Friends with conspiracy theorists

katherineconlan

Covid has brought a massive increase in 5G and other conspiracy theories. I've had an interest in them ever since I was a teenager, but don't believe any of the shite. I just find the 'half-truth's' in them entertaining.

I've been a bit afraid to mention my interest to friends or coworkers as many people take a dim view of conspiracies. I'm wondering if people would steer clear of someone they knew who had an interest in 9/11, the Moon Landing, JFK, Alex Jones etc..

the_pen_turner

sounds like something the cia would get an undercover agent to ask.

all conspiricy theories have some truth to them or are at least plausible in some areas

if you are looking at it that way i would say you would be ok. im sure there are some interesting sides to some of them and other would like to hear about it

dxhound2005

Do your own research.

silliussoddius

Conspiracy theorists are either attention seekers or have some kind of narcissistic disorder where they convince themselves that they are so special that they know something that all the other sheeple don't know and they are part of the good fight.

mdwexford

People with too much time on their hands and little education are the sorts who seem to believe every conspiracy theory going.

If you think one or two are plausible maybe fair enough, but every single one of them. Nah you’re just a dope.

I used to be friends with one. He was funny and kooky, but he never seemed to take his own conspiracy stuff completely seriously. Until around May of last year, when he turned into a right nasty little so-and-so. Praying that certain politicians would die, barging into his local police station during lockdown demanding they take a statement due to poisoning by 5g, then deciding to insert himself into the metoo movement because he'd been raped by the Department of Communications. But I didn't feel concerned or sorry for him at this point, because his behaviour was called out repeatedly, and honestly, he was perfectly in his right mind. Of course he started threatening everyone with karma, because he somehow became the lord of karma, and after about three months of this, I said enough, and cut ties. I miss the guy he was before, though.

standardg60

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058219430/friends-with-conspiracy-theorists

If you don't believe any of the shite but have an interest in them then you sound like someone who most people would like to have a conversation with.

Why would you think anything else?

Atlantic Dawn

I find the best way to deal with them is not to encourage them, better off adding more looper ideas like putting a CD on the rear view mirror to protect against speeding fines or tell them placing a sheet of tin foil in the glovebox makes the car invisible to radar.

bazz26

Some folks these days are happier wearing a tin foil hat than a face covering.

I've a healthy interest in them to be honest.

I think it is good to be skeptical about most stuff we are told. But as was said before, I wouldn't look to the likes of Alex Jones as basis of doing your own research. It's easy to go down a rabbit hole of similarly minded people and end up coming to a conclusion due to confirmation bias.

But there is absolutely no harm in hearing their theories and then looking into it for yourself or discussing it with open minded people.

For example with 9/11, i'd be wary of someone who insists that there were no planes or that holograms were used, but I have had many interesting conversations with people regarding the fact that a partially charred passport of one of the hijackers happened to be recovered, or the interesting coincidence that a mock training exercise was happening that day or that there was no decent footage ever presented of the crash into the pentagon.

It's good to talk stuff through with people and much healthier than searching youtube for videos that agree with you. So yeah, I see no harm once you don't go full Gemma O'Doherty

I like the ones that tell an actually good story. Linking actual facts (not made up facts) in new ways to create a seemingly plausible story. That takes skill and imagination and makes you go "hmmmm - wow - maybe?".

Love him or hate him Blindboy is occasionally good at that. He calls them "hot takes" but admits it's just another name for "conspiracy theory". But he can pull together researched facts and create a story out of it that is likely not true - but sounds plausible and interesting and stimulates the imagination. And actually is a good education tool because you then remember the facts themselves. The human mind is good at remembering facts if a story or image is built up around them.

But too many of the conspiracy theories we see around social media and forums tend to be the opposite. Boring prepackaged nonsense - usually based on a lack of facts than facts. And I do not mean by lack of facts they have no evidence. I mean if they actually seek out areas where facts are missing or not available (maybe a document was destroyed for example or someone died before testifying etc etc) and build up a narrative as to why that was done. "If we do not have aliens under autopsy then why was this document destroyed and this man prevented from testifying" kind of things.

