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Original poster

Conspiracy rantings from friends?

137 replies

julieca · 01/12/2021 07:01

I am not interested in hearing conspiracy views around coronavirus on this thread.
Does anyone else have friends who believe in some of the conspiracy theories around coronavirus? I have one friend who is lovely, and this has taken me by total surprise. She is generally liberal, a bit left-wing and as a brown woman a bit suspicious of government. But I have never heard any conspiracy theory stuff from her before.
Now she rants on social media about vaccines and what they might be injecting us with, the nefarious reasons they are trying to make us have a vaccine, and how it is all about controlling us to introduce a fascist state.
I just find it really difficult. I suspect she is very anxious and this is a way to deal with it. But any gentle enquiries about her mental health just lead into a rant about how I am living in fear and she is shocked that I would fall for this hysteria and submit to authority.
Is anyone else dealing with this? How do you respond or deal with it? I feel in a way like I have lost a friend. Its such a weird situation I would never have predicted could happen.

OP posts:
ChooChooSan · 01/12/2021 22:00

Religious converts can behave like this.

Smokeyfish · 01/12/2021 22:04

@julieca

Laughing at the idea that brown women is racist. It is the latest terminology used in anti-racism materials and training. Give it another year or two and you will all be using it.
I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt OP. Personally I don’t feel comfortable hearing anyone labelled in this way.

The tone of your post is critical and patronising. You cannot deny that. Your description of your ‘friend’ is unkind and derogatory - hence ‘brown woman’ made my skin crawl, quite frankly.

How would your friend feel about you writing like this about her?

Flaxmeadow · 01/12/2021 22:06

This seems to be a recurring feature of pandemics. During the plague, there were all kinds of daft cults, prophets, quack "cures", etc. As PPs suggest, it is probably fear, denial and a wish to feel in control.

Yes, also 100 or even 150 years ago with Scarlet fever etc public health vaccine programmes. There are many newspaper reports of protests against them. The fines we see in Greece ATM were dished out then by UK courts. People refusing vaccines for their children or refusing to abide by a neighbourhood quarentines during localised outbreaks. Some even tried to send their children to school, dumping them in the grounds, even though the schools were shut due to local outbreaks

highlandcoo · 01/12/2021 22:06

Nazir Afzal, whom I would respect, used the adjective "brown" to describe himself on Question Time recently. He was challenging Fiona Bruce for asking "the brown person" to comment first on a race issue. The first time I've heard that as a descriptor admttedly but I assume it's going to become common parlance?

Original poster
julieca · 01/12/2021 22:10

@Smokeyfish my friend uses brown as a descriptor for herself and others. She teaches this stuff.
I didn't think anything I wrote about her was unkind.

OP posts:
Original poster
julieca · 01/12/2021 22:11

There is lots written against the use of Asian and BME. I have read and heard some of it. It may not be common parlance yet to use brown, but I forget that as it is amongst the people I know.

OP posts:
Smokeyfish · 01/12/2021 22:13

@highlandcoo

Nazir Afzal, whom I would respect, used the adjective "brown" to describe himself on Question Time recently. He was challenging Fiona Bruce for asking "the brown person" to comment first on a race issue. The first time I've heard that as a descriptor admttedly but I assume it's going to become common parlance?
I watched that QT too. When Nazir referred to himself in that way it sounded quite accusatory to me. As if he was accusing Fiona Bruce of racism. It was used with irony and quite pointedly.
highlandcoo · 01/12/2021 22:13

Going back to the conspiracy theory stuff, I experienced this from a colleague recently. Quite insulting as she kept describing herself as a "critical thinker" and by implication I am a credulous fool presumably.

She insists that the government could cure people if they wanted to but would rather we got ill and were forced to be vaccinated. When I asked her why they would take that approach, she "couldn't answer that question" Hmm

This is someone I've worked beside for years; we often used to have lunch together but I feel like avoiding her now to be honest.

HarrietOh · 01/12/2021 22:16

Yes one of my closest friends sadly. I think she quite got into the pizza gate thing too. Sadly I know she’s had some life struggles in recent years so I think this has caused her to get into all these conspiracy theories. I ignore her if she starts on, but I’m tired of hearing about the “big reset” or whatever it is and how we all have to be vaccinated so they can bring in the cashless society?!

Smokeyfish · 01/12/2021 22:16

[quote julieca]@Smokeyfish my friend uses brown as a descriptor for herself and others. She teaches this stuff.
I didn't think anything I wrote about her was unkind.[/quote]
The whole thread is judgmental and the unkind. That’s what you wanted it to be OP.

My reading of this is that your friend will be feeling as fed up with you as you are with her and probably you should go separate ways.

highlandcoo · 01/12/2021 22:19

Smokeyfish it was an interesting moment and not fully explored.

Was she wrong to come to him first to talk about racism in Britain? He has spoken about it in the past. I'm not sure ..

