that unless you are 100% curtain about conspiracy theories (and ideally comfortable/ able to provide proof) you should keep them to yourself.

[Readytoplay]

I keep on seeing on social media people posting slander about various people (often celebrities). What annoys me is they post all this stuff, and when asked for prof they share very flimsy evidence as fact, that would be laughed out of a court if to be used in one. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a free country and it’s often hard to prove crimes on a ‘hear-say’ basis. but AIBU to think that unless you are 100% confident that what your saying is truth you should not be presenting it as fact.

Yes this is what I am talking about.

you have worded this perfectly! This is exactly what I mean.

Incorrect! And you just proved that!

I absolutely agree. That is why humanity must band together to take down the protected elite! The more who bound together makes it harder for them to deny. If
Harvey Weinstein can get taken down, anyone can. We need to looby our government to make stricter rules and if enough people make a public stand things will change. History has proven this!

We have considerably more freedom than many many countries If you want 'complete freedom' then you would have to accept sexism, racism etc., or do you mean we should only be free to voice things with which you agree? You cannot have both.

So, if I’m 100% certain that the moon is made of cheese then that magically becomes fact? An ex-friend of mine is 100% certain that the Covid jabs were used to give us all HIV and that most famous people are clones because the real ones are in Gitmo awaiting trial. She 100% believes this and presents it as fact.

Your certainty is only ever your certainty and conspiracy theorists are often certain about stuff that is demonstrably bollocks.

No, the burden of proof is on the person making the claim.

Even then it may be disproved. I did A level Physics and some things I struggled to learn have now been disproved. Things are rarely 100% true, eg 2 + 2 = 4 isn't necessarily true, it's only true in a decimal, base 10, system.

If I was 100% certain I was Cleopatra, it still wouldn’t be a fact.

Exactly. Its a very difficult line. I think our laws on speech are as far as they can be without endorsing, hate speech and abuse. Of course Britain is a ‘privilege’ country in respect that citizens have vast freedom to express their expression.

Have you heard about the conspiracy theory that now looks as though it is actually true ? Reports are now coming through that during the pandemic lockdowns, a certain department in the army were deployed to carry out surveillance on journalists/broadcasters etc who questioned the government narrative. So, who's paranoid now ?

Harvey Weinstein can get taken down, anyone can. We need to looby our government to make stricter rules and if enough people make a public stand things will change. History has proven this!

How can you complain that you don't live in a free country, while simultaneously demand stricter rules? Also stricter rules about what? I don't understand your argument here.

AIBU to think that unless you are 100% confident that what your saying is truth you should not be presenting it as fact

That they can't be presented as fact is why they're called 'conspiracy theories' and not 'conspiracy facts....' and that's before we get into the discussion about what truth even is and what it means to different people.

Oooh thats a good one @CantPayMyGasBill , although they went slightly further than just journalists and broadcasters and monitored social media posts for misinformation. They also worked together with other Government departments, so it wasn't simply the army.
Can't honestly say I am suprised this happened and there was a hell of a lot of misinformation being put out there on social media, either because people genuinely believed it or maliciously.

Seems a bit illogical to me TBH - after all if someone can be 100% certain of whatever it is and provide proof, it's not really a conspiracy theory any more is it?

Actually I'm in favour of relaxing things a bit even if it means being subject to other people's delusions/beliefs/bigotry/looniness etc. If I have to listen to eg misogyny or racism in exchange for an open discussion about women's rights v transrights I'm in. Having too many restrictions erodes any hope of meaningful discussion through fear of backlash.

Some conspiracy theories have merit others don't. People say oh it's a load of rubbish but things like mk ultra were a conspiracy theory . Years later those so called conspiracy theories have been declassified so now people can actually see that it was true.