One of my close friends is falling into conspiracy theory BS

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I've been friends with her for 6 years now and I love her but I legit don't know what to think rn.

In the past couple of weeks she has sent me some bogus Instagram Live videos about how the coronavirus is fake, with "pneumonia patients dropping all of a sudden" and hospitals "just diagnosing everyone with covid" and another video where some dumb IG influencer was like "the government told everyone that they care, and to be scared and stay home and everyone followed it. Isn't that SCARY because I'M scared. The government doesn't care about you!"

And last night she sent me a conspiracy documentary that just came out. I check IMDB to see the people involved, and I find someone from QAnon, and some other guy whose Twitter is full of Trump and Deep State shit. And I sent her screenshots of all of what I found about the people involved in the production of the documentary but she didn't reply

I hate to say it but if it keeps up I won't want to be friends with her

Anyone else ever dealt with something similar and maybe saved them? Lol

 

[LordValhalla]

Didn't save them, no. But one of my best friends jumped on the Trump train in 2015/16. He messaged me on discord about the new Mike Cernovich documentary and how I should watch it. I just ignored the message. Honestly, I have just kinda stopped talking to him that much. If we do its about video games, and I always try to steer the conversation back to something not political. We don't live in the same town any more and we arent as close as we once were, so I really haven't put any effort into making him see how shitty and racist he sounds. Its honestly not worth my effort. I just hope for the best.

 

[No_Style]

Instagram influencers? That's the source she chooses to believe? Yeah. We would no longer be friends.

 

[MrWhiskers]

I might be experiencing this too. He claimed the deaths from the virus are fake numbers and etc.

It's really thrown me for a loop because he's probably the smartest person I know!

 

[WillyFive]

When they descend into ideologuies like these, they can only exit themselves. Be there and treat her well, as they will probably tell her that you will try to refute all these claims, which will instantly make them true.

 

[kmfdmpig]

I think the best argument against that is that governments and business have a tone of reasons to maintain the status quo - it provides them power and money. They have few reasons in having all of us stay home as that destroys the economy and ruins their businesses.
It's like the idea that Bill Gates is behind it. Someone with $100 billion wouldn't want to see the world's economy tank.

There's no logical reason for anyone to benefit from increased panic. Other than Netflix no one is really gaining from this.

 

[TaySan]

I don't think i could be friends with anyone that believes in such nonsense as that. I'm sorry OP hope they see the error of their thinking. :(

 

[lunarworks]

My brother was texting me a couple of weeks ago, and I could tell he was trying to steer the conversation in that direction, so I just ignored him. He left it off with a racist/homophobic joke about someone in my building.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

Its doping off because society caused it to.

 

[JeffGubb]

Edit: Put the specific video that I think can help with this.

 

[Squarehard]

Depending on how willing they are to discuss these topics with you, if they are willing to have good faith discussions, then I wouldn't say complete cut ties, but if they aren't willing to have good faith discussions at all, or start to go in that direction, I would say it might be better to just sever the relationship.

 

[ClickyCal']

I might be experiencing this too. He claimed the deaths from the virus are fake numbers and etc.

It's really thrown me for a loop because he's probably the smartest person I know!

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this.

 

[Stopdoor]

And I sent her screenshots of all of what I found about the people involved in the production of the documentary but she didn't reply

Click to shrink...

I mean, this seems like problem number one. Can you guys actually be close friends if you just ignore each other?

 

[CopyOfACopy]

"COVID-19 is a hoax perpetrated by the Dems and the Fake News to make Trump look bad"

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

"COVID-19 is a hoax perpetrated by the Dems and the Fake News to make Trump look bad"

Click to shrink...

I was filling up water for my cooler a few weeks ago and a guy standing next to me started saying how "the government just doesn't want people to be independent and they're trying to find anything to blame Trump"

 

[efr]

I was filling up water for my cooler a few weeks ago and a guy standing next to me started saying how "the government just doesn't want people to be independent and they're trying to find anything to blame Trump"

Click to shrink...

Makes sense. Its not like Trump repeatedly gets recorded on multiple tv stations saying dumb shit over and over

 

[Everybody Lies]

I was filling up water for my cooler a few weeks ago and a guy standing next to me started saying how "the government just doesn't want people to be independent and they're trying to find anything to blame Trump"

Click to shrink...

