Help! Countering conspiracy theories.

[CoronaAnorca]

Without going into too much detail (because my DS knows I use Mumsnet!) can anyone point me in the direction of some good websites/sources of information that can counter the main Corona conspiracy theories that are circulating and that my 16 year old is starting to swallow? They’re normally a bright kid but I’m taking it as a symptom of their underlying fear and panic about the situation that they’re delving into this stuff.

Before anyone says ‘turn off the WiFi/get them off the computer’ I would say that they are also playing their instruments, composing music, getting out on a walk everyday. And I’ve sent them articles from BBC Science, different newspapers, jokey stuff about how ‘conspiracy theories’ take a hold, mass-hysteria etc. but he’s obviously found some conspiracy theorists quite persuasive. I don’t want to just shut him down on this, I want him to just read a balance. The kind of stuff he’s being persuaded by is (paraphrased):

“The testing they’re doing for Covid-19 is creating lots of false positives and that this is deliberately inflating the number of infected” Me: Why would they do that? What about all the people dying?)

If I persuade him to accept that people are dying of something highly infectious he’ll say - “they’re being affected by toxins/poisons that aren’t Covid-19 - potentially the effects of 5G”
(Me: explain Italy, Iran etc... places without 5G)

He’ll say about “all the people who aren’t allowing 5G in their countries and how the UK have acquiesced in a way other places haven’t and are going ahead and installing 5G without the normal political processes (rushing it through etc...)” Me: I’ll give you that on a certain level but I haven’t researched it thoroughly enough and that’s something I’m going to look into but I’d hazard a guess it’s more to do with money/contracts/power than some sinister World domination stuff.

I’ve promised him I will try and find some counter arguments and that I understand that these are totally crazy times and this may make crazy ideas seem less crazy when we’re living through such a strange and unprecedented time.

I need some good sites or online references I can point him in the direction of. He’s prepared to put the reading in and would be prepared to drill down into the detail. I’m trying to stay away from all the nonsense but feel it would be counterproductive to just say ‘it’s all bollocks come and unload the dishwasher and do some chores instead’ (although I am insisting he doesn’t sit on the computer all day!) I should say that he watches the BBC/ITV/C4 news with me and we have discussions about what we see (although he tells me OFCOM have banned any discussion of 5G??)

I like to think I’m quite an intelligent person but I’m struggling at the moment and would really appreciate some good advice and to hear from people who can point me in the right direction. I don’t want a lecture about allowing my 16 year old unfettered access to the internet but I’ve been on MN long enough to know I can’t dictate the advice I get

The thing is that no one knows the true cause of this virus, in many ways to say that this has come from bats at a market that does not even sell bats is not rational either. There are multiple theories but nothing proven and widely accepted. T1: natural outbreak, T2: bio weapon leak (accidental). T3: bio weapon intentional, T4: 5G. Personally i do not believe that 5G is the cause of the virus however i do think that potentially the technology is not 100% safe and the tech will be used to spy on people rather than benefit lives.

Yes I was trying to explain that you can totally agree with one element, two elements perhaps but that doesn’t prove the theory. That it’s the joining of dots that leads to the conspiracy theories and that there are endless dots that can be joined to create endless theories. The fact that a certain person who believes that the Royal family are lizards is responsible for one of the theories that my DS has seen made my partner and I guffaw and talk about Alan Partridge but that didn’t mean anything to our DS who doesn’t know the backstory of this particular person. I could sit him down and make him watch the Jon Ronson documentary on him from 20 years ago but I’d rather just show him some well-researched, reputable evidence that blows a hole through certain aspects of their ‘research’ first.

Have a look on Snopes. FIL has been falling victim to silly Facebook posts about drinking water stopping you catching it so we've used that the help convince him.

Believing in conspiracy theories doesn’t mesh your not bright. In fact some very intelligent people ‘piece life them together. He is showing he is able to consider ‘other’ which IMO makes him different than the robots we are churning out.

Believing in these theories comes from a place of mistrust - fear.

I’d start by asking him to prove his theories wrong. To delve in to more and look for real evidence and not just online guff.

Oh my goodness! Lots of errors in there!! Hope you get the idea!

Summersun I think adults who believe in conspiracy theories usually are pretty thick. They are usually people grasping at something that makes them look clever.

But in teenagers - although it’s irritating - I would say it’s pretty normal and probably quite healthy: it’s the beginning of (misguided) intellectual curiosity.

I’d throw the documentary in too, TBH.

Hi OP - my son is a similar age and we both enjoy conspiracy theories about all types of events. Some are plausible and not so 'out there' if you really read around the topic and make for really interesting chats

I've seen some good videos about the 5G 'theory' and it's not as wacky as you'd think. And some of my brightest, most reasoned, balanced friends have also thought it's an interesting - and possible - theory.

I guess what I'm trying to say is why not run with it? As long as he is still following the medical/government advice and not putting himself/others at risk it's quite interesting stuff to talk about, especially at an age when conversations are sometimes a bit mono-syllabic!

You can always divert him away from the current situation by looking at some other conspiracy theories (the Titanic/its sister ship is a good one)

Thanks all. Whoever said it’s good that it’s causing conversations between us is right. At least he’s wanting to discuss it and not getting all huffy and stroppy when we counter it. I’ll hold onto that 😊 I guess I’m just worried that he might get sucked into the tinfoil hat brigade but he’s just 16 and time to explore as long as he’s talking and we’re having debate.

Meanwhile I’ve got a 12 year old DD who is sad she can’t see her friends and getting a bit mopey and I turn off the news when she’s in the room (after the main headlines anyway) as she’s getting a bit worried about it all. I’ve found some good articles on the importance of good data when making predictions and projections and how we might be ‘overeacting’ and/or ‘undereacting’ but we have little choice in the absence of reliable statistics. Trying to find good, reasoned articles. Thought this was good as it seems to cover the angles without being sensationalist - it is also from a few weeks ago so the situation now can be compared to what has actually developed
www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

I’ve also found some articles on the testing procedures but am still trying to decipher them!