Anti-Conspiracy Theories #7 Google told me, so it must be true. Sheeep!

[OwlAtTheMoon]

V. interesting article about a former 'truther' and his process of disentangling himself from a mega CT mindset:

Escape from the rabbit hole: the conspiracy theorist who abandoned his dangerous beliefs

For 15 years, Brent Lee spent hours each day consuming ‘truther’ content online. Then he logged off. Can he convince his former friends to question their worldview?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Ellelalala]

In about 2 hours we get to see if people in the States turn into zombies and start killing each other.

 

[Ensay]

In about 2 hours we get to see if people in the States turn into zombies and start killing each other.

I wonder why she says it'll only turn "some" people into zombies? I wondered if they were planning ahead, so that when people don't turn into zombies they can say "we only said SOME and the ones that turned were taken away by the government" - or something along those lines!

Mind you, I remember some people kicking up a fuss about the emergency test here. There were lots of people saying emergency alerts should be deactivated on phones because it was a government conspiracy to control us all. I don't think anyone mentioned zombies, though.

They give the government far too much credit. If today's speech from Rishi is anything to go by, they haven't got a bleeping clue. They can't even build a railway line - Project Zombie would never run to cost or budget either. We're gonna be OK.

 

[Ellelalala]

I wonder why she says it'll only turn "some" people into zombies? I wondered if they were planning ahead, so that when people don't turn into zombies they can say "we only said SOME and the ones that turned were taken away by the government" - or something along those lines!

Mind you, I remember some people kicking up a fuss about the emergency test here. There were lots of people saying emergency alerts should be deactivated on phones because it was a government conspiracy to control us all. I don't think anyone mentioned zombies, though.

They give the government far too much credit. If today's speech from Rishi is anything to go by, they haven't got a bleeping clue. They can't even build a railway line - Project Zombie would never run to cost or budget either. We're gonna be OK.

I believe the thought is that it's going to activate the mrna (chip? dna code? or something) in the covid vax. So if you haven't had one or if you're one of the people that got one of the (alleged) fake ones, it won't affect you. I'll be interested to see how many drop dead or turn into a rageful killing machine, and how many are spared.
---

 

[Ellelalala]

 

[L3moning]

V. interesting article about a former 'truther' and his process of disentangling himself from a mega CT mindset:

Escape from the rabbit hole: the conspiracy theorist who abandoned his dangerous beliefs

For 15 years, Brent Lee spent hours each day consuming ‘truther’ content online. Then he logged off. Can he convince his former friends to question their worldview?

www.theguardian.com

The world needs more articles like this, I think.

 

[Dollenganger]

V. interesting article about a former 'truther' and his process of disentangling himself from a mega CT mindset:

Escape from the rabbit hole: the conspiracy theorist who abandoned his dangerous beliefs

For 15 years, Brent Lee spent hours each day consuming ‘truther’ content online. Then he logged off. Can he convince his former friends to question their worldview?

www.theguardian.com

Thanks for posting this - so interesting.

 

[Deeznutslol]

V. interesting article about a former 'truther' and his process of disentangling himself from a mega CT mindset:

Escape from the rabbit hole: the conspiracy theorist who abandoned his dangerous beliefs

For 15 years, Brent Lee spent hours each day consuming ‘truther’ content online. Then he logged off. Can he convince his former friends to question their worldview?

www.theguardian.com

Absolutely fascinating and such a unique perspective. It’s so rare for people who have fallen into conspiracy theories to actually pull themselves back out again.
His explanation as to why he fell into CTism in the first place sums up perfectly the way a lot of CTists come across to me:

What made him vulnerable? Partly, he blames his education. “I wasn’t taught how to assess information or how to do research,” he says. “I don’t think I lacked intelligence but I was very naive about politics and how the world actually works.”

This is the problem. We need to teach critical thinking skills in schools to protect the next generation from falling for CTs. It is absolutely fundamental at this point given how saturated the internet and media have become with misinformation. How can young people be expected to wade through it all unless they are equipped with the skills required to figure out what is real and what is just made up nonsense designed to trick people?

 

[Kim Mild]

I've been down a bit of a rabbit hole due to finding a photo of Concorde for the iconic photo thread. There are what I suppose are very young adults, who seem to think Concorde / supersonic passenger aircraft wasn't a real thing. People were posting saying they thought it was a concept aircraft, or from a film .

I could imagine all the doubters trying to prove it was a hoax , like what they do with the moon landings .

 

[Sideboard Bob]

There was a survey years ago about what people thought was fiction and what was real.

A small, but very real percent of people surveyed thought that -

- the Titanic a fictional story

- War Of The Worlds really happened

- the Battle Of Helms Deep was a real historical event

 

[Kim Mild]

Obviously there is a difference between thinking something is fictional because you are unaware it was something that actually happened and thinking something is a hoax because it's a conspiracy to mislead us.

 

[mcfeez]

There was a survey years ago about what people thought was fiction and what was real.

A small, but very real percent of people surveyed thought that -

- the Titanic a fictional story

- War Of The Worlds really happened

- the Battle Of Helms Deep was a real historical event

To be fair, Helms Deep sounds like something that could have been around the same time as Hastings, Stamford Bridge etc. - if you've never seen or read LOTR (I mean sounds real in name only to be clear. Not the orcs, elves etc haha)

 

[Sideboard Bob]

To be fair, Helms Deep sounds like something that could have been around the same time as Hastings, Stamford Bridge etc. - if you've never seen or read LOTR (I mean sounds real in name only to be clear. Not the orcs, elves etc haha)

No totally! I was thinking the same, if you don’t know LOTR it sounds very real! So if you just saw the words “Battle of Helms Deep”, it would seem legit.

What blows my mind is that some people thought the War Of The Worlds really happened. I guess what‘s really going on is that they’re thinking of that radio dramatisation of the book that was too realistic, and freaked people out. THAT was real.

But I love the idea that maybe a tiny percent of people think the war ot the worlds really happened, aliens have already been to earth, we won and moved on.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

But I love the idea that maybe a tiny percent of people think the war ot the worlds really happened, aliens have already been to earth, we won and moved on.

To be fair, it's quite understandable that they might have been swayed by Mr Wayne's splendid 1978 presentation of Mr Wells' initial claim of such, I believe many people were at one time in posesion of the now-obsolete dual thirty-three-and-a-third Long Play circular formatted document set.

Also, if it had happened there would be all sorts of alien bits and bobs (powdered, pickled, novelty key tags etc) on ebay, and further proof that it didn't happen is the complete absence of any kind of 'pimp my alien assault tripod' TV show.

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

There was a survey years ago about what people thought was fiction and what was real.

A small, but very real percent of people surveyed thought that -

- the Titanic a fictional story

- War Of The Worlds really happened

- the Battle Of Helms Deep was a real historical event

This topic is fascinating. And I agree that fictional battle names can sound realistic, eg Culloden, Marston Moor, Stamford Bridge battles were all real but Helms Deep sounds like it just about could be, if a bit of a stretch. The fact that most historical battles are the actual places where they happened is a big giveaway I guess.

What concerns me more about that list of what people think was real is the lack of education behind this. It shocks me tbh that a person would reach young adulthood without their parents, teachers, grandparents (or just their own natural curiosity to look it up) telling them the Titanic sank in 1912 and there have been several subsequent feature films re-imagining its tragic story. It's such a massive event in British history and subsequent popular culture, especially James Cameron's 1997 film.
A different case with HG Wells' War of the Worlds, as this time it isn't a real event but is a renowned classic of English literature. If you reach adulthood without having come across one of the film or radio versions, or not having read the novel, but then you do see a film version, surely then that sparks the looking it up, discovering its literary origins, or if you're still at school, asking again teachers, parents, family, about it? The fact it might feel real means it's great story-telling, and great filmmaking, but if the context around it is missing then research is needed. Better still read the novel and understand it's just that, a novel. Gobsmacking tbh that people don't bother to seek out context, look up to find the writers of screenplays and films, find out if it's based on real events or use common sense when it's the sci-fi genre. The internet can be a wonderful thing and it's so much easier now to look things up/check facts, compared to when you had to go to a library and pore over hefty encyclopaedias, etc. But readily accessible online information isn't always reliable as we well know on this thread, and its constant availability doesn't necessarily make people more discerning or informed.

 

[Deeznutslol]

Seeing lots of conspiracy theorists saying that they don’t care what happens with Palestine / Israel and that they hope they all kill each other.
What an edgy take on the situation ! Cunts.

 

[MaineCoonMama]

To be fair, it's quite understandable that they might have been swayed by Mr Wayne's splendid 1978 presentation of Mr Wells' initial claim of such, I believe many people were at one time in posesion of the now-obsolete dual thirty-three-and-a-third Long Play circular formatted document set.

Also, if it had happened there would be all sorts of alien bits and bobs (powdered, pickled, novelty key tags etc) on ebay, and further proof that it didn't happen is the complete absence of any kind of 'pimp my alien assault tripod' TV show.

I used to work in a bong shop, we had all kinds of weird things including an 'alien baby' in a jar. It was plastic of course, we would brew up some tea to make the water look all creepy.
One woman would always put one on lay-by, pay it off then immediately put aside another one.

Surprising how many people would ask if it was real. Actually, not surprising if you've ever worked in retail. People can be really thick.

 

[L3moning]

But I love the idea that maybe a tiny percent of people think the war ot the worlds really happened, aliens have already been to earth, we won and moved on.

Well, bacteria won, we didn't

 

[Sideboard Bob]

Well, bacteria won, we didn't

I‘m just going to pretend I meant “we” as in Earthlings

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

I‘m just going to pretend I meant “we” as in Earthlings

I believed you, SideyB! But yes, 'Earthlings and our attendant viruses and bacteria' might be more what saved the day (in the War of the Worlds story that didn't actually happen, phew!)