30% of Americans think Coronavirus was created in a lab

[bye]

Nearly 30% in the US believe a coronavirus theory that's almost certainly not true
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/13/us/coronavirus-made-in-lab-poll-trnd/index.html

From new PEW poll:

 

[JLP101]

I know people here in Canada that think this is just some government conspiracy to tackle climate change and kill off people etc. Its really sad.

 

[Squarehard]

Shocked it's not higher to be honest.

 

[thekonamicode]

There sure are some stupid people out there. This is my takeaway.

 

[Heynongman!]

30% of people are dinguses.

 

[Nothing Loud]

Yeah well the genome sequencing data we have proves it comes from natural origins.

I hate the stupidity of the general public

 

[John Dunbar]

pretty sure 30% of people believe pretty much anything.

 

[Goddo Hando]

I wonder what the percentage of Americans that want to start a war with China over this is

 

[Shelbyville Milhouse]

I know that people that are like "You see, with this virus China has demonstrated it's economic power over the world......which wasn't obvious to literally anybody before, they had to develop a virus to prove how important they are"

 

[ostrichKing]

Our country is filled with morons.

 

[Weebos]

Actually lower than I expected.

 

[super-famicom]

Of course, high school or less + Republican is the highest percentage of believing in bullshit.

 

[mreddie]

You knew some people think this thanks to other people saying the same shit with a soapbox they can see.

 

[Deleted member 2317]

 

[linkboy]

Our country is filled with morons.

Click to shrink...

It's what happens when you allow conspiracy theories to run rampant.

 

[Mathieran]

I'm guessing the venn diagram with those people and trump supporters is essentially one circle

 

[MoonScented]

It wasn't? I figured it was a bio-weapon that accidentally got out and fucked us all. All I've heard otherwise is the racist "bat soup" BS.

 

[AnansiThePersona]

Does this include the 5G theory?

 

[MnM]

Our country is filled with morons.

Click to shrink...

Sadly it's a global thing.

Does this include the 5G theory?

Click to shrink...

Of couse, it does. Chips too.

 

[Deleted member 21411]

Was it the same 30 that thought it was actually from beer?

 

[Chopchop]

It just shows that you could get people to believe in anything if enough people spam it hard enough.

 

[AnansiThePersona]

Sadly it's a global thing.

Of couse, it does. Chips too.

Click to shrink...

Everyone wants to be "the one who figured it out". It's a desire to be "special".

 

[Deleted member 2761]

There are people on this very forum who believe this. The elephant in the room since the HK protests started is that (typically white) liberals align themselves with the alt-right in their criticisms of China instead of taking up the labor of segregating their respective opinions, they don't think too hard about who their clasping hands with, and more importantly, how dangerous ideas could easily take root.

Put another way, China absolutely deserves criticism, but for fuck's sake don't let 4ch and reddit memes be your source for it.

 

[Garp TXB]

The signal from 5G towers infected the minds of Corona beer workers, who in turn created the virus in their lab after 18 unsuccessful attempts.

 

[pillowtalk]

It came from bats right?

animal crossing bats wearing tiny lab coats just plotting.

 

[Shadybiz]

And I'll bet a lot of them also think that chloroquine is indeed the miracle cure, without it occurring to them that the engineers in such a situation probably wouldn't design a virus that was easily beaten by a widely available drug.

 

[Phantom]

It's a biological weapon created by the deep state to strip Americans of their weapons

 

[BioDigital Jazzman]

I could see how black adults might think that way since the virus is attacking their communities more than others

 

[Stay Up Be Easy]

It wasn't? I figured it was a bio-weapon that accidentally got out and fucked us all. All I've heard otherwise is the racist "bat soup" BS.

Click to shrink...

I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything. But that's always what I thought.

Some minimum wage flunky fucked up by accident.

That couldn't ever be confirmed of course, heads would roll. Literally I'm some countries.

 

[QuigleyMcShine]

Of that 30% I wonder how many had never thought of that until this stupid poll asked them.

