Link to Ireland in Independent here
Anyone noticed a surge in conspiracy theorists of late? Masks taking away our civil liberties, celebrity paedophiles rings, Bill Gates microchipping us, Celine Dion drinking adrenochrome (baby blood) to stay young… Yawn. We’ve heard it all before.
Whenever there’s a seismic event, there’s a conspiracy. JFK, 911, Princess Diana’s death, ‘false-flag’ terrorism and plots for world domination by morally bereft parties who want to prod us like cattle for no reason. That was before 2020. Now we have more billionaire paedophile rings, a scandemic, climate hoax, 60gig frequency 5G networks absorbing oxygen and destroying your gut fauna, mask mandates, big pharma trying to peddle vaccines, fear porn. The list is endless.
The age of anti-intellectualism is here, where anyone with credentials can be deemed a fake. Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, who mistake their fear of uncertainty as wisdom, are trolling in the name of truth and it could lead to a bigger pandemic than the one we are battling.
Last weekend, around 20,000 people gathered in Berlin to protest Germany’s coronavirus regulations, accusing the government of “stealing our freedom”. They made statements such as “corona, false alarm” and “we are being forced to wear a muzzle”.
In the UK, 5G masts have been burnt, while in the US infections are soaring because people are flouting social distancing and masks.
Opinion researchers at Germany’s Allensbach Institute found one in four Americans believes the mainstream media “are not telling the truth about corona”, and one in eight Americans under 30 thinks “Bill Gates is using the crisis to set up a new world order”. Then they have a president who retweets ‘Q’ drops from online cult QAnon.
You may remember Pizzagate. Back in 2016, an armed man walked into Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria in Washington to infiltrate a Satanic child-eating paedophile ring. It wasn’t there, but a year later, from it a mysterious character called ‘Q’ emerged on the 4chan message board.
Since 2017, Q has established himself/herself as a government insider. Their disciples, who believe Donald Trump has been sent to disband said Satanic paedophile rings and the deep state, are preparing for an apocalypse. As if he’d keep that to himself.
Joseph Uscinski, a University of Miami professor who studies conspiracy theories, described QAnon’s followers as fringe, but “dangerous”.
He said: “They are inciting violence… Their political enemies are eating children and molesting them, sucking magical powers out of their glands for black magic. There’s nothing worse you can say about someone.”
The ‘post-truth’ juggernaut is out of control. So how do we stop it?
Reddit banned a QAnon group in 2018, and in July Twitter purged thousands of QAnon-associated accounts, while TikTok blocked QAnon hashtags.
But censorship often creates more mistrust. CNN published “Six tips on how to engage anti-vaxxers”, but clearly they haven’t met conspiracy theorists. The Dalai Lama himself would run for the hills. They are Machiavellian masters of deflection, so don’t engage.
The repercussions of rampaging self-interest could lead to violence – especially in gun-toting America, whatever about the anti-science mob. In a bid to get through to ‘truthers’, getting them to also question their reputations could be a start.
An old conspiracy friend pointed out that the QAnon followers are an experiment. “They are told to sit back (handy, as many are work-shy) as everything is ‘part of the plan’.” The friend continues: “The AIs/military/psychological operations who created Q are controlling them by pacifying them, and keeping them at home on their phones.”
Clever. So there’s a conspiracy in a conspiracy in a conspiracy? Kool aid anyone?
If you’re a conspiracy theorist coming up the ranks, question things. If someone asks you to pretend there’s a school shooting at your local school, would you do it? Probably not. Think about it? A whole community of people just doing something insane, like covering up a most heinous crime- for no reason.. cos the media. It makes no sense.
Live your life instead. Get a job. Don’t believe everything you read.