My dad is a massive conspiracy theorist and it's so frustrating

[patrilla]

Can anyone relate and how do you not make it drive you insane ??

He's visiting at the moment and it's just all doom and gloom constantly.

He's so extremely negative about literally everything and everything is proof that we are controlled by this elite group of people who just want to make sure we are controlled and destroyed.

Everything is a rip off and we have no liberties. We are all just sheep being ripped off and we are all really dumb apparently.

Say we need to pay for parking or we need to be careful not to drive in yellow boxes, as we can get fined- he takes all of it as a sign of control. If a place doesn't take cash, it's also a control thing and we are so dumb for going along with it all.

It's literally every little thing. Everything is so shit now and the world is ending. Don't even get me started on a nuclear war being absolutely imminent.

It's exhausting to be around.

Does anyone else know someone like this ? How do you deal with it ?

Don't even get me started on Covid. It's just everything. Everything is questioned, everyone is corrupt. Apart from the people spouting this stuff. They're the only ones telling the truth.

It's just the government and the banks that are the issue - everyone else, including large capitalist corporations, are all kosher.

Because the idea that the government could be being paid off by the big corps is too complex a thread for them to follow.

Tell him by being constantly negative and focusing on all the things that are wrong he is literally letting the elites win! They are keeping him suppressed with anxiety and lowering his vibrations and that is how they control people through spreading fear and unhappiness. Tell him the only way to beat them is to stay positive and happy and grow his own vegetables…. Who knows it might help!

IQ of 100 is an average. 50% of people don't meet that.

There's a growing feeling that a lot of this is being caused by a concerted and long-term effort by Putin to destabilise the West via social media algorithms and bots. Constantly pushing anti-immigration, anti-EU, anti-government to anyone who engages and keeping them in an echo chamber.

It's really worrying, I don't know how it came be stopped.

My elderly family member will believe/support literally anything he perceives “them” as not wanting us to believe/support. So at the moment: pro Russia, pro Trump, anti climate or environment anything, anti woke, anti vax.

To be fair, he is pro immigration and pro Palestine, but that just gives him more scope to criticise America etc.

It’s a pity because he always used to be politically alert and there is a lot going on in our home country that he could usefully engage with but he is not interested unless it’s some 2 hour video on YouTube about how Putin is always right.

It is 100% rooted in a compulsion to disagree (contrarianism), nothing else. It’s completely empty. He used to be clever.

This is one of the podcasts I listened to https://www.google.com/amp/s/youarenotsosmart.com/2020/01/29/yanss-170-exploring-the-reasoning-of-flat-earthers-a-conversation-with-mark-sargent/amp/

From memory I think he does other podcasts on conspiracy theorists. This link has a conversation with someone who believes in a flat earth

I have a a very good friend who has become like this. The problem is that their beliefs don't seem to make them happy or contented in any way. She's angry and cross and complains about everything but does nothing about it and it seems to consume everything that's good about her life - which is a lot - and she can't talk about anything happy now.

It is 100% rooted in a compulsion to disagree (contrarianism), nothing else. It’s completely empty.

This is exactly the case with SIL. It’s a talking point because she has nothing else to say

*Say we need to pay for parking or we need to be careful not to drive in yellow boxes, as we can get fined- he takes all of it as a sign of control. If a place doesn't take cash, it's also a control thing and we are so dumb for going along with it all.
It's literally every little thing. Everything is so shit now and the world is ending. *

In a way he's right. We recently parked in London, checked the ticket was correct and put it on our car. Weeks later we received a fine. In the good old days, a tragic warden would have come along, took note of the ticket on our car and that would be that. Instead we were fined by their automatic system and our failure in admin (couldn't find the ticket weeks later) cost us. We have no idea on this case whether we were fined because of an error we are unaware of or whether it was computer error.

There's a tunnel in offer area that charges a toll. You used to drive up to a barrier, throw your pound into a bucket, the barrier would raise and you'd continue through. Worst case scenario would be you'd realise you didn't have change. Inconvenient but not costly.

Now you have 24 hours to pay otherwise it's a £30 fine. Signage is minimal, so it will catch out people who are not local. I know ever so many people who have been caught out by this and usually it's when they have a combination of other stressful things happening.

It is a bit shit that making a simple human mistake is now so much more likely to end in the added stress of an expensive fine

It's always odd how little actual conspiracies interest these people. You rarely see them going on about the Panama Papers, Russian troll farms, the oil companies hiding the data about climate change from us, etc etc.

DH is like that, he's never off ticktock, listening to "experts" (influencers) on middle east crisis, tax avoidance schemes, anything. It drives me mad!!

Yes, my dad is like this now. Only in the last few years. Tbh I don’t know how much of it he really believes (although I suspect he does genuinely believe at least half of it) but I think he is also using it to wind people up. He has always taken totally contrary views just to start arguments and I’ve learned to just not engage with him. I will totally tune him out, yawn, even walk out of the room but I don’t disagree with it. He gets bored after a while and stops.

Sad isn't it. Keep an eye on his mental health.

A very close friend is like this. Literally EVERY person who dies or gets ill, no matter their age or sex or history, is a victim of the jibby jab. What does he think people died of prior to 2021?

Where can I meet these people? All I have is normal friends 😂

It is a bit shit that making a simple human mistake is now so much more likely to end in the added stress of an expensive fine

You're absolutely right, it is really shit. And if you dare challenge a fine like that, you just end up paying even more. So you just pay as fast as possible and that's the end of it.

I do agree it's become absolutely brutal with parking and the roads. I don't mind admitting it. But it's just putting it all together to always take it back to ' the elite controlling us ' is frustrating.

My dad wants to move away. He thinks Europe / America is doomed.

George Monbiot did a piece in The Guardian about this. He was fascinated that there are honest to god conspiracies out there that we SHOULD fight but these people choose the fantastical ones that leave them powerless. Am boarding a flight so can't link but it's worth looking for.

Where does he want to go?

I think it's also harder for some less tech savvy older people to understand all the apps etc you need today to even park your car or pay for stuff that previously had a barrier. Or when you go to a restaurant and there's no menu anymore, just the qr code. All that makes him agree and is again, a way to track what you're doing and all privacy is gone. That's how he sees it. The world is very difficult now for people who can't navigate the technology required to function.

I'm interested in the oil companies one. What does this consist of? My colleague is a climate change disbeliever. Apparently, weather systems are man manipulation, and planes routinely spray to change weather on a daily basis. All a plan to tax us and mind control through chemicals. he rants at the sky daily.

Central and South America.

Oh dear, we have a neighbour like this. He used to be OK, but his wife died in 2018 and he'd retired to look after her. He spent his time watching Youtube and started on about the "MSM" and how they were out to get Trump, as he's a brilliant good guy etc.

That progressed to Covid is a hoax and how many people he knew who'd had a jab and died within 24 hours. He couldn't name any, but then a dog walking acquaintance died of Covid - he told me he'd had the jab in the morning and was dead by midnight and that his family would follow... None of them had had the jab, he was a refusenik and his 3 kids were too young at that point.

Of course, all Ukrainians are Nazis, they invaded Russia, which is only defending itself etc etc. Apparently, Biden wants to invade Russia for the oil and gas...

Oh and 5G burns oxygen and causes brain tumours, there's an epidemic of brain tumours, which the Government is covering up, naturally. 5G frequencies are what used to be terrestrial television frequencies and are at far lower power levels, I explained. I was "wrong" of course, probably because my mind had been taken over by Covid jabs, as you'd expect!

I do my best to avoid him, these days!

Oh the irony...

Not everything is a conspiracy but there are nafarious things that go on ie Epstein Island, P Diddy are just the most recent. I think once you start looking into things perhaps it's made him paranoid about everything. There's a fine line. I think there are a lot of shady goings on but don't believe in flat earth and can see Russell Brand is a complete con artist / attention seeker. Some people cross the line and believe everything some people don't even want to look into things or question anything because perhaps they are scared or it's just easier that way. Each to their own. I hope you can find some middle ground with your dad.

Not ironic

Most of the 'agitators' after the dreadful Southport stabbings, were from overseas

Not saying foreign influencers are the cause of half this nuttery, but they are amplifying the nutters