Madhairday · 01/12/2021 22:21

I have a relative who's fallen down the rabbit hole..the whole shebang, sheeple, wake up, scandemic, 'vaccine', they are out to get us. Latest post is comparing concentration camps to quarantine centres and telling us we're all heading into a dictatorship and we should wake up. She kept sending me videos at the start and I said that I didn't want to see them thank you, she did stop in the end but they were utterly off the charts batshit. So sad to see, there's just no talking to her. :(

DayKay · 01/12/2021 22:21

“ I watched that QT too. When Nazir referred to himself in that way it sounded quite accusatory to me. As if he was accusing Fiona Bruce of racism. It was used with irony and quite pointedly.”

Agree with this. No “brown” person I know refers to themselves as brown.
Is everyone a colour now? White, Black or Brown? What about East Asians?

Original poster
julieca · 01/12/2021 22:25

@Smokeyfish it is tough and sad to have a good friend suddenly start spouting about the dangerous things being injected via vaccines and how the government are trying to turn us into a fascist state so lying about covid.

OP posts:
FindingMeno · 01/12/2021 22:26

I would be quite happy to chat with her about it.
I find it all quite interesting.
It's all a load of bs, obviously, but it's a sizeable minority now and to try to influence them we must first try to understand them.

Zig27 · 01/12/2021 22:29

So what if they have different views. Why do you need to change and control them? I bet there are people who don’t vocalise their traits on social media which you have no idea about such as domestic abusers or racists.

Flaxmeadow · 01/12/2021 22:30

Another USA obsession, race classifications and confusing terminology. BIPOC is an odd one to understand, for anyone outside the USA

highlandcoo · 01/12/2021 22:32

Yes, I agree NA was definitely not happy.

Incidentally, Jordan Peterson was horrendous that night I thought. Talk about having a tin ear regarding everyone else's views and feelings.

Hawkins001 · 01/12/2021 22:33

The thing that puzzles me, is some people read a couple of articles on a website, or see a.couple of YouTube videos and suddenly they are the lone, gunmen or fox Mulder and dana scully. If your perspectives warrant sharing , at least they could have plenty of research to back it up.

highlandcoo · 01/12/2021 22:42

It's actually a huge change in a friendship to move from normal lunchtime chats about what you've done/are doing at the weekend, what you've read or watched on TV, how the kids are getting on at uni etc etc, to being ranted at nonstop and urged to visit websites to educate yourself about a range of what I would describe as conspiracy theories. She is completely obsessed and can talk about nothing else.

I don't want to change or control this friend although I do think she is deluded. To be fair, she also thinks I'm deluded in turn and is presumably trying to help me see the light.

I want her to shut up about it basically. I'd like to go back to our nice lunchtimes together .. I miss them.

Kosmin · 01/12/2021 22:55

@milly74
i am totally not all its a conspiracy etc etc but you do wonder at the fact restrictions are soon clamped down and seem hard to remove completely and despite ferment to get everyone vaccinated there seems no end in sight.

Do you mean no end in sight to covid, or no end in sight to restrictions?
There's no end in sight to covid because we have neither eradicated it, nor let it run its course.
There's no end to in sight to the restrictions because the government feels they need to maintain some in order to win the next election.

OnwardsAndSideways1 · 01/12/2021 22:55

I have a friend who got very distressed early on about the governmental control and how this would be used by the right in Europe and so on, she used to post on FB but eventually was only ranting to herself so came off it, rightly so for her own sanity.

Funnily enough she now sounds quite sane, I think she was right to worry about state control and the policing of borders/citizens going on.

I'm happy to still be friends with her, the last time I saw her we chatted about everything and anything, she did say a few things and then said 'but not everyone agrees with me' so she's aware she has divergent views. I'm sympathetic to some of her thinking though and can't believe some of the policies being put in place- mandatory vaccinations, compulsory vaccinations, fines, house arrest more or less for stepping out if you aren't vaccinated in Europe. I am vaccinated but I don't agree with any of this; she was alert to it much earlier. No idea if she is vaccinated, am not going to ask.

oopsinamechangedagain2021 · 01/12/2021 23:14

Yeah I've got one old friend who posts stuff on Facebook about 'the great reset'. I haven't unfriended her as I actually quite like her and she doesn't post about it too often. She does post other interesting (non conspiracy) stuff and general updates about what she is up to, which I enjoy. So I tolerate it and don't engage with the conspiracy theory posts. I do read the links (okay maybe only skim read) that she posts as I wouldn't have ever thought that she would be someone that falls for conspiracies, so I like to check there's nothing in it!

Wowwhatalife · 01/12/2021 23:29

But…what if they’re all right, and we’re all wrong 🤷🏻‍♀️It worries me tbf!

DayKay · 01/12/2021 23:39

The Great Reset is an actual initiative. You can find out about it on the World Economic Forum.
My friend directed me to it. I had a skim read and it sounds like it’s a whole load of companies coming together to look at initiatives for a fairer society (don’t quote me on that)
The conspiracy theorists think there’s a darker side to it.
Who knows. It does seem like it’s inviting corporations to have more power over society but I haven’t looked into it that much.