[tdb7893]

I wouldn't undersell the harms of general conspiracy theories. Most of them become more harmful the more people believe in them and the social media that I see has a tendency to spread the more harmful types of conspiracy theories (medical or political misinformation I see all the time on the internet now).

[l33tbro]

Yes. It has become mainstream. As soon as Kirk died, people were spouting antisemitic BS conspiracies that 'it was all Israel', even though he was the biggest shill of Israel's policies!

As you say, the medical conspiracies have really evolved since covid. I'm just glad we had covid