How do you cure a conspiracy theorist?
Discussion
Yep. One of my oldest friends has fallen down the rabbit hole. Re posts no end of anti vaccine nonsense, but cannot be persuaded that the ‘facts’ he reports several times a day are, in fact, miss information and he is doing damage by passing them on.
In the beginning I spent many hours digging out appropriately refereed publications to show him what was actually going on, but I just couldn’t keep up with the nonsense. In the end I have had to mute him for a while. It’s heartbreaking.
In the beginning I spent many hours digging out appropriately refereed publications to show him what was actually going on, but I just couldn’t keep up with the nonsense. In the end I have had to mute him for a while. It’s heartbreaking.
Tell me more about Princess Diana being alive, this sounds like a really fun one to dig into.
As for curing people, look on Reddit: http://old.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties
That particular subreddit is full of people sharing their experiences of others who have fallen down the QAnon rabbit hole, which is an utterly bats
t insane conspiracy theory which has been stretched to cover everything that happens in American politics. Unfortunately there's no magic bullet for curing people of these delusions apart from them coming to their senses or being receptive to information which goes against the grain of their belief (highly unlikely).
Unfortunately there's a degree of intellectual dishonesty that goes into buying into a conspiracy theory wholly. As-in, people who might be by nature inquisitive and open to other ideas find themselves drawn into a theory precisely because it piques an interest, only to find they put up barriers around alternatives because they value the idea they see the 'real truth.' It's how you end up with 'the Holocaust didn't happen,' '9/11 was an inside job,' 'American school shootings are staged,' etc.
Good luck with assisting your BIL out of this intellectual quagmire. Nobody will tell you it'll be easy.
As for curing people, look on Reddit: http://old.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties
That particular subreddit is full of people sharing their experiences of others who have fallen down the QAnon rabbit hole, which is an utterly bats
t insane conspiracy theory which has been stretched to cover everything that happens in American politics. Unfortunately there's no magic bullet for curing people of these delusions apart from them coming to their senses or being receptive to information which goes against the grain of their belief (highly unlikely).Unfortunately there's a degree of intellectual dishonesty that goes into buying into a conspiracy theory wholly. As-in, people who might be by nature inquisitive and open to other ideas find themselves drawn into a theory precisely because it piques an interest, only to find they put up barriers around alternatives because they value the idea they see the 'real truth.' It's how you end up with 'the Holocaust didn't happen,' '9/11 was an inside job,' 'American school shootings are staged,' etc.
Good luck with assisting your BIL out of this intellectual quagmire. Nobody will tell you it'll be easy.
You can't. The more you engage the more they dig their heels in. My best friend of 35 years has gone down the rabbit hole, and no reason or actual evidence can bring him back. The majority seem to smoke weed too, I had all sorts of crackers ideas as my 20 odd years of weed smoking was coming to an end, luckily as my brain cleared I saw things properly again
hucumber said:
You can't. The more you engage the more they dig their heels in. My best friend of 35 years has gone down the rabbit hole, and no reason or actual evidence can bring him back. The majority seem to smoke weed too, I had all sorts of crackers ideas as my 20 odd years of weed smoking was coming to an end, luckily as my brain cleared I saw things properly again
Can you see clearly now the purple rain has gone?We have this guy locally, he’s gaining quite a following 
https://twitter.com/Cityintel1/status/137501245246...
https://twitter.com/Cityintel1/status/137501245246...
Get him a job in the public sector, or even better a job that involves providing services to the public sector.
The realisation that they couldn't order a box of loo rolls without a ninety minute six-person meeting should be enough to cure anyone with a thread of sanity of the delusion that they could successfully carry out any kind of conspiracy.
The realisation that they couldn't order a box of loo rolls without a ninety minute six-person meeting should be enough to cure anyone with a thread of sanity of the delusion that they could successfully carry out any kind of conspiracy.
Conspiracy theories are just a way for idiots to feel like intellectuals. They are usually failures in real life, with jobs where they have little if any power, and convincing themselves they know the truth when most people don't makes them feel special. Special needs is more like it.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff