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.

I find it really strange that often very intelligent, quite rational people often get mixed up in all this bunkum

There is a lot of research showing that intelligent people are more likely to believe unbelievable things. They use their intelligence to argue themselves into these beliefs.

Whilst I think everyone is entitled to their views, I do sympathise with you because SIL's and BIL's sole topic of conversation these days is some conspiracy theorist they watch on YouTube. They go on and on about him and it always ends with BIL having a racist rant. It really gets me down. I know it causes huge rows between them and their eldest dc. We try not to see them often these days.

This is what happens when you give stupid people too much information.

gladrefrain · Today 12:34

My experience of conspiracy theorists too. Once people get into it, they get into all the conspiracy theories and this leads them into appalling levels of anti-semitism.

I think there's a large undercurrent of anti-Semitism in general. People who wouldn't want to see the horror of the Holocaust again, but who blame Jews for loads of things. A conversation I couldn't help overhearing a few years ago, walking behind two women when I was going to collect my daughter from school.

One was complaining that she couldn't get her car insurance down, despite using comparison sites. The other said, (these are not my words and I abhor them, I'm just reporting what I heard) :

"Yeah well, it all comes back to one old Jew, who owns the fucking lot."

I was pretty shocked.

My dad is exactly the same. All caught up in theories about control, vaccines, cashless society, 15 minute cities, world economic forum, weather engineering.

He spends hours watching this stuff on YouTube and it is so unhealthy to live in a state of worry, but there’s not a lot I can do about that.

He has started changing his diet to avoid all the ‘stuff’ that is put into food. I don’t mind that as he is choosing to cook fresh, good food. However he’s also making decisions about his money and his future based on these beliefs.

Feel free to PM me if you’d like to talk strategies to break through to them! I’m really worried about him.

Two of my old friends who I haven't seen for many years used to be sane and have become conspiracy theorists. I used to challenge some of their batshit posts on Facebook and they have both unfriended me.

One of them was vehemently anti vax, pro life, pro Trump, (she is American), pro animal rights; the other used to post ill-informed 'facts' and advice that were nearly always internet memes and often very sexist and usually took some number from
Some piece of research out of context.

I think a lot of this is based on fear!
So people would rather believe that COVID was a hoax than believe that a new virus that initially no one knew how to treat was running wild!
They would rather believe that the US Gove blew up the Twin Towers than believe that a random terrorist group could literally fly a plan into a building at any moment!

They would rather believe that someone 'they' are controlling everything rather than believe that bad stuff can happen randomly to a lot of people!

Unfortunately I think it’s terribly hard to change someone once they get like this. Especially when they grow older. My sister used to be a bit of a vaccine conspiracy theorist, but she got over it relatively quickly.

@SinnerBoy

I agree there are high levels of anti-semitism generally. The events since October 7th have shown me that in appalling clarity.

I have a friend who is very smart, well educated, who has gone down this rabbit hole. Believes the Earth is flat, I did laugh out loud at this and asked why the moon and other planets weren't flat; (no answer) believes the Hilary Clinton pizza-paedo coverup and that Wayfair were smuggling children to paedos in their furniture (this later on turned out to be a glitch on the website where prices on certain items shot up, to conspiracy theorists that meant of course it was paedos, not a simple pricing glitch.
She also firmly believes a satanic cult is ruling the world. I did note this change started after a very close bereavement, seemed to me her anchor to sanity had been cut.
I came across my first truly full on conspiracy theorist about 20 years ago, it was in a talk about alternative medicine but quickly veered into tinfoil hat territory. What got me is he had no evidence and kept telling his audience that if they researched his ideas they would find his truth and those that didn't were sheeple. Bollocks to that: I do all the work for you and I won't be a sheeple? He could FOTTFSOFOTFOSM.
Have had a very cool opinion of conspiracy theorists since then.

