Conspiracy theorists' actions and propaganda leading to deaths

[effingterrified]

Very sad article here from Nick Cohen about how a fervent believer in conspiracy theories that the virus was not really lethal, that vaccines were dangerous, that lockdown was unnecessary, etc had died of Covid, aged only 45.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/23/gary-matthews-duped-by-lying-anti-vaxxers-his-death-is-at-their-door

Unfortunately, many sad and gullible people are attracted to this kind of guff, at the risk to their own lives and, of course, to others' lives, as their careless actions put others at risk.

Sad to see how many even on MN are drawn into this kind of kooky conspiracy-theorising, seen not only among those who might be described as far right, as you might expect, but on the far left too - the point where both sides meet, in a shared irrationality and love for easy, simple solutions to complex problems.

Interesting that threads full of conspiracy theories are full of comments but everyone ignores a thread pointing out the risks of these conspiracy theories.

My brother in law has convinced my mother in law that she shouldn’t get the vaccine - for some unknown reason he believes the government is overplaying it.

This is a woman who has trouble breathing after walking up a few steps due to years of smoking - if she does get COVID dies it will be down to vaccine conspiracy crap.

Interesting that threads full of conspiracy theories are full of comments but everyone ignores a thread pointing out the risks of these conspiracy theories

Yes this whole board is now rammed full of covid deniers and conspiracy theorists replying in many topics. It's often about control I think. Feeling helpless because they have no control anymore via lockdown, and so try to discredit it in an attempt to claw back some kind of control for themselves. Getting, in their minds, control back by proxy, on a forum

It is really scary how people get dragged into this. I have people on my Facebook feed who are spouting this nonsense. I do worry how extreme they have become