Challenge people like that with the Socratic method. Your response should have been: How so? Have them explain what they contend to you like you are a five year old. More often than not they won't be able to do so and they will expose themselves.

 

[Messofanego]

If it's COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy stuff, then Renegade Cut has a video about how it infected these people. And then Internet Comment Etiquette has a funny video on the 5G conspiracies.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Challenge people like that with the Socratic method. Your response should have been: How so? Have them explain what they contend to you like you are a five year old. More often than not they won't be able to do so and they will expose themselves.

Click to shrink...

Oh he did.

There was a press conference on the TV and the guy was like "oh my god they're not even from here (California), they don't know what's going on with the virus." *pause for 5-10 seconds* "oh my god, they're from Minnesota they're not even from here!" (there was no indication of where they were from, anywhere)

And all I said was "oh really? That's not the governor of California?"

And he replied with "I dunno"

??? I thought you said they're from Minnesota

I'm pretty sure he realized he goofed after

But yes generally what you said is the correct method but I just wanted to go home atm lol

 

[AGoodODST]

Guy I was really good friends with had a baby. Refused to vaccinate her due to bogus "medical" advice that it causes harm and also tried to tell me it was pointless anyway because it's all just a scam by big pharmaceutical companies to make money.

Told him to fuck off and get his damn child vaccinated. Not spoke to him since though I do still have him on social media. Actually just today I seen him share a post about the health benefits of drinking water with silver in it. What an absolute fucking weapon.

 

[RedBlue]

Someone that is involved in a school whatsapp group posts stuff on FB and has brought up a conspiracy theories in the group a couple times. She says that her friend sends her these links. Some other group members and I have pointed out how its inaccurate and that she should check the source of the news to make sure its reliable. Her response was that her friend checks the sources, but later stated that she's not sure what to believe anymore and that she'd rather not pay attention to the news. The thing is, she still posts bullshit conspiracy stuff on her facebook page. This is a person i have contact with often, and shes a nice person, but she's is going to believe what she wants, no matter how often we point out that its wrong.

 

[LakeEarth]

I think the best argument against that is that governments and business have a tone of reasons to maintain the status quo - it provides them power and money. They have few reasons in having all of us stay home as that destroys the economy and ruins their businesses.
It's like the idea that Bill Gates is behind it. Someone with $100 billion wouldn't want to see the world's economy tank.

There's no logical reason for anyone to benefit from increased panic. Other than Netflix no one is really gaining from this.

Click to shrink...

This has been pissing me off with conspiracy theories in the last decade. The "why" of a conspiracy suddenly stopped needing to make any sense for it to gain popularity. JFK? Oh he pissed off the mob, or the CIA or the military. Moon landing? Oh we wanted to get ahead of the Russians in the space race! Earth is flat? Uhhh, ummm, something about it being easier to control us if ...we live on a round earth? What?

 

[kmfdmpig]

This has been pissing me off with conspiracy theories in the last decade. The "why" of a conspiracy suddenly stopped needing to make any sense for it to gain popularity. JFK? Oh he pissed off the mob, or the CIA or the military. Moon landing? Oh we wanted to get ahead of the Russians in the space race! Earth is flat? Uhhh, ummm, something about it being easier to control us if ...we live on a round earth? What?

Click to shrink...

There's also the sheer scope. "Doctors are lying about vaccines". So all doctors get brainwashed and all medical researchers falsify their studies. That's an awful lot of people that are in cahoots together. It's ridiculous and I think it stems from dumb people wanting to feel smarter than others (I'm enlightened and everyone else is sheep syndrome).

 

[Everybody Lies]

Oh he did.

There was a press conference on the TV and the guy was like "oh my god they're not even from here (California), they don't know what's going on with the virus." *pause for 5-10 seconds* "oh my god, they're from Minnesota they're not even from here!" (there was no indication of where they were from, anywhere)

And all I said was "oh really? That's not the governor of California?"

And he replied with "I dunno"

??? I thought you said they're from Minnesota

I'm pretty sure he realized he goofed after

But yes generally what you said is the correct method but I just wanted to go home atm lol

Click to shrink...

Lol. It is the best way to confront people without being confrontational.

 

[Nida]

Is Q and all the Bill Gates conspiracies foreign governments fooling our idiot populace? Or does the popularity and message really spread from one person's brain to all the people on twitter who spout the same stuff?