I do think a big part of it is that there are actual conspiracies that in the heads of these people morph into something Hollywood might produce. For example Saville was abusing for years and it didn't get revealed until after his death (I think a lot of people probably knew) but this morphs into something more fantastical as if the existing truth isn't sinister enough. As someone said Epstein and the island is very disturbing but this then morphs into something even bigger and more sinister. I am sure a psychologist might be able to explain why this happens. Fear as someone said it boredom or something more primitive?

There is a lot wrong on this planet without the need for exaggeration.

This is interesting. The conspiracy theorists I know are heavily into new age thinking and various wellness philosophies. All well and good until they were endorsing "survival of the fittest" and aggressively pushing home remedies over vaccination. I listened to a Maintenance Phase podcast ep about the Wellness to Qanon pipeline, apparently it's a well known phenomenon.

It is exhausting to deal with conspiracy theorists in day to day life. I'm sure it gives people a sense of power in situations where we are individually powerless, but that doesn't excuse the nastiness of it all.

He has a right to his opinions however unlikely they are. Let it wash over you and ignore them.
You will never convince him he is wrong, however cogent your argument.

Don't be daft, it's not a conspiracy. It's global politics and the actions is a dictator.

It’s not a new thing really, believing in the frankly unbelievable. It’s just that there is a much wider range of weird and wonderful theories all whirling around on a much wider mix of communication outlets.

Not wanting to upset anyone, but think how many hundreds of years mankind all over the World has immersed itself into all sorts of religious beliefs, some still very mainstream. It can be a huge comfort zone many many, no matter how eyebrow raising or 🤷‍♀️ others find it, to the point of defining lots of cultures. But most folks extrapolate what they want from it, and try to live a moral, well balanced life.

@thepariscrimefiles Well, exactly - there’s no internal sense at all. But non of these positions or theories are internally consistent, are they?

One of my good friends is like this. The way I've dealt with it is massively distancing myself. She still posts stuff online about this kind of rubbish. The sad thing is she never used to be racist, now she posts Tommy Robinson shite. I couldn't be around that but I guess it's not quite so easy when it's your dad.

I know someone like this, it’s the only thing that really seems to animate her. Definitely not a low intellect thing, more a total lack of any interests or activities offline. In fact when asked about her hobbies she can only think of the internet and her favourite YouTubers.

It is strange that being a conspiracy theorist is not considered a mental illness, given how odd many of the beliefs are. You’d think they’d count as delusions.

And Hollywood/ Music elites are all paedophile satanists..

Well, my husband is 75, I'm 45 and it's the same.
Never thought about it being irritating though, since I'm probably very similar, therefore the choice in marriage 20 years ago and other stuff.
😊

Amen. 😁
Some humans just need this to feel in control of their lives. It’s why we invented all the religions. Comforting and helps to deal with the human condition.

gladrefrain · Today 12:51

I agree there are high levels of anti-semitism generally. The events since October 7th have shown me that in appalling clarity.

True, I'm not a supporter of how Israel has handled it, but I think that it was exactly what Hamas wanted and planned for. People seem to have a problem not understanding that not all Israelis, never mind Jewish people all over the world have different views on the war.

People seem to have no problem understanding that the British might support Labour, the Conservatives, Greens etc and have opinions broadly based on their ethoses. Or Republicans and Democrats in the USA, but have the opinion that "The Jews!" are a hive mind.

I hate these sorts of people too. Talking about it doesn't change anything, but

everything is proof that we are controlled by this elite group of people who just want to make sure we are controlled

That's not exactly a mystery is it? I mean let's face it, they could stop a lot of suffering in a heartbeat but they don't. It's easier to control the downtrodden. I can see why conspiracy theories are gathering pace because social mobility is being eroded.

With these people I just say yeah you're probably right, everyone probably agrees, but what are you actively doing to change it other than making other people feel hopeless with your rantings?

We all know powerful people don't give a shit about us and try to create division, but getting cult like and angry at others because they don't hold identical views is what they bloody want anyway.

Well yeah cos it's done in secrecy innit - you need to be one of Hilary Clinton's gang to get in on it!

I have a near neighbour that I avoid because she says much the same sort of things.