Conspiracy theories - global survey
Discussion
Just read this article in the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/26/surv...
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories or happy that compared to other countries we don’t seem too bad.
Still the numbers are pretty worrying. Plenty of examples of people believing nonsense from PH threads so to be expected I suppose. Still baffling to me personally though.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/26/surv...
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories or happy that compared to other countries we don’t seem too bad.
Still the numbers are pretty worrying. Plenty of examples of people believing nonsense from PH threads so to be expected I suppose. Still baffling to me personally though.
Esceptico said:
Just read this article in the Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/26/surv...
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories or happy that compared to other countries we don’t seem too bad.
Still the numbers are pretty worrying. Plenty of examples of people believing nonsense from PH threads so to be expected I suppose. Still baffling to me personally though.
I think this is a fascinating thing, psychologically. Clearly, there are some people who are easily led and in the internet world, it is far easier for them to find each other. We have a few quite extreme cases here on PH, particularly since the whole virus thing became apparent.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/26/surv...
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories or happy that compared to other countries we don’t seem too bad.
Still the numbers are pretty worrying. Plenty of examples of people believing nonsense from PH threads so to be expected I suppose. Still baffling to me personally though.
In addition to that we a situation where one of the most powerful people in the world, the president of the USA, actually based his early political efforts on a conspiracy, with 'Birtherism'. Whilst he is clearly a cretin, I doubt there is any chance he actually believed in anything he was saying, but the fact that he was able to get elected seems a stark indicator that objective truth is seriously under attack.
I don't think there's a conspiracy just rank incompetence and/or blind panic by our 'leaders'. But I do think the opportuntiy has been seized to 'never waste a good crisis' and push a certain agenda
The response to Covid, to me, is simply baffling and I can well understand how some people might seek to rationalise it by concluding there is something 'going on'.
I think it is right to question what on the face of it makes no sense. I'm still trying to fathom it all.
The response to Covid, to me, is simply baffling and I can well understand how some people might seek to rationalise it by concluding there is something 'going on'.
I think it is right to question what on the face of it makes no sense. I'm still trying to fathom it all.
A Winner Is You said:
Regarding the death rate, are there not legitimate questions regarding the way the figures have been reached? There's a big difference between dying with it and dying of it.
This is the one thing that annoys me. The part they don't read out when telling us the figures. That is "Death for any reason within 28 days of a positive test"Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
paulguitar said:
I think this is a fascinating thing, psychologically. Clearly, there are some people who are easily led and in the internet world, it is far easier for them to find each other. We have a few quite extreme cases here on PH, particularly since the whole virus thing became apparent.
In addition to that we a situation where one of the most powerful people in the world, the president of the USA, actually based his early political efforts on a conspiracy, with 'Birtherism'. Whilst he is clearly a cretin, I doubt there is any chance he actually believed in anything he was saying, but the fact that he was able to get elected seems a stark indicator that objective truth is seriously under attack.
It is fascinating and worrying in equal measures. The information available on the net is amazing and for any normal, skeptical person it should be possible to confirm within minutes whether what is presented is reasonable or likely to be BS yet some people are “skeptical” about mainstream views yet seem to accept without problem or rational analysis theories that are obviously nonsense. Baffling. In addition to that we a situation where one of the most powerful people in the world, the president of the USA, actually based his early political efforts on a conspiracy, with 'Birtherism'. Whilst he is clearly a cretin, I doubt there is any chance he actually believed in anything he was saying, but the fact that he was able to get elected seems a stark indicator that objective truth is seriously under attack.
TheD said:
A Winner Is You said:
Regarding the death rate, are there not legitimate questions regarding the way the figures have been reached? There's a big difference between dying with it and dying of it.