 

[Blue Skies]

American public education system sucks and legislation has not caught up to the dangers and realities of the internet.
we all blame Fox News but reality is that the internet is a hindred times worse and it's possible to target weak minded people way easier andeveryone has personalized feeds.
Trumps made everything worse with his "fake news" bs, and people don't trust legitimate news sources and "do their own research"

 

[Cyclonesweep]

I can usually shut down most conspiracy talk with a guy at work when I tell him to follow the money. Like who actually benefits financially.

He brought up the whole Covid might be fake or created by the rich to gain more control over the poor.

"I was like how does that make sense? How does locking everyone in their house, cutting off a shit ton of people's income make rich people rich? The stock markets crashed which hurt the rich, tons of people aren't spending any money if they don't need to. Places are putting rent restrictions in which hurts rich landlords"

I talked more in-depth and he was like "I guess this doesn't benefit many people" and I was like exactly.

Most conspiracies are about control and money. Show them how it doesn't make sense and some will actually back off

 

[ClickyCal']

Guy I was really good friends with had a baby. Refused to vaccinate her due to bogus "medical" advice that it causes harm and also tried to tell me it was pointless anyway because it's all just a scam by big pharmaceutical companies to make money.

Told him to fuck off and get his damn child vaccinated. Not spoke to him since though I do still have him on social media. Actually just today I seen him share a post about the health benefits of drinking water with silver in it. What an absolute fucking weapon.

Click to shrink...

Call DCFS

 

[makonero]

 

[ronpontelle]

My mum's gone a bit like this. I've not really been on Facebook at all in the past few years, but been catching up with some friends during all this, and yeah, she's pretty deep in 5G, anti-vaccination, Covid-19 fakery shenanigans.

From my phone conversations she appeared to be maintaining a healthy scepticism, but I thought going down the rabbit hole as soon as she said about hospitals putting Covid-19 on death certificates of people who had no symptoms and died from something else - I said I hadn't heard about that and her evidence was one caller into LBC radio.

Bill Gates was the messiah for his charitable healthcare benevolence a few months back, now he's evil.

She 'doesn't agree with everything' these nut jobs like David Icke say, yet now freedom of speech is really important.

I think it's too much time on her own with not much to do other than consume media, watch YouTube etc. On 4g though, no broadband in the Irish back of beyond!

 

[Cyclonesweep]

There's also the sheer scope. "Doctors are lying about vaccines". So all doctors get brainwashed and all medical researchers falsify their studies. That's an awful lot of people that are in cahoots together. It's ridiculous and I think it stems from dumb people wanting to feel smarter than others (I'm enlightened and everyone else is sheep syndrome).

Click to shrink...

You then have the anti-vaxxers quoting studies but not even quoting the whole damn sentence. There was some researcher who had his work cited by them a lot and they would quote "This chemical causes cell death" when the entire freaking sentence was "This chemical causes cell death when used his this large amount which is substantially more than you would ever see in a vaccine".

I used to be into conspiracy theories back in the day but i find the more modern ones aren't fun and have zero fucking logic.

9/11 conspiracies intrigued me because at least the good ones were like "scientifically this doesn't make sense and the info they normally put out that could change our minds doesn't exist". But now it's all like "it's all a conspiracy, the science is wrong and the scientists are lying to you." Or they talk in half truths and omit info they know defeats their claim. A good conspiracy can't be shut down in 30 seconds. I miss good conspiracies.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

My mum's gone a bit like this. I've not really been on Facebook at all in the past few years, but been catching up with some friends during all this, and yeah, she's pretty deep in 5G, anti-vaccination, Covid-19 fakery shenanigans.

From my phone conversations she appeared to be maintaining a healthy scepticism, but I thought going down the rabbit hole as soon as she said about hospitals putting Covid-19 on death certificates of people who had no symptoms and died from something else - I said I hadn't heard about that and her evidence was one caller into LBC radio.

Bill Gates was the messiah for his charitable healthcare benevolence a few months back, now he's evil.

She 'doesn't agree with everything' these nut jobs like David Icke say, yet now freedom of speech is really important.

I think it's too much time on her own with not much to do other than consume media, watch YouTube etc. On 4g though, no broadband in the Irish back of beyond!

Click to shrink...

