To think that conspiracy theorists are everywhere

[CobbldyCook]

I recently acquired a dog and so now make small talk with lots of people I probably wouldn’t have spoken with before. Not because I would avoid them or anything, just because I wouldn’t run into them. Conversation usually starts normally enough but there seems to be about a 1 in 3 chance that the chat suddenly takes a turn for “mRNA experiments”, “turbocancers”, “contrails”, “chip totality”… you name it! It’s particularly prevalent in men it seems. I never had these kinds of conversations before. What changed? Is this all because of lockdown and/or people spending so much time on the internet/social media? Aren’t there enough real issues in the world to be interested in/worried about without making stuff up? Why are people so credulous?! How should I counter it?!?

@fuckssaaaaake yes vaccines can cause heart complications but it's rare.

What is quite common though is heart complications following a Covid infection. Even asymptomatic covid can cause long covid. Some of the most common symptoms of LC are fatigue, brain fog and heart palpitations. Can also cause a racing heart at random times.

More people have long term effects of Covid than we realise and the effects include cognitive decline. The long term consequence is that even more people may end up believing in conspiracy theories.

(LC isn't a CT by the way, it's backed up by tonnes of evidence published in the top medical and scientific journals)

Exactly this. I still remember when Hancock et al said with great authority “masks are ineffective “, then there was a massive u-turn. So now, I take the view that if the government really presses and emphasises something, it is likely to be false. It will be years or decades before I can believe, respect or trust any government again.

The problem is that governments and corporations and billionaires lie ALL THE TIME in order to keep hold of power and wealth.

It's very hard for us to know what is real and what is not.

Common sense can be useful.
A CT that the rich manipulate us so we vote a certain way and they get away with tax avoidance - highly likely

The royal family are lizards - highly unlikely.

I try to think who would benefit, is there a strong evidence base and is it likely according to common sense?

Thank you for all your replies. I think that one of the problems I have with these interactions is that they tend to stay with me afterwards. There are often gaping holes in their logic, their understanding of science (my area of special interest, professionally), their knowledge of history, and their lack of knowledge of languages other than English (so they never read things from anywhere other than the UK or US media, EN language accounts on social media etc.), but I don’t feel comfortable pointing any of these things out, because they seem like nice people fundamentally. Essentially I don’t want to have a confrontation with them, because when I’ve attempted to engage (in a friendly way), they tend to get irritated. But afterwards I’m left with a bad feeling. Several posters here have said that it’s not worth engaging with people that espouse these views because they won’t listen—I’m prepared to believe it, but it makes me feel rather sad.

There are many things that were considered to be conspiracy theories, mk ultra being one of them . Many of the conspiracies have been declassified by the CIA in recent times. So if some of the conspiracies of yesteryear are true it stands to reason that some conspiracy theories of today are true.

What, critical thinkers? You're right, we are!

Conspiracy theorist is just a dickhead term for people whose opinion you don't agree with - largely because you haven't made even a vague attempt to look into anything they're saying yet still think you know it all.

All I heard throughout the pandemic, for instance, was: 'They just want to be proved right'. On the contrary, they desperately want to be proved WRONG. Now, as PPs have said upthread, lots of these 'theories' have come to fruition. Whether you choose to believe them is, at this point, neither here nor there.

My advice would be, before you write people off as 'conspiracy theorists', ask yourself this: why would somebody go out of their way to make themselves unpopular?

Why don't you try them? They may indeed be ill informed. Or YOU might be ill informed. There's really only one way to find out - but it would involve having a measured, respectful conversation.

Strip it right back... You say there are 'gaps in their knowledge'. What are they referring to that makes you say that? Why does what they say 'stay with you' if you 'know the truth'?

I think the main issue these days is that everything is explored, examined, considered in absolute terms. Good, bad, left, right. When I suspect the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. But no one gives each other the time of day enough to work that out.

🤣

I agree with this!

@Jumpingthruhoops I think the main issue these days is that everything is explored, examined, considered in absolute terms. Good, bad, left, right. When I suspect the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. But no one gives each other the time of day enough to work that out.