So all the stuff from UFOs, to flat earth, to microchips in vaccines, just don't interest me.

katherineconlan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118214960#Comment_118214960

To be honest, UFO's aren't really a conspiracy. They are entirely plausible. Things like the government microchipping people or controlling the weather have been disproven time and time again. Flat earth is also B.S. as so much of what scientists do in physics relies on the principle of a spherical globe.

But there are bilions of galaxies out there with each of their own planets. To think we're alone is a bit naive.

greenspurs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058219430/friends-with-conspiracy-theorists

A re reg to just poke this topic??

Come on ....

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058219430/friends-with-conspiracy-theorists

for a start alex jones is comedy and very little else , he even stated he's a performance artist to get off a charge.

Gregor Samsa

To be honest, UFO's aren't really a conspiracy.

There's a big difference in believing that there may be intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, and that it's actively visiting us in small spacecraft - but you're right, neither would be a conspiracy theory as such. The conspiracy theory side is that Governments are aware of alien visits, and either have captured some of their technology, or are somehow working in partnership with them to the determent of the rest of us. Or are suppressing "the truth". The whole Area 51 thing, for example.

So yeah, I see no harm once you don't go full Gemma O'Doherty

GOD is an extremely extreme example. You can be way, way back in the conspiracy theory spectrum from her and still be too far gone. Like you say, no harm in being aware of these thing, or finding them interesting. But when they start to inform people's world-view, that's when the trouble can start.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216002#Comment_118216002

Not being convinced there are aliens visiting us is not the same as thinking we are alone in all the billions of galaxies though in fairness.

One naivety does not imply the other. It's perfectly possible to entertain the idea the galaxies could possibly be teeming with intelligent life - though we have no evidence any of them are - without for a moment entertaining the notion any of them have come here to secretly probe the anuses of red necks in isolated parts of the USA :)

But as I said it comes for me down to whether the narrative is interesting and inventive - or boring. Plausible helps of course. But it is interesting when it ties real demonstrable facts into a new story that makes the brain go "hmmmm" or shows you new connections between existing data you might not have seen before.

Rather than the cheaper nastier conspiracy theories which are the literal opposite of facts - relying more on pointing out how some document or testimony or evidence is actively missing and then building up a conspiracy narrative as to why that might be.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216037#Comment_118216037

Indeed! And L Ron Hubbard was a prolific but pretty much failed Science Fiction writer who made stuff up about space aliens for a living. And look what he achieved :/

El_Duderino 09

I love conspiracy theory TV shows. But I like them as a form of entertainment. Kind of like alternative history. I like the Ancient Aliens TV series, for example because the history and mythology are very interesting.

I would steer clear of anyone who seriously believes any of them. Well, I'm not saying I would never talk to them, but I'd consider them a bit of a gobshyte and a bit credulous. Not someone whose opinion I would value.

BorneTobyWilde

85% of people are asymptomatic. Will have covid and not even sneeze once, that is then 85% of a population that believe it's not real.

Crocodile Booze

It's been an eye-opener for me, to realise how many seemingly normal people I have known for a long time, are in fact narcissistic, paranoid and dangerous weirdos, who put so much time and belief into their own off-the-wall "research".

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216162#Comment_118216162

I watched an ancient aliens the other day where they said there were loads of aliens on the moon watching the lads when they made their first moon landing. They said they expected there to be aliens there so they made some stock footage of the moon landing in a warehouse on earth to cut with the footage on the moon so they didn't show all the other aliens in the background. That's why the flag blew in thr wind in some footage - because some of it was genuine moon landing footage and other stuff was faked.

That's a good conspiracy theory regarding aliens. Total nonsense, obviously, but interesting to think about.

This is helpful

Tell me how

I know someone who has gone quite the distance down the anti-vaccine, new world order type rabbit hole. Her motivation in doing so seems to have originated out of a sense of anxiety around the negative news events that have been so prevalent for the last 5 or 6 years or so in particular.

She always had quite a strong religious faith and had her head turned by 'religious' zealots on YouTube and Facebook pushing a very strong pro-life (and yet anti-vaccine) message.

She started by sending me the odd screenshot or message but it escalated clearly throughout last year and she started sending 3 and 4 hour long YouTube videos telling me I really should watch all of it. I didn't want to respond exactly how I felt for the most part because I felt it might hurt her feelings. It finally got to a head in the lead up to the US Presidential election last year when she said she really hoped for the world that Trump won because he knew what 'they' were doing in trying to create a new world order and he was trying to stop it which is why the media made him look so bad.

I responded at that time in a bit of detail and told her I pay a lot of attention to current affairs and have seen zero reputable evidence to indicate for a second to support that. We didn't fall out over it, I did make it clear I wasn't saying she shouldn't turn in whatever direction she wanted to for guidance, but that I had looked at the stuff she sent on and thought it was nonsense.

I do feel a bit uneasy about it, she and her husband have 3 young children and they're starting to push a pretty conservative message on to them but of course it's not my place to say anything about that.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118216576#Comment_118216576

Woah! Making your point using a pyramid! You're one of them!

Real Life

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213933#Comment_118213933

I think this type of thing is happening a lot recently. I know some people that are into conspiracies and have had many normal conversations with them about these things over the years where we might disagree but still be friendly and have a laugh about it but with the whole Covid thing these same people seem to have really gone off the deep end and become really nasty.

The whole Do your own research from people who don't even understand what research is would be laughable if it hadn't become so serious

MSVforever

I do have a mate who believes Covid is a hoax and all the sh#te that comes along with it.

We had a discussion and he has is viewpoint and I have mine. That's the end of it.

As long as someone doesn't try to convert me to their view I will engage with them.

I don't mind people having theories that seem far fetched but have some degree of plausibility. Just not the utterly absurd stuff (Covid is a hoax, 5g is controlling our minds). Also they are theories, not proven facts. Not agreeing with theories does not make someone a sheep. Believing a random person on YouTube is what's sheep-like.

NiceFella

Conspiracy theorys is almost a you tube art form at this stage. I've watched so many paranoid conspiracys with the backing track of dread almost like in a Hitchcock triller with whole narrative ramped up and disposing of any contrary facts.

A friend of mine was highly versed in them and introduced me to many that at first were quite revelatory for me. However after a while I realised they were omitting a lot of major facts. It was quite damaging for my psychology overall but it probably developed some healthy skepticism too.

My friend though has gone to the dogs and I have lost him to them. He invariably changes his opinions to the next fashionable conspiracy. It's quite sad.

DontHitTheDitch

I know people with PhDs who believe in paranoid conspiracy theories, the most prominent are in the chart above but it curiously seems to be missing ‘The Patriarchy’, the ‘Pay Gap’ and ‘Toxic Masculinity’. The JFK one is surely the granddad of conspiracy theories. I think the 9/11 attacks were definitely a turning point, conspiracy theories became mainstream just as the internet was becoming a major source of information. Social media has made conspiracy theories more potent for sure, no matter how far down the looney rabbit hole you’ve gone you will always find people that make you feel you are actually very sane and reasonable.

seanin4711

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058219430/friends-with-conspiracy-theorists

they were conspiracy theories 12 months ago now the are occurring all around us

B.A._Baracus

If someone was the type to believe in conspiracy theories I would recommend keeping them to yourself. Never give anyone else ammunition to slag you.

McGarnigle2020

I'd actually worry about the day to day ability to handle ones affairs, of anybody who believes absolutely everything our government and NPHET have claimed about Covid.

It isn't even open to opinion, if someone unquestionably clings to the opinion of a government and a health quango that have released lie after lie and disingenuously presented statistics (statistics that can be shown to be false by stats released by other arms of government like the CSO and the HSPC,) I would seriously question that person's ability to, for example, conduct their personal finances without another adult overseeing it.