The 5G ones line up with the anti vaxx ones. It's literally (sorry if I insult anyone) stupid people who don't understand the science freaking out over nothing. Like with 5g there is studies that the frequencies used can cause issues. However to have them cause these issues they need to be used at such an intense power that you would never see with 5g. Like the biggest issue with 5g is they need to build a lot of antennas because the signals are easily blocked. Shit it can't even penetrate thru human skin lol

 

[SmokeMaxX]

Had a friend believe some dumb conspiracy theories. It was several years ago but it was probably something about fluoride in the water or something. In a roundabout way, I basically said everything she believed was stupid (which I guess left the impression that I thought she was stupid). Anyway, we're not friends anymore lmao.

I don't really understand the power of conspiracy theories. I guess it's an arrogance that you know more about things than other people do. Most of the issues that conspiracy theories revolve around are pretty trivial, so what's the whole point of believing them? Who cares if the earth is round or if we landed on the moon. It doesn't affect your life in a way you'll acknowledge (although they are important facts that actually DO impact people's lives).

 

[I Don't Like]

Had a friend believe some dumb conspiracy theories. It was several years ago but it was probably something about fluoride in the water or something. In a roundabout way, I basically said everything she believed was stupid (which I guess left the impression that I thought she was stupid). Anyway, we're not friends anymore lmao.

I don't really understand the power of conspiracy theories. I guess it's an arrogance that you know more about things than other people do. Most of the issues that conspiracy theories revolve around are pretty trivial, so what's the whole point of believing them? Who cares if the earth is round or if we landed on the moon. It doesn't affect your life in a way you'll acknowledge (although they are important facts that actually DO impact people's lives).

Click to shrink...

It's not just the feeling of power from knowing more but the pride of being part of such an exclusive club who avoided being duped into believing, for example, that the earth is round. You're In the 99th percentile and are incredibly fucking special because you saw through the "hoax" of generational and world-changing events like the moon landing. That's the worst part about those people. Simply believing you know more is whatever - lot of people do that, conspiratorial minded or not - but convincing yourself you're the only one who perceives reality properly and scoffing at those who understated the earth is definitely not flat is just fucking absurd and obnoxious.

 

[ronpontelle]

Guy I was really good friends with had a baby. Refused to vaccinate her due to bogus "medical" advice that it causes harm and also tried to tell me it was pointless anyway because it's all just a scam by big pharmaceutical companies to make money.

Told him to fuck off and get his damn child vaccinated. Not spoke to him since though I do still have him on social media. Actually just today I seen him share a post about the health benefits of drinking water with silver in it. What an absolute fucking weapon.

Click to shrink...

A couple my wife knows (or more like a couple her best friend knows and she knows a bit) have faked their child's inoculation record here in France, where MMR is mandatory (at least to get your kids into school).

I told her to have nothing more to do with them, in terms of our son socialising with their kids.

I think it's the father. He also had the whole family, including a three year old and baby under a year on some Atkins carb free diet. The toddler was just knackered all the time by all accounts.

 

[SmokeMaxX]

It's not just the feeling of power from knowing more but the pride of being part of such an exclusive club who avoided being duped into believing, for example, that the earth is round. You're In the 99th percentile and are incredibly fucking special because you saw through the "hoax" of generational and world-changing events like the moon landing. That's the worst part about those people. Simply believing you know more is whatever - lot of people do that, conspiratorial minded or not - but convincing yourself you're the only one who perceives reality properly and scoffing at those who understated the earth is definitely not flat is just fucking absurd and obnoxious.

Click to shrink...

"WOKE" culture is incredibly obnoxious. You see it everywhere- including here on ResetEra. Some people just can't be saved.

 

[Ogodei]

We have one of these threads a day, feels like. Rough world to live in.

 

[jay]

Only somewhat related, but can someone explain how radio towers supposedly manage to send out physical objects (virus particles)? Obviously they don't, but this conspiracy theory seems not close to half plausible so there must be something I am missing.

 

[Soupman Prime]

Had a friend/co worker get hurt playing basketball and next time I saw him he started talking about chips in people, how this and that are evil, having multiple wives in the kingdom and even more terrible shit. I have no idea how people get turned to one of those conspiracy theorist idiots.

 

[sph3re]

That Qanon stuff is a hard pass for me

I've heard friends say some really outlandish stuff stuff before, but a conspiracy that originated on fucking 4chan is where I'd draw the line.

 

[Deleted member 11046]

I've been friends with her for 6 years now and I love her but I legit don't know what to think rn.

In the past couple of weeks she has sent me some bogus Instagram Live videos about how the coronavirus is fake, with "pneumonia patients dropping all of a sudden" and hospitals "just diagnosing everyone with covid" and another video where some dumb IG influencer was like "the government told everyone that they care, and to be scared and stay home and everyone followed it. Isn't that SCARY because I'M scared. The government doesn't care about you!"

And last night she sent me a conspiracy documentary that just came out. I check IMDB to see the people involved, and I find someone from QAnon, and some other guy whose Twitter is full of Trump and Deep State shit. And I sent her screenshots of all of what I found about the people involved in the production of the documentary but she didn't reply

I hate to say it but if it keeps up I won't want to be friends with her

Anyone else ever dealt with something similar and maybe saved them? Lol

Click to shrink...

She was trying to "red pill" you, and probably asked for advice from other Qanons on how to do it. Sounds like she actually does consider you a friend, for whatever that's worth. Outright rejecting her "information" probably wasn't the best move if you're trying to maintain that friendship, but if she's at the point where she's confidently trying to bring others into the cult then she's probably far too gone anyway.

Was that documentary "Out of Shadows"?

 

[Ultima_5]

I️ miss when conspiracies had less impact on society. Sorry for your loss OP. When people people go down that track they rarely come back

 

[Strike]

I'm sorry. You're probably not going to change their mind.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

She was trying to "red pill" you, and probably asked for advice from other Qanons on how to do it. Sounds like she actually does consider you a friend, for whatever that's worth. Outright rejecting her "information" probably wasn't the best move if you're trying to maintain that friendship, but if she's at the point where she's confidently trying to bring others into the cult then she's probably far too gone anyway.

Was that documentary "Out of Shadows"?

Click to shrink...

Lmao yes, it was.

 

[MrNewVegas]

This is the perfect storm for conspiracy because it's a stack. For the past 2 decades I've always read about the NWO and camps that are being formed around the US to control the population. The virus has set this into action by the who were into the conspiracy. It essentially confirms their suspicions from before about the NWO now that there is an international, provable action of population controlling happening.

 

[Deleted member 11046]

Lmao yes, it was.

Click to shrink...

The Qanon cult is spreading quietly like a second plague right now, but not enough people are taking it seriously yet.

pleaseinsertdisctwo, your friend is likely gone. :(

 

[RedBlue]

As i stated earlier, there is someone that i deal with on a whatsapp group that is fed content from another conspiracy nut she is friends with. She just posted the video of the Cali doctors Making some stupid claims. I just pointed her to an article that has health experts condemning her statements and she says she'll "look into it." I hope she does, but i dont think she will. But im sure in a couple days she'll send us some more content just like this.

I feel bad kind of because she's not a bad person and i think she's being taken advantage if at the moment by this person that is feeding her this bullshit because she is in a difficult position. A person who has had to and does deal with a ton of shit, i dont blame her for looking for something to take her mind off her situation. But i dont want people that im going to be involved with, through my children, believing conspiracy over reality. so i do what i can to refute them, In a nice way if i can.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

The Qanon cult is spreading quietly like a second plague right now, but not enough people are taking it seriously yet.

pleaseinsertdisctwo, your friend is likely gone. :(

Click to shrink...

ughhh this shit reminds me of MLM schemes/pyramid schemes. You won't fall for it if you think about it for 2 seconds!!!

 

[dragonbane]

Yeah my best friend believes in this garbage sadly. Didn't help he grew up in east Germany with parents teaching him the west can not be trusted, Russia is good and the wall needs to come back. Back then they had jobs etc.

Just pure delusion. Now he is in the army which is also a festering ground here for right garbage. Got into a fight him on our last vacation when he started playing some alt-right YouTube shithead talking about the big Greta Thunberg hoax over breakfast. Not having that shit

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Stop talking to her, you won't be able to convince her.

Yeah my best friend believes in this garbage sadly. Didn't help he grew up in east Germany with parents teaching him the west can not be trusted, Russia is good and the wall needs to come back. Back then they had jobs etc.

Just pure delusion. Now he is in the army which is also a festering ground here for right garbage. Got into a fight him on our last vacation when he started playing some alt-right YouTube shithead talking about the big Greta Thunberg hoax over breakfast. Not having that shit

Click to shrink...

How is he still your best friend?