[uwuu22]

Are you also seeing a rise in conspiracy theorists?
Several of my family members have recently been spouting all this bullshit, and I think it's because of the lockdown and their prolonged time on Facebook and other social media platforms that enable these delusional fucks to spread misinformation.

Have you noticed this with your family members or close ones?

[Sunsingerlock]

We know some guy who thinks Bill Gates wants to put microchips in everyone, and that whole 'chem trail' horse shit, also my Aunt is turning into some QAnon lacky who thinks there's a sect of Lizard pedophiles who are literally controlling everything.

[Myriad]

Covid opened the doors for people to hear and learn about other conspiracies so I do think there is an increase

[Peter_Pettigrew]

i think it's a combination of boredom from lockdown, and conspiracies becoming more mainstream. every trash news outlet is talking about qanon which only helps it grow

[ChunkButter]

No way. conspiracy theorists are old as "intelligent" though. look at religion for example.

[Sunsingerlock]

i think it's a combination of boredom from lockdown, and conspiracies becoming more mainstream. every trash news outlet is talking about qanon which only helps it grow

Yeh, from where they met in basements and bedrooms, they're being platformed on mainstream outlets to a bored and driven down population that just want answers about stuff.

[Peter_Pettigrew]

i think it's a combination of boredom from lockdown, and conspiracies becoming more mainstream. every trash news outlet is talking about qanon which only helps it grow

Yeh, from where they met in basements and bedrooms, they're being platformed on mainstream outlets to a bored and driven down population that just want answers about stuff.

exactly. conspiracy theories are now "trendy" so they attract a higher than normal number of idiots

[Sunsingerlock]

i think it's a combination of boredom from lockdown, and conspiracies becoming more mainstream. every trash news outlet is talking about qanon which only helps it grow

Yeh, from where they met in basements and bedrooms, they're being platformed on mainstream outlets to a bored and driven down population that just want answers about stuff.

exactly. conspiracy theories are now "trendy" so they attract a higher than normal number of idiots

There needs to be a level of accountability for media platforms to allow such dangerous nonsense to be broadcast..

[Tulnar]

Modern day conspiracy theorists make old school conspiracy theorists look like healthy & mentally well individuals. It's amazing that some people exist who think Covid is a hoax or people who burn down 5G towers.

[garbot]

"we" don't generally value critical thinking anymore, and in western societies people are living in a few separate bubbles that don't share basic "facts" any longer

the human mind already relies on a bunch of heuristics and shortcuts, and well funded groups are getting better and better at exploiting that for power and profit

the ad industry is really only a few decades old, which is extremely young, and evolved very rapidly. now with the information age there are powerful tools to reach people with misinformation and it's unsurprising to see not only private businesses exploiting this for profit but state actors as well

[Crin]

It's politics. Big Tech made a decision to elevate political news in their feeds and trending lists 4 years ago.. all kinds of information truthful and fake wind up on people's timelines.
American politics is the reason why conspiracies are mainstream. It was the perfect storm, Trump being an avid social media user, the shock of his election victory, fear of the future brought people to social media to see what Trump was saying and doing. The Russian investigation was also load of horsesh*t nothing came out of it, Trump pardoned everyone at the end it was a giant waste of time. But during that entire period the seed was planted for the tinfoil hats (from both sides, Right & left wing) to bring their ideas onto the mainstage through social media.

[saccularius]

Are you also seeing a rise in conspiracy theorists?
Several of my family members have recently been spouting all this bullshit, and I think it's because of the lockdown and their prolonged time on Facebook and other social media platforms that enable these delusional fucks to spread misinformation.

Have you noticed this with your family members or close ones?

No, I've been seeing a rise in conspiracy theories though. That is, fake conspiracy theories that don't exist. It's like Qanon or that 5G Corona thing: no one actually believes in it, it's just promoted by the state and the media to make anyone questioning the establishment look crazy.