Another conspiracy theorist has been successfully sued.

[Lovebirdshatecats]

Survivor of the Manchester Arena attack successfully sued a conspiracy theorist who claimed the attack was a hoax. Richard D Hall sells books promoting various conspiracy theories
These people are money off the misery of others. He said the attack was staged.

Bbc news just reported.

Maybe more court cases like this are needed. Why should these people make claims like that and profit from selling their conspiracy theory books etc.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86q0ypq7q0o

He targeted victims of attacks.

Martin the victim says sueing him helps bring down the incidents of trolls who follow these conspiracy theorists and troll victims. Awful that victims have to put up with that after such an horrendous attack.

Some people seem to buy into all types of conspiracy theory and people like Richard D Hall exploit the gullible as well as troll the victims by calling them liars. Vile people profiting on the misery of others.

A link to an older case 2022. But great to see people fighting back. Some of the conspiracy theorists make lots of money, (this one) so paying it out fir making things up is great

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/10/12/alex-jones-sandy-hook-shooting/

Great news

Have people always been this gullible or is it the dumbing down of education? Why do so many people unquestionally believe things?

Are you agreeing with the conspiracy theorists, or wondering why people believe conspiracy theories?

I'm wondering why people believe anything they get told. Look at Brexit, pure fabrication. Look at Trump, spouting utter tripe. People going on about 'deep state' and other shite.

I don't remember people being so stupid.

It’s disturbing when conspiracy theorists exploit tragedies, profiting from the trauma and suffering of others. In the case of Richard D. Hall, spreading false claims that the Manchester Arena attack was staged not only disrespects the victims and survivors but also adds to their emotional burden by undermining their experience. This lawsuit is should be a significant step toward holding people accountable for spreading harmful misinformation, especially when it targets vulnerable people and benefits financially from their pain.

People have always been pretty stupid, but it's the unconstrained ability to post any old shit online and reach a huge audience. Previously entry barriers meant that power was only available to the responsible press (and even the Daily Mail looks responsible compared to what gets published in the non-"legacy" news media).

(Although I'm afraid my theory cannot explain Brexit - that was just unadulterated stupidity.)

It's the lack of common sense that gets me. Like the people who say the Sandy Hook massacre was faked.

It would mean that not only were all the people hired as actors have to keep the secret it was faked, but also every reporter, all the police, the medical examiners, and all their administrators, the entire extended families of 26 children and adults together with their neighbours, all the ambulance and hospital staff, the entire school district administration. Thousands of people keeping the secret that it was faked for years and years not one of them saying a word. That is ridiculous.

A lot of this is about a complete and utter lack of common sense. Conversely we've never lived in a time when more information was available to us yet people don't bother to fact check.

I hope so. The fact that these conspiracy theorists like Richard D Hall just make a claim and people buy into it so easily is awful. The poor victims have enough to deal with without a grifter cashing in on their ordeal. I hope other victims of Manchester also sue him.

Hit conspiracy theorists where it hurts them, their bank balance.

Actually that’s an interesting reply as conspiracy theorists think they have insider knowledge and are “awake” to evils of the world that non-CTs can’t see.

I love a good conspiracy theory, but there are some people who believe everything they read without needing any evidence and take it to the very extreme degree.
Some conspiracies are found to be true though, so I suppose “truthers” will just keep on truthing.

Good that there is some justice though.

Sadly, after the court case the conspiracy theorist Richard was unrepentant and ignored the suggestion of an apology to his victims

"Outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Hall repeated some of his claims about the attack not having happened, and alleged his trial had not been fair.

He walked away when asked if he wanted to apologise to the victims of the attack."

What a throughly unlikeable individual.

Because they have no idea who to trust.

Also, I'm not sure how many people do genuinely believe some of the more far out claims, they're more identifying with anti establishment narratives, if that makes any sense.

Yes - it seems like a new phenomenon due to our exposure and awareness of it but there have been conspiracies throughout most of human history. In the last century there was 9/11, the satanic panic, chemtrails, assassination of JFK, the moon landing, death of Marilyn Monroe, the illuminati to name just a few. Further back in history the European witch trials, the princes in the tower and even in Roman times there was a conspiracy Nero hadn’t died by suicide but instead faked his death.

We live in a time of so much more information and yet humans have not kept up by developing sufficient critical thinking skills. Ultimately a shared belief creates community and connection whether that’s through faith, religion or conspiracy. If someone feels better for believing something that can’t be substantiated by empirical evidence then that’s their choice.

I think the word is unquestioningly, but the impression I get from the conspiracy theorists I have known is that they like to feel special and cleverer than everyone else.

There's also so much bullshit being spread these days that it's sometimes hard to know what to believe.

Thank you for correcting my spelling.

The point is that there is so much information available that it's pretty easy to check your facts.

The internet has made a great difference. In days of yore there would be people coming out with utter tripe in pubs, family gatherings and workplaces and other people would laugh at them, tell them to pipe down and talk over them, so they wouldn't have an audience. Nowadays they go online instead and easily find similar nutters all over the world who all egg each other on. They type in their batshit theories and their posts stay there waiting for others to read them and add their own ideas. By the time people with common sense and a sense of proportion see their nonsense it's too late. Same sort of mechanism as cults - brainwashing? Very difficult to de-programme them, I would imagine.

Remember, the truth is out there... or maybe it’s just in a good punchline!

It is a way to exert narcissism and control.
I lost a thirty year old close friendship due to my ex friend ( a special needs TA) due to my refusing to countenance that 1) Michelle Obama is a man ( this upset me as myself and ex friend are both Black and I have yet to see this conspiracy theory put out there not rooted in the notion that Black women " aren't quite women).

2. The Earth is flat. I asked for this to be explained to me considering that a view of a horizon from an elevaton is curved and the photos of the Earth from space and even if Earth was a" flat mass into infinity", the actual planet has hills, mountains, valleys, volcanoes and is not flat. The notion of Earth beng flat has never made sense and the fact that it once did is the quirk.
   She nearly wanted to fight me.

3. Covid and Covid vaccine conspiracy theories.

God knows what she believes now. It's been three and a half years of ex friendship.

Some clown tweeted that they believe planes are powered by demonic technologies and we aren't actually flying anywhere but being vaporated I guess from place to place.

I guess it's easier to believe Boeing is run by actual demons than trying to work through Bernoulli's equation.

Hopefully it'll be a while before people start getting sued for not seeing the point of the EU.