Social media has made everyone much more binary, polarised, one side or the other. Right or left. Wrong or right. And self-rightious, tending towards information sources which affirm their hunch, rather than challenge it. OP I have also come across this on dog-walks!

Generally, people seem less tolerant of having their ideas and theories challenged (in a respectful way). Is this due to the whole social media push to be kind, respect others etc etc?

Also, "conspiracy theorists" is nothing new, it's happened with many technological advances before, although they might have been named under a different insult. When television was a novelty, people would say:
"It gives you square eyes."
"It's bad for children, it fries their brains."
"It gives people bad ideas."
And, quite probably, some people feared that it could be used by the government to "brainwash" the public, and that's without George Orwell's idea of telescreens that would spy on you in your own home as well.

I hate the phrase “conspiracy theory”. Such an easy way to poo-poo any information that doesn’t fit the script!

Always look into things yourself.

Just watching documentaries on mainstream channels has opened my eyes to the amount of corruption in every area of power.

I'm no conspiracy theorist. I had all the Covid jabs willingly.

But why are you saying that this is a conspiracy theory? The link between certain covid vaccines and heart problems was very well documented in the mainstream media and has been confirmed by the medical community. It's the fact that they continued administering those specific vaccines after finding this out that was shocking.

@catchthebeat not the heart problem I have. The ones I've read about are not the same

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57781637.amp

There is a recognised phenomena of intelligent people having stronger ideological biases than less intelligent people. The theory is that people who are good at reasoning are also good at rationalising so are able to persuade themselves they are right about things which clearly make no sense.

It's perfectly reasonable to assume there are other side effects that haven't been officially documented yet. This happens quite often when new medicines are administered on a global scale, even following trials. It doesn't have to be conspiracy theory, just because it concerns vaccines. We're in a strange situation now where people are so scared to be called anti-vaxxers, any critical thinking or natural curiosity around new vaccines and drugs is instantly dismissed as a conspiracy theory. We don't approach other areas of science with this absolute certainty that we already know all there is to know. If you've noticed a strong correlation between a drug and a peculiar side effect, it doesn't make you a conspiracy theorist to assume there may be some causation.

@catchthebeat ok I'll pipe down

The term "conspiracy theorist" was put into circulation to discourage chatter after JFKs assassination by the US security services, as I recall
That in itself is a conspiracy theory. Awkward 😂

It is now used to shut down and ridicule anyone trying to challenge injustice or highlight bad actors in authority
This is what conspiracy theorists tell themselves and each other 🤷‍♀️

Replace "conspiracy theorist" with "critical thinker" then you may enjoy their enlightening conversations.

The trouble with it is that so many people all believe different things, and what they believe changes like the wind. They believe it came from a 5g tower one minute and in the next breath it’s not even real and all made up. One minute the elites are trying to kill the general population for population control, the next it’s to do with them not wanting to kill us but control us with microchips.

Nobody knows what the fuck they believe because they amalgamate bits and pieces of different stories and info to make up a complete bullshit story that makes some kind of sense to them in their head, then when that gets challenged, it makes them think ‘’hmmm’ so they move the goal posts a bit while still maintaining their belief that ‘something is going on’ because admitting their beliefs are silly hurts their ego.

Of course, all the lies and incompetence of the government hasn’t helped and has harmed the trust, but I do find it funny how CT’s don’t see how daft they are and notice the flaws in their own cognition. Facts follow consistent patterns.

Mate - if only you knew about the gerbils. I could tell you but I'd have to put you in a laboratory and research you.

Unfortunately, there are now more of them because of the stance taken regarding the Covid vax - a jab which there WAS no long-term data for as it hadn't been around long term.

This made it a very different beast to the innoculations that had been around for decades. But because people didn't trust what the govt, health officials were saying about this jab, they then begun to question ALL jabs. And I can't honestly say I blame them.

And the fact people can label the Covid-vaccine injured/compensated 'anti-vaxxers' is a whole new level of stupid!

100% this! 👏👏

BINGO!! OP, you have one in the first 3 replies!! Your “1 in 3 chance” theory has been confirmed by experiment!

When trains came in, there was a theory people would suffocate on them because they’d be unable to breathe due to moving so quickly.