 

[A Grizzly Bear]

I know people here in Canada that think this is just some government conspiracy to tackle climate change and kill off people etc. Its really sad.

Click to shrink...

Yup. When I got my car serviced back in late February my service shuttle driver told me all about how a scientist in Winnipeg created it and the Chinese assassinated him and took it back to China for population control.

 

[Chie Satonaka]

I know one who pesters me with that + additional conspiracies every other goddamn day.

It's... tiring.

 

[Grouch Douglass]

Wonder how many Chinese believe it was created in a US lab?

 

[carlsojo]

I doubt this is unique to the US.

 

[OrdinaryUsername]

So many people believe in those conspiracy theories. They're hard to disprove, unfortunately. When I use facts, they accuse me that they are all lies from the media and science, both of which have been fabricated by the government. When I try to clarify the errors in the premises and reasoning of conspiracy theories, they don't understand. In conspiracy theories, connections are so weak and the evidence so dubious. For me it would be obvious that they are fake, but for a lot of people they are not.

 

[entremet]

This is the country that elected Donald Trump. Not surprised.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

It's a virus developed by liberal scientists trying to prove global warming is real to take our guns away.

 

[Garp TXB]

I'd actually prefer if the prevailing conspiracy involved space aliens, at least that way the blame falls squarely on an outside threat.

 

[hombremalo]

If it's was made, that is not, as a population control they did a terrible job this is not putting a dent in global people numbers.

 

[Mariolee]

Here's a conversation with my dad

Dad: Coronavirus was made by the Chinese in a lab to strengthen their economy.

Me: Isn't their economy trashed right now because of this?

Dad: You think they aren't willing to sacrifice their economy for their greater plans? China kills people off all the time!

Me: WHY WOULD THEY KILL OFF THEIR ECONOMY IF THE WHOLE PLAN WAS TO STRENGTHEN THEIR ECONOMY

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

33% of the population is relatively normal, somewhat adjusted adults.

Another 33% are shit-flinging marks just waiting to get frothed by a con-man.

The other 33% are perpetually tuned-out balls of civic-apathy who probably wouldn't complain about living under authoritarian control as long as they got at least 2 Bachelor/ Bachelorette shows per year.

That last 1% just hope it all goes to shit before their bets against the market expire.

 

[MillionIII]

70% believe it was Carole Baskin

 

[linkboy]

It's a virus developed by liberal scientists trying to prove global warming is real to take our guns away.

Click to shrink...

I had someone tell me that it was created by the Chinese to get back at us for pulling out of NAFTA.

I also had someone tell me that it's nothing more then the flu because corona is another word for flu.

Made me want to bash my head into my work counter over and over just to end the stupidity.

It's utterly amazing how we have a tool that gives a person access to the entire range of human knowledge and it gets used for stupid shit like this.

 

[Guts Of Thor]

Yeah well the genome sequencing data we have proves it comes from natural origins.

I hate the stupidity of the general public

Click to shrink...

Care to share the article you found this in? I have a few people who I'd like to show it to

 

[WillyFive]

It came from bats right?

animal crossing bats wearing tiny lab coats just plotting.

Click to shrink...

Pangolins, which probably got it from bats.

 

[Tabaxi]

As much shit as Fox News/Conservative media (deservedly) gets for the current state of American politics, not nearly as much shit goes to conspiracy and paranormal media for the widespread mistrust in science and experts, and the public confusing conspiracy contrarianism with critical thinking.

 

[KtotheRoc]

Wouldn't be surprised if that number goes even higher in the future.

We are so screwed...

 

[ostrichKing]

I think the biggest harm long-term the Trump presidency has done is its destruction of the collective trust in experts (be they scientists, economists, journalists, etc). Going to take a long time to recover from that.

 

[Hollywood Duo]

All things considered thats a pretty low number.

 

[BDS]

Something like 30% of Americans think the Earth is flat. This is actually a fairly low number by American standards.