So I understand that I’m just one person and that’s a small sample size, but it seems to me like a lot of kids these days are getting more and more conspiratorial. I’ve often come here talking about a guy I know who’s kind of like Dale from ‘King of the Hill’. But it’s more than just him. I don’t blame them for being cynical because of what we DO know the government is doing.
But they’re mostly not going to change their minds and spit out “facts” to you that it’s impossible, (at least for me), to examine it all. And they get me on thing’s I didn’t know we’re facts, like Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein head ties in some way… And Bill Gates has money in the CDC… And CDC is China compromise somehow… And Bill Gates patent.
It’s exhausting for me to be with these people who AREN’T Anti-Vaxers, but “Smart-Vaxers”. It’s scary and I keep meeting them. All over.
I don’t think it’s just younger people. I just finished listening to the excellent podcast, Rabbit Hole, and the last episode is on the dipshit religion named QAnon. I didn’t know much about that brand of bullshit, but from my listening it sounds likes QMorons skew older. And it seems to be a very popular cult. And their favorite hat color is red.
the best explanation I’ve read came from Alan Moore:
“The main thing that I learned about conspiracy theory is that conspiracy theorists actually believe in a conspiracy because that is more comforting. The truth of the world is that it is chaotic. The truth is, that it is not the Jewish banking conspiracy or the grey aliens or the 12 foot reptiloids from another dimension that are in control. The truth is more frightening, nobody is in control. The world is rudderless.”
Hm. As far as really out-there, harmful CTs go I would say it’s older folks who are really the biggest consumers and purveyors.
Young people don’t seem to actually take them that seriously…it’s like it’s a hobby or something. Except the ‘marijuana is a miracle drug’ people. They’re fucking nuts.
My kids like CT’s but in the sense of “Whooooa, if that was true, wouldn’t that just blow your mind?”
If you poke a hole in it, they look at you like you paid their DJ to play *Havin’ My Baby… * They’ll even say “C’mon, you’re not playing along. Have some fun with this!”
So they’re in it “just for the LOLs”… I hope.
Yes, this. The idea that there is an enemy out there, a purely evil force, is something a lot of people find very anchoring. The reality that it’s all just a tangled mess of conflicting desires and needs and unintended consequences is far more disturbing. I think having an entity to blame for bad stuff (and thank for good stuff) is a prevalent human trait.
Pointing out how unlikely or irrational or counterfactual those comforting lies are does nothing, since in the heart of the CTist you are just offering a choice between order and chaos. Whatcha gonna pick?
And yes this as well. I think most CT know they are full of shit and just want to see how they can test other peoples gullibility. They think they are smart if they can mislead other people and get them to put on the red hat.
There were less CTs before the web. The main ones I knew about back then was all the JFK stuff and Moon landing was faked. There was a wacky theory that OJ was framed for murder since his movie Capricorn One “proved” the Moon landing was fake.
There’s a wide variety of conspiracy theories available. Even the biggest conspiracy believers don’t believe in all of them, just ones that support their world view in some way. The generation gap alone means young and old may not believe in the same conspiracy theories. There’s also conspiracy theories aimed at the right, aimed at the left, aimed at people who aren’t very smart, aimed at “thinking” people who will go down the rabbit hole, aimed at members of certain religious or nationalities, and so forth. New problems or observations result in new conspiracy theories, and that links shows how unfortunately common those views can be. Many conspiracy theories are pushed by political groups (such as Russia, which for some reason pushed on the Planet X/Nihilum destroying Earth conspiracy theory) and so these could be tailored toward millennials or other groups.
I suspect there are many millennials who are anti-vaxx because they’re not old enough to remember epidemics such as polio and so forth. The current pandemic isn’t as frightening as many of those diseases (such as polio!) so I don’t expect those conspiracy theories to vanish. I think it would take a new deadly disease to suppress the conspiracy theories, but for obvious reasons this would result in many people dying.
Over time, we’ve developed the ability to send info out faster and in multiple ways. Before theories were passed around by word of mouth, by book or other printed material, by radio, by TV, by email, and now social media. My brother is mentally challenged, and while he’s computer-literate, the only social media he consumes is Youtube (and I’ve never seen him access conspiracy material there). However he used to get printouts full of crazy, and listened to conspiracy-themed radio shows. My mother’s tech literacy stops and ends with WhatsApp. Unfortunately she gets conspiracy-themed videos from friends of hers, and forwards some of them to me. Fortunately, I have some amount of critical thinking skills (plus I never watch the videos anyway).
More channels to spread misinformation means more believers. People who don’t like reading can watch conspiracy videos on Youtube (or wherever), as an example. There’s a ton of conspiracy-related info you could find, if you are “interested” and know what search terms to use.
I think the growth of knowledge in general is also to “blame”. Just picture the number of people who don’t know how a bank works. If they get hit by an overdraft (perhaps because they forgot about a pre-authorized debit hitting their account when there wasn’t enough money in it), the bank is targeting them. They cannot share any of the blame. Also, “switch to gold to avoid negative interest rates! Or buy crypto!”
Personally I think the current “young” generation have realized, largely as a whole, their government is lying to them. This naturally raises the question of which facts are truth and which are lies.
I’m not too worried; they’ll eventually figure it out. I’d rather have them question too much than swallow everything.
The CT that bothered me the most was the coming ‘Zombie apocalypse’.
The ‘Walking Dead’ series fanned that flame for 9 or 10 years. It’s ‘dying’ out now. (pun not intended).
We’re involved in a great ‘Bigfoot’ hunt around here, at the moment. I’m fanning those flames, just entertaining troops.
Hey, gotta make your fun where you find it.
The thing is, I find this dangerous. It sounds eerily similar to how white nationalists are spreading their bullshit among youth who would otherwise know better. The tactic is to make racist “jokes” that they claim you have to be “edgy” enough to get. Of course, if they say this stuff elsewhere, it gets them in trouble, so they start hanging out more with those who make the “jokes,” and the mere exposure effect plus peer pressure starts to make them seem more reasonable.
I’m not saying you can’t joke about stupid things–but I do think the “playing along” version is playing with fire. It’s better to mock them more directly.
Of course, trying to convince kids of this is an uphill battle. I think the best we can do is make sure that there is more information out there explaining why specific conspiracy theories don’t work, and why the idea in general is bad. Combat exposure with exposure, without making them feel ridiculed.
Edit: do note that the technique I described doesn’t work on 100% or even a majority of people. But it works on enough–particularly those who already feel some level of ostracization in society, and feel a need to blame something or someone else.
But that’s exactly why these perilous times make this method more effective.
My Son, like I said, has been this way many years. It all started with a book on the prophesies of Nostradamus.
I tried all the techniques: arguments against his ‘beliefs’, ridicule, playing along. It’s all the same to him. He has to work his way through it all. Nothing we can say or do changes his mind.
I’ve quit trying. It’s mostly harmless. His wife controls their finances so I know he’s not gonna go ‘too’ far.
Sometimes he’s very entertaining with his CT talk.
We kinda like him so we put up with his idiosyncrasies.
You’re talking about other types of “strange beliefs.” Sure, there are probably conspiracy theories that have to do with those things, just like all things, but none of those things on their own fit into the category of conspiracy theories without the conspiracy part.
Parents in 1990s: “Don’t trust ANYONE you meet on the internet!”
Parents today: “Did you see this? FreedomEagle dot Facebook says Soros paid Hillary to invent AIDS! Lock her up!!!”
I think that’s a big enabler for it, but IMO the root cause is still the need for someone to “blame”. it’s why they “vaccines=autism” lie took hold so easily; people who absolutely can’t cope with the idea that their child is autistic for genetic reasons (or random chance) so when someone comes along with a clearly identifiable “bad guy” they can blame, they go all in.
it’s why you can’t just dismiss people who latch on to them as “stupid.” Fear leads to all sorts of irrational behavior in even the most intelligent people.
It used to be things like ‘Mikey died from eating Pop Rocks in Vietnam’, now it’s more complex conspiracy theories because we have the internet to provide the details. People are still the same.
