What is it with men and conspiracy theories 🙄

[Titicacacandle]

Online dating and it seems the only men I seem to be attracted to seem to have so many issues that come up after a few chats!

Latest one, and not uncommon by a long shot, has told me that he doesn't pay his water bill because water is free from the sky and the water companies are poisoning us (but doesn't have a distiller so drinks out of plastic bottles and that can cause cancer if all your drinks are from plastic), doesn't pay council tax, doesn't work because he's awake and it's part of the matrix, 5g is going to fuck us all up and our cows are now being injected by another Bill Gates vaccine. I asked him what he did with his day if he doesn't work and he spends his days researching on what is going wrong in the world in the fight against good and evil.. oh and the huge American pedophile rings and social workers trafficking kids. I am a bloody SW, no we don't want your kids, caseloads are overwhelmed enough as it is thanks.

I just think it's sad that his life has become this. I told him we aren't compatible as we don't believe in the same stuff. I feel bad for him and did like the look of him but these conspiracy theories are mental illness. It's almost like they are the new religion with the fevered zelous that the newly converts preach.. even when you tell them you're not interested in conspiracy theories they still bang them down your throat!

My theory on this ( which of course isn’t scientific 🤣) is that it is easier to live like this rather then live on the real world and take accountability of what they do. Does that make sense? Easier to blame shitty stuff happening and things not being easy on some weird stuff.

So it’s one man, then?

I have several friends seemingly intelligent folk who are all like this. They are mainly women TBF

No it's not just one. This is just the latest one who even when I said sorry I don't think we'll be compatible as I just don't believe in the same things as you, proceeded to keep on telling me how true it is and how wrong I am!

My ex got like this about 5g and radiation and that I only know what the government want me to know and it's all an illusion and my education and years of work experience don't count.

So many men on OLD in the last couple of months have been banging on about common law, getting out of society (they still use the roads, medical care, get their rubbish taken away etc) and I just think you bloody idiots. I can't deal with it. Where has the critical thinking gone, or was it ever there?! I don't know!

I wouldn’t go out with people who don’t work.

Conspiracy theory belief is equally weighted by gender. The only major difference found in a 2020 YouGov survey about it was leave v remain voters

I don't know if it's lack of accountability. I don't know what it is so I'm not saying your wrong. I think it's a form of mental illness. A coping strategy definitely but one that takes over someones entire life!

That's interesting thanks. I don't date women so I don't have the same number of women luring me in and then coming out with 5g nonsense.

I’m gently surprised by that, although I wouldn’t be surprised if that park ratio widely differs between the “type” conspiracy theories.

My brother in law fell down the rabbit hole during lockdown. It’s really sad how he now views the world.

A State of Fear: how the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic, was a Sunday Times bestseller by Laura Dodsworth.

It’s about how fear was leveraged to encourage compliance during an extraordinary period in British life. This book goes down a rabbit hole at over 2k reviews on Amazon. Laura has written another book 'free your mind' Only just come out, her biggest audience are women not men.

Conspiracy theories, if you're talking about flat earth. Big foot and birds aren't real, I agree they are stupid but many of the things that are mentioned on mumsnet as conspiracies are in real life actually good debates and people's perceptions and opinions. So maybe you need to change your profile as you seem to be attracting weirdos but nothing to do with conspiracies.

You're doing what the men on the apps have been doing to me! I think it's absolutely ridiculous to think the government is this all mighty and powerful being that used covid to make the public scared. The government doesn't work like that. Members of the gov. definitely used covid to gain financially for personal gain - think investing in face masks but no the leaders of the world did not all join up together to create a pandemic of fear to keep people indoors. If you knew how jumbled up and disorganised it actually is you wouldn't think so either 🤦‍♀️

I know loads of women who are conspiracy theorists. It's not a male or female specific thing.

It's bizarre isn't it. It's like invasion of the body snatchers. My first long term relationship was with a loon. He was a violent misogynist antisemitic loon to boot.

