Radicalisation of older people

[colinthedogfromaccounts]

My dad (late 70s) has gone full gangster conspiracy theorist. His long list of increasingly radical beliefs include:

Chemtrails control us
WHO created the pandemic
The EU is evil.
Big pharma is poisoning us (he has given up all his life saving meds)
Vaccinations are a control mechanism
Bill Gates is responsible for the weather
The Democrats wanted world war
Gaza is not real - it's all made up to persecute the Jews

The list goes on. My worry is that this radicalisation is putting his health at risk, so I would like to really understand the psychology to approach this with as much evidence as possible.

Sources are sketchy online (specifically relating to how and why older people become radicalised) - wondering if anybody has any research based insights into this.

@UnderHisEeyore fair point

This is a reality though. It's actually happening.

It's people sat at home watching all the crap on daytime TV, and believing all the fake news that's fed to them in Social Media.

A lot of whom are retired, or unemployed. Mi know quite a few. It's terrifying tbh.

Is your Dad okay OP? I think if this is a big departure from his normal, rational way of thinking then I'd be having a quiet word with his GP to call him in for a check up. Of course, some people who are supposedly in their right minds think like this, but which is it?

He’s lonely, and probably grieving.

Yes, we know that, so hence are trying to deflect his conversations in a joking way.

@murasaki when people feel life isn't under control - often comes as a shock that people close to them die and brings their own death into sharp focus - they can turn to authoritarian structured news and powers as a way to keep continuity. It is why so many who flip out and murder/do mass shootings etc are radicalised by the far right who like authoritarianism. If you are weak (having suffered abuse or loss or a poor childhood for example) someone else taking the reigns feels great! They easily convince people who are desperate for stability their views are the only option required, making their life very easy again all of a sudden.

As I said in my other posts, he's trying to fill the silence in his house. His wife was a chatty woman, knew everyone, it took her 30 minutes to get to the shop 5 minutes away, friends with everyone (as evidenced by her funeral turnout where they couldn't all fit in the crem) and that has kind of gone now, and he fills his space and silence with GB news . Its desperately sad but neither DP, his sister or me and her partner know what to do. We try not to upset him but do have to gently call what is turning into racism out.

@UnderHisEeyore , thanks, yes, it could be that.

Depends on the person but the older generation have been radicalised since Rueprt Murdoch took control of our media. Now it's just social media.

Thanks for this it is interesting. I think the crocodile popped upi on my social media I scrolled past. But it's blooming clever

I do understand. Both my dad and my father in law turned from being relaxed ‘centrists’ to noisy racists and conspiracy dabblers in their 60s. Thankfully mum and mother-in-law have stayed pretty true to their younger selves (they’re in their 80’s). I don’t agree with all their ideas about things but at least there is a consistency to their beliefs and they don’t feel the need to dominate every conversation with be-all-and-end-all opinions. They are both happy to accept that there are other experiences to bring to bear.

The Daily Mail was definitely a factor. I think also what other people have said too, they started to feel vulnerable, their status a head of the family was diminishing, they needed to blame other people for things not turning out the way they expected to be. They both became very angry in general, developed hairline triggers for kicking off.

Yes. Definitely because he's "older". We're all like that.

Why don’t you sign them up for The Week or online the Times so they get some more sensible info -although could be right or left leaning but better than GB news.
im an oldie and just signed up for the New York Times to get an American slant on what’s happening it was only £20 for the first year .

Hi OP. Sorry to hear about your father.
In answer to your question, there has been successful research carried out in the US (2022) into ways to help older people be more “resilient” to misinformation and online radicalisation.

They found a technique that works very well in trials. I don’t know if it’s been tested in the UK.

The paper summary is interesting and touches on many of the reasons older people can be vulnerable to online conspiracy theories. Of course different demographics have different vulnerabilities to it but older people are an understudied group. Most research focuses on youth.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-08437-0

Never watched GB news but I doubt it's all crap. The BBC is full of lies. Look at all the millions they took from the Biden gov to spout whatever rhetoric needed peddling, look how they've protected child sex offenders. I'm sure the elderly are vulnerable to a lot of the rubbish that is declared on the Internet, but its hilarious how mumsnet users think they know it all. So convinced that there can be zero truth to a single 'conspiracy theory'. Naive, sanctimonious fools aplenty on here. And as for those speaking scathing of the 'anti-vaxers' - if you don't realise by now that you are a complete and utter plonker for rushing out to get the untested, unsafe covid vaccine then you are a lost cause. How can anyone still now be calling people 'conspiracy theorists' because they are seriously concerned about the pharmaceutical industry, agricultural industry, what is in our water, the integrity of our political leaders, the ethnics and truth behind the whole covid debacle, why child sex offenders are protected/largely go unpunished, the war on free speech, Rotherham cover ups, dark agendas like trans ideology infiltrating our education system.. the list is endless. Its a worrying trend on mumsnet to sneer at anything that isn't in line with mainstream media reporting.

@MaggieMistletoe
There is a ton of information available on why child sex abusers are protected, it's freely available online, start with the Jay report.

If I see something interesting in the USA I follow the local paper. The LA fires the coverage in the LA Times was so different to the news coming out of Washington and NY.

I read the comments to see how real people are doing, what they think. It's very interesting. Local papers in the UK vary. Some are good, some crash all the time.

Here I'll read lots of different newspapers. Like different news channels.

As pp said we're all individuals with our own experiences.

Not sure why you are getting jumped on for being ageist, it's very well known and documented that older people are more prone to falling for scams, by post or in person or online, and this isn't too far off that so I'm not sure why it's ageist to point out it happens, noone suggested it's all old people at all!

It is not 'ageist' to think that there maybe something going on with vulnerable older people, such as brainwashing and coercion from groups. Use some critical thinking and don't just assume its 'ageism'.

On MNs anything that is slightly negative about older people is ageist even if it's acknowledging something true. I also think the average user is much older than the media image of MNs suggests

Bereavement, illness, being the older generation in your family and realising you and your peers will die next, is all very tough mentally.
I don't know if anyone whose parents are getting pulled into this stuff would consider getting involved in University of the Third Age? Still being involved in the local community, meeting new people and talking to others in real life all helps dilute and challenge this radicalisation.

There is a fair amount of radicalisation of older people, especially men. However, it's often people who were racist to start with, and sone with mental health issues.

Anyway I'm older, and I'm definitely not either a racist or a conspiracy theorist!

So you think Greenham Common and Greenpeace protestors were behaving badly? What an odd view .

Absolutely this.

My GB News swallowing relative is very pro U3A. He's always had GB News type views though, he's not a fully fledged conspiracy theorist just a "not allowed to say anything racist now" type. But, he's always talking about how great YouTube is so only a matter of time 👀.