The latest crackpot conspiracy theory circulating on Facebook is that 5G cell towers are somehow causing COVID-19. As a result people in the UK have been burning down cell towers (sometimes the wrong ones) and attacking communication company workers.
British 5G towers are being set on fire because of coronavirus conspiracy theories
UK mobile carriers politely ask people to stop burning 5G towers
5G-coronavirus conspiracy theory spurs rash of telecom tower arson fires
Classic case of “We must do something! This is something! So let’s do it!”. Ridiculous. And this after 2 weeks of lockdown - what if we have to continue it for 2 months or more? To be clear, I am not saying current policy is wrong, just that this is an unfortunate consequence when the world is full of idiots with authority issues.
Facebook is why we can’t have good things.
Beloved ol’ pothead/actor Woody Harrelson apparently has also been spreading this conspiracy theory.
Isn’t he that dude who tihnks his hitman father is completely innocent of killing a federal judge? Yeah, I wouldn’t give too much credence to his blatherings.
Yes.
crap - another political rant. Sorry, Colibri. ANd thank you for showing mercy.
I keep forgetting where I’m posting.
The “go to” guy for conspiracy theories in the UK is David Icke.
He held forth on the subject of 5G during a recent livestreamed “interview”.
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Icke is a well known crack pot who has entertained the nation over many years.
What seems to have changed is the rise of Livestreaming on services like Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, etc. This has gone from hosting amateurish rants to camera by wild eyed loons to quite professional looking interviews that adopt the same style as serious political TV journalism… Usually a one to one interview, but the journalist role is a sham. This is no sceptical friend, there are no hard questions, it is scripted to allow the interviewee to expound at length on their subject with affirming nods from the interviewer in the right places. It looks for all the world as if these views are being taken credibly by a serious TV program in a studio setting with all right lighting and microphones in place.
I guess it was only a matter of time before these techniques filtered down to the crackpot fringe. Who needs a platform like Fox or Russia Today when you can get a similar effect on using these livestream services?
Social Media companies are under pressure to remove this kind of content. But who censors the censors in the world of user generated content? This is a big subject for debate that I am sure has been discussed hereabouts at length.
A sign of the times.
:dubious:
I don’t know what to say. On the one hand, it is somehow comforting that other nations have their share of crazy idiots. On the other hand, it’s disturbing that the world is so full of crazy idiots.
I’m pretty sure there was a Simpsons episode where the townfolk stormed the observatory because they didn’t like what science was telling them, and then when they were injured they demanded science save them.
Somehow, this feels like that to me.
Wonderful. Right when people have the greatest need to be connected by technology, they’re physically attacking the infrastructure supporting that technology.
Damned humans.
Michael Che of SNL fame recently posted the sad news of his grandmother’s death with a heaping side order of “5G causes Covid” rant.
Brilliant, I approve - we haven’t been keeping up with first world anti-science stupidity for some time, at last we have our own tinfoil hat fruitcakes.
There has been so little going on that I’m grateful for the entertainment.
If you think Che was seriously endorsing the 5G theory, I think you were whooshed.
Wasn’t David Icke the one who believed that the Queen was a lizard person in disguise, or something? I’m not up to date on my recreational paranoia.
Back when I modded a UFO-paranormal-conspiracy board, I was constantly mailbombed by an icky female Icke supporter because I spelled a word “reptilioid”, not “reptiloid”, and was thus Part Of The Plot. Meanwhile, 5G radio waves are a poor choice for death rays. Yes, our Conservative Lizard Masters are sloppy. Will humanity’s successors the Penguin People vanquish them?
Ah yes, Icke promotes the Repilian conspiracy theory and wrote a book on the subject.
The Bushes, the Royal Family, the Rothschilds…Lizard people are everwhere. I don’t think there are any humble, working class shape-shifting aliens of note. The Lizards seem to occupy powerful positions in society. Maybe a bit of a class thing going on there?
I guess these theories quench a thirst to believe that old time religions fail to address.
Coronavirus + 5G? A very topical combo. In the conspiracy theory market you have to be pretty quick to get ahead of the crowd. Icke also suggests that Bill Gates is developing a vaccine injection that contains nano computers for mind control. So that four technologies included in one theory, as well as an evil genius who is quite probably a Lizard person. Icke is offering a lot of value for money here. 
How on earth could you ‘burn down’ a 5g cell tower? Pictures have been removed from youtube and facebook, so I’ll probably never know. 5g is a small box on a power pole or street light. I can imagjne shooting it out, or even chopping them down with an axe, but “burning down” street lights and power poles seems like it would be … difficult.
5G exists in both “low-band” frequencies that go on traditional towers as well as as the MM-wave versions that require them to be on every street light. Both are “real” 5G, though AT&T muddied the water a bit with their “5Ge” stuff.
I did not know that. Ignorance fought.
Looks like the Dutch also have a 5G protesters sabotaging towers.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/11/technology/11reuters-netherlands-5g-sabotage.htm
:eek:l