Birds aren't real?!

Oh OP I can relate! I have male family members who are conspiracy theorists and their chat killlllllllllsssssss me. I can't even have it. And literally anything I eat/watch/look at/read/drink/apply to my skin/cook with the (list goes on) is in some way damaging or part of a larger group or cancerous or a hoax or whatever!!

I’ve not read that book so not sure what it’s actually about…. But I thought it’s a pretty common understanding that the government weaponised fear during the pandemic? They didn’t “use covid to make the public scared”, they made the public as scared as possible to ensure we complied with their guidelines. They needed to scare the shit out of us. So not a case of “creating a pandemic” but choosing their words and messages very carefully to terrify us into submission, to manage the pandemic. I don’t see how that’s a conspiracy theory?

Our government isn't competent enough to pull any stunts like that.

There's a podcast called Marianna in conspiracy land. You might enjoy it.

@ReeseWitherfork you'd be "scared shitless" if you saw the inner workings of ICU during the height of COVID I can guarantee you that. Government (on the whole) acted accordingly.

Before conspiracy theories took over I used to quite like a debate around how the world is ran, what the media does etc. But now I can't stand it! What really winds me up is that all these people seem to care about child trafficking, corruption in gov, sewerage companies but yet don't see the real things going on under their eyes like the hundreds of thousands unaccompanied asylum seeker children that have been trafficked all over Europe, real organ harvesting, sex slavery, modern day slavery that is happening. That utility companies are making so much money and their are ministers in the cabinet with shares in these firms so no desire to make them affordable etc etc. But hey lets believe in all this alt right religious stuff about the devil in music lyrics and pretend we're better than everyone else because we're awake.. it's utter bollocks and I can't cope with it anymore!!

doesn't pay council tax
It's one of the few taxes that can land you in prison if not paid. You can get reductions in the amount but there are very few exemptions. So if he isn't exempt he's either lying or about to hit the local newspaper.

Property occupied only by full-time students. Property owned by the Secretary of State for Defence which is held for armed forces' accommodation. Property occupied by visiting forces. Unoccupied property where the person who would normally pay the council tax bill is a bankrupt's or insolvent's trustee.

Do you really think all the leaders of the world decided to scare us all to follow the various different guidelines in different countries. Or that the news reported it in the way the government wanted them too instead of reporting it in ways to get viewers and up their ratings like they would for any disaster they think the public would be interested in?

I’ve encountered male and female ones. It is driven by a combination of anxiety and disenfranchisement. A conspiracy theory provides comfort by identifying a convenient scapegoat and thereby making the world seem more straightforward and controllable.

Maybe there’s something in your dating profile that’s appealing to these types. If you want to post any text on your dating profile for us to feed back on, to help you appeal more to level headed men and repel the conspiracists, please do.

Exactly. They ignore real things going on in the world and instead get worked up about right-wing conspiracies. I think it's about anxiety and needing control. The real bad stuff in the world is out of their control, whereas a belief that they're 'in the know' about conspiracies gives them a sense of power, albeit by proxy

I used to think it was an age thing, but now not so much.
I'm 22, and can get on board with some conspiracy theories, purely because some seem interesting.
That said, my mom and her partner went full loon mid 2020 - present.. and it completely put me off looking into things I previously found an interesting pastime.
90% of them do make themselves sound clinically insane. Wait until they start doomsday prepping and telling you to buy powdered food and generators 🤣🤣

Thanks AlBot but I've deleted my profile tonight. I'm utterly fed up of not liking anyone and then the ones who I think oo you like nice and match with are either conspiracy theorists or come on sexually too strong before I've met them. I'm going to concentrate on living my nice life and if I meet someone naturally in real life then that's great but if not I have a lovely life anyway. I've had dc, had a husband and have no need for another one. I did want a boyfriend and butterflies but I'm over it now.