During the pandemic, I lost a couple of good friends not to Covid, but to the Covid vaccine conspiracy. They both have partners I also got along well with, who went hand-in-hand with them down the rabbit hole. I'd known them to be vaccine hesitant before Covid, but it had never been a major topic of debate and much less a bone of contention between us though. Live and let live, and all that.
During and after the Covid lockdowns, however, they both roared full throttle down Conspiracy Avenue, and have ended up covering pretty much the entire conspiracy map between them.
Despite the odd attempt to hook up again, we've become irredeemably estranged, and I've long since accepted there's no going back. One I know to have veered into Holocaust denialist territory. The other has become a Flat Earther. We'll be civil when we bump into each other at some gathering or other, but steer well clear otherwise.
I recently met this other bloke who seems a kindly and amicable enough character overall, but one of the last times we got chatting, the conversation somehow got to him telling me about the millions of people the Covid vaccine has killed. He actually mentioned a specific figure, I think it was something like 35-40 million. Josif Stalin/Genghis Khan kind of territory at any rate.
I made a mental note of where not to go in our conversations, but I found it pretty dispiriting. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time with this fella over the coming months and it would be nice to just enjoy a beer and a chat in our downtime, but going by my earlier experiences, I don't really think it's going to be easy to strike up good conversations with someone who sees conspiracies at every turn.
Anyone found themselves in similar situations, and short of becoming abuse, how do you deal with them?
OT: How to deal with full-on conspiracists?
posted on 25/1/24
comment by Diafol Coch 77 🏴 (U2462)
posted 3 hours, 51 minutes ago
We all know the earth is donut shaped.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/mbyak8/apparently-some-people-believe-the-earth-is-shaped-like-a-donut-1
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Ah, but there is a big hole in that theory, isn't there?
posted on 25/1/24
comment by Drunken Hobo (U7360)
posted 2 hours, 14 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 3 hours, 44 minutes ago
The anti-mask thing has the same dynamics of right-wing libertarianism, in that it presents itself as an objection to infringement of individual freedom, but really it's based on hostility to exercise of the common good. The same people tend to be fine with banning books that acknowledge the existence of gay and trans people. It's just any hint of coordinated solidarity that sends them to the barricades.
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One thing I will say is that some of the banned books were genuinely abhorrent and had no place in schools. One in particular, "Let's Talk About It" had a page where it told kids to go online and discuss kink with strangers. There were a few more pretty dodgy ones too.
Of course American liberals go on to make themselves look like idiots by defending this, and then conservatives try to use it as justification for banning all secks education entirely!
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books thing is crazy at both extremes
made me that by Floridas own rules, the Bible wud b band from schools
posted on 25/1/24
Some of the YouTube videos of unexplained noises coming from sky are amazing.
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I thought most of those were just Martin Tyler?
posted on 25/1/24
comment by Frank van Eijs (U1734)
posted 3 hours, 24 minutes ago
comment by Frank van Eijs (U1734)
posted 13 minutes ago
FFS this will be full of conspiracy theories soon enough:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68096794#comments
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Got to go out for dinner but let me know if my wum on there catches anyone
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Hook, line and sinker
posted on 25/1/24
A few years ago you had to be mega subtle to not get caught out for being on the wind up. Now it's perfectly believable. As the link above proves. We are all doomed
posted on 25/1/24
ware r the comments?
posted on 26/1/24
Lol you got filtered
posted on 26/1/24
comment by Bãleș left boot (U22081)
posted 1 minute ago
Lol you got filtered
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fark
im STILL band from BBC?
posted on 26/1/24
Srsly. They're almost as bad as DJ
posted on 28/1/24
Drunken Hobo, just a few mins ago:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/426350197525422/permalink/2525824980911256/
Exactly what you were talking about. Old BMW catches fire and literally every boomer blaming electric cars. "I'll stick to my diesel thank you very much". It's literally a diesel Joyce!