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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

People who are into conspiracy theories

132 replies

Wasneverintomickeyandminnie · 25/07/2025 22:57

Are they mentally ill?

I read once that they’re more likely to be

I love a good conspiracy theory and uncovering the truth about things.

Currently quite obsessed with the whole Epstein thing, find the McCanns situation very odd, covid was strange etc

Are you into them too, am I mentally ill 🙈😬😅

OP posts:
Wasneverintomickeyandminnie · 25/07/2025 23:49

Anyone…😁

OP posts:
Justagirl95 · 25/07/2025 23:50

I'm into them and have postpartum depression 😅

GiveMeAlllTheCoffee · 25/07/2025 23:51

I am 'into' them in finding them interesting. I'm not 'into' them as in agreeing with them or letting them form my world view.

stonebrambleboy · 25/07/2025 23:51

Depends on which CT . Are the royals really lizards, probably not. Did Lee Harvey Oswald kill JFK definitely not.

Blueeyedmale · 25/07/2025 23:58

I think it kind of depends on the theory being pushed if you visit Twitter often you will see some quite bizarre and deranged ones and think to yourself "yeah they definitely have something not quite right going on inside their heads.

But I think with some people it's actually maybe jumping on the bandwagon and wanting to feel included in something and maybe they are not entirely convinced of it themselves.

But with one in 3 people will be affected by a mental health issue at some point in their lives in highly possible that their is a mental health aspect to some of their thinking

morbidcuriosity · 25/07/2025 23:59

Very into them.. If you Youtube Shane Dawson conspiracy theory he has a load of videos about them that are fascinating.. he does other stuff to that doesn't interest me but his conspiracy ones from a few years ago are fab!!

Jennps · 26/07/2025 00:00

What’s a conspiracy theory? Who decides.

Was covid developed in a lab?

Did Hunter Biden’s laptop exists?

Was Biden cognitively unwell while he was in power?

Was the pretence of WMDs in Iraq a lie?

The ‘conspiracy theorists’ turned out to be right, didn’t they.

Whenever the ‘enlightened progressives’ are protesting too much trying to call you a conspiracy theorist, know that you’re probably right.

Bengenderson · 26/07/2025 00:03

I enjoy reading some of them.
I also find unsolved mysteries and a lot of true crime very interesting so maybe there’s an overlap there?

Gowlett · 26/07/2025 00:04

I think having an interest or fascination is one thing…
But to be a fully paid-up CT is a lifestyle choice.

I have an ex-friend who has totally bizarre beliefs.
I mean, the rest of us “sheeple” are often wrong, but…

Wareart · 26/07/2025 00:04

I noticed an increase in conspiracy theorists during covid ie during a time of prolonged stress and isolation. Certainly several people in my circle of acquaintance went down rabbit holes back then and haven't quite emerged fully yet, although they are all less vehement and monomaniacal than they were.

Theunamedcat · 26/07/2025 00:05

I love a "good" conspiracy theory the ones that frustrate me are the ones so easily disproved that people refuse to see like "911 was a hoax the twin towers are still there" kind of delusion (proved by i think spiderman movie? That came out after they were hit) these people will never hop on a plane to see for themselves

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 26/07/2025 00:11

I bloody love conspiracy theory and theorists.

They’re all fucking stupid, bigoted or just plain weird, and usually all three.

Come all ye weirdos, convince me that Jeffrey Epstein came down in a flying saucer in Area 51, killed JFK, blew up the twin towers and is living as a lizard in Kensington Palace. 👍

Wareart · 26/07/2025 00:16

SilenceOfTheTimTams · 26/07/2025 00:11

I bloody love conspiracy theory and theorists.

They’re all fucking stupid, bigoted or just plain weird, and usually all three.

Come all ye weirdos, convince me that Jeffrey Epstein came down in a flying saucer in Area 51, killed JFK, blew up the twin towers and is living as a lizard in Kensington Palace. 👍

Edited

Don't be so fucking stupid.

That was John Lennon.

BreakingBroken · 26/07/2025 00:17

I listened to a researcher who said; most likely to have long term chronic illness, have suffered trauma and struggling financially.
that the beliefs become ingrained and no, not easily changed.
I have an acquaintance deep into MAGA and connection to Christian prophecies.

timetochangemename · 26/07/2025 00:18

I love a good CT but it’s more out of curiosity rather than belief. I don’t think that’s mental ill health. However I do know someone who on the surface is a perfectly normal person but also believes in chem trails, the covid jab had a microchip in it and the latest - the government has put listening devices in lampposts.

MargaretThursday · 26/07/2025 00:24

We have some spectacularly stupid ones on the local FB.

They particularly like chem trails currently, so we get pictures of chem trails with a comment along the lines of "saw at 6am. Now clouds everywhere when will the government admit they're caused by chem trails" only not quite so well spelt iyswim.
Someone put a painting from 18th century and pointed out there were clouds in 1790 or whenever and got the response...
"Well that's just a snapshot of time. If he'd painted it earlier then there would have been chem trails". 🤣

Velmy · 26/07/2025 01:38

I quite like the full-on nutters who think the earth is flat and the royal family are lizards.

But the other side of it, medical misinformation, bigotry, the people who harass the families of mass shooting victims claiming their dead relatives are crisis actors...it's nasty and dangerous.

blubberball · 26/07/2025 04:17

I think it's ok to take a casual interest and take everything with a pinch of salt, but my dad got heavily into them and now doesn't trust doctors at all. He has type 2 diabetes, but refuses medication and carries on eating as if he doesn't have it. It's a bit like losing someone to a cult. We used to talk about music, comedy and jokes. Now he just talks about new world orders

SweetBaklava · 26/07/2025 04:28

The only person I personally know who is into the weirder CTs is sadly suffering from severe mental health difficulties (psychosis and delusional disorder)

unsurewhattodoaboutit · 26/07/2025 04:37

Unfortunately I went down that rabbit hole when suffering bereavement. If you had asked me then am I doing it because I’m mentally ill I would have vehemently denied that. However looking back I now realise I was, or if not ‘ill’ as such I was suffering and traumatised.

Steelworks · 26/07/2025 04:38

The two people I know who are low level conspirator theorists aren’t mentally ill, but have two much time on their hands. Definitely believe in Chen trails, and the latest thing is cash. Ie. If we loose cash, then we’re controlled.

AbzMoz · 26/07/2025 05:01

I find CTs fascinating, much in the same way that I enjoy films and sci fi.

I find the post-truth, fake media world alarming - and the consequence of that on public health, social attitudes etc very alarming. Whatever happened to critical reasoning?

sashh · 26/07/2025 05:37

Jennps · 26/07/2025 00:00

What’s a conspiracy theory? Who decides.

Was covid developed in a lab?

Did Hunter Biden’s laptop exists?

Was Biden cognitively unwell while he was in power?

Was the pretence of WMDs in Iraq a lie?

The ‘conspiracy theorists’ turned out to be right, didn’t they.

Whenever the ‘enlightened progressives’ are protesting too much trying to call you a conspiracy theorist, know that you’re probably right.

Who decides? Well back in the 1990s when the internet was still a bit of a mystery to many there was a website that would create a conspiracy theory from a few inputs.

Some are clearly about someone's agenda eg yesterday I saw Joe Rogan claiming that Ozzy Osbourne died because he had a covid jab.

goldfishbowl2025 · 26/07/2025 05:45

I think those I know that are CTs are mentally ill, it’s usually depression.

youalright · 26/07/2025 05:45

I am mentally ill and I cant stand conspiracy theorists. I dont think their mentally ill I think their stupid