This is the one thing that annoys me. The part they don't read out when telling us the figures. That is "Death for any reason within 28 days of a positive test"Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
TheD said:
This is the one thing that annoys me. The part they don't read out when telling us the figures. That is "Death for any reason within 28 days of a positive test"
Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
You make it sound like there is some conspiracy when there is none. There is a genuine issue in collecting information because Covid 19 may not be the main reason. However this is known. A quick google came up with this piece that explains it all:Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/08/12...
Esceptico said:
TheD said:
This is the one thing that annoys me. The part they don't read out when telling us the figures. That is "Death for any reason within 28 days of a positive test"
Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
You make it sound like there is some conspiracy when there is none. There is a genuine issue in collecting information because Covid 19 may not be the main reason. However this is known. A quick google came up with this piece that explains it all:Does this mean if you tested positive for Covid, and you died of Cancer 20 days later, it counts as a Covid death?
https://publichealthmatters.blog.gov.uk/2020/08/12...
All the doctors I know keep saying so many deaths at the hospital are put as Covid deaths when the reality is they would have died regardless.
My father in law died a couple of weeks back and the coroner was desperate to put it as a Covid death, said they could avoid an autopsy.
That is not a conspiracy theory, it is a case of wether you think the way the data should be recorded is, for a start correct, and secondly being done properly.
Derek Smith said:
A Winner Is You said:
Regarding the death rate, are there not legitimate questions regarding the way the figures have been reached? There's a big difference between dying with it and dying of it.
Bit like AIDS you think? No one dies of it, but lots and lots die with it.After all, if we go by the official figures the UK has had more covid deaths than the entirety of Africa.
Esceptico said:
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories
Why? We know conspiracy theories are true. Operation Northwoods, Gary Webb, the covering-up of child sex abuse by celebrities and politicians (Saville, Cyril Smith, Clement Freud).
The problem is filtering out what is a genuine conspiracy and what is just internet chatter.
Equally a blind trust in what you are told is right / wrong, real or not is just as dangerous. Somewhere in between blind faith and a conspiracy theory is probably the truth.
Covid has stirred it up as it clearly doesn't add up and anyone can see that. Whether you put that down to an underhand agenda or incompetence is up to you but clearly somepeople fall in the other camp.
Covid has stirred it up as it clearly doesn't add up and anyone can see that. Whether you put that down to an underhand agenda or incompetence is up to you but clearly somepeople fall in the other camp.
Lotobear said:
I don't think there's a conspiracy just rank incompetence and/or blind panic by our 'leaders'. But I do think the opportuntiy has been seized to 'never waste a good crisis' and push a certain agenda
The response to Covid, to me, is simply baffling and I can well understand how some people might seek to rationalise it by concluding there is something 'going on'.
I think it is right to question what on the face of it makes no sense. I'm still trying to fathom it all.
This really. No way is it a conspiracy, far too many people and moving parts to be complicit. But it has to have been hijacked in some way by people with fortunes to make and agendas to push.The response to Covid, to me, is simply baffling and I can well understand how some people might seek to rationalise it by concluding there is something 'going on'.
I think it is right to question what on the face of it makes no sense. I'm still trying to fathom it all.
CzechItOut said:
Esceptico said:
Not sure whether to be disheartened by how many people in the UK believe in conspiracy theories
Why? We know conspiracy theories are true. Operation Northwoods, Gary Webb, the covering-up of child sex abuse by celebrities and politicians (Saville, Cyril Smith, Clement Freud).
The problem is filtering out what is a genuine conspiracy and what is just internet chatter.
Esceptico said:
Not sure it is a problem myself and I think you are confusing conspiracy theories with genuine abuses of power. Hallmark of conspiracy theories are that they are clearly BS ie make no sense when viewed objectively eg US faked landing on the moon. It is clear that perpetrating such a deception and maintaining it forever would be much more difficult than landing on the moon.
Just look at our government's attempt to create a track and trace spreadsheet, then imagine them co-operating with every other world power and prior administrations for decades to hide that little green men crashed in Roswell and created a vaccine that gives you autism.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff