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by simonh 2312 days ago
There was an explosion at a virology lab in Koltsovo in September last year. There were no reported infections as a result and no apparent cases of Coronavirus or anything like it in the area or any established link with Wuhan, but apparently actual evidence isn't required for some people to come to all sorts of conclusions.
2 comments
seppin 2312 days ago
> There was an explosion at a virology lab

Why are conspiracy theories so irresistible to so many people?

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simonh 2311 days ago
The idea that we are in possession of special knowledge or rare insights is very compelling. This is especially true if we often find ourselves disbelieved or shown to be wrong on a regular basis, because it creates a justification for being marginalised. Ok those people might be clever, but I know things they don't so I'm still special. As a result people will consciously seek out unlikely connections or speculative ideas and latch on to them to try to get ahead of the pack.
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seppin 2311 days ago
> The idea that we are in possession of special knowledge or rare insights is very compelling.

There's also evidence that people with lower levels of schooling particularly like conspiracy because it allows them to make sense of a chaotic world. Instead of feeling powerless and hopeless, they have a truth not even the smart and powerful have.

It is of course not true, but therein lies the appeal.

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brutt 2311 days ago
This is not a special knowledge. Just Google it: Vector, Koltsevo, 16.09.2019. Moreover, even if outbreak will be traced back to Koltsevo (because it's only one bio-laboratory which had this virus), explosion will be used as excuse.
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seppin 2311 days ago
The news was an explosion, there is no evidence any strain had escaped because of it. That's you filling in details with no proof, ie. conspiracy.
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hempti 2312 days ago
I knew a ex-friend in school a few years back. He has schizophrenia.

He tells you that he knows people in the chines government and other stuff.

You know what the problem here is? You just don't know who is posting.

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brutt 2312 days ago
So, if we will test all workers in Vector, then we will find nobody with antibodies for corona-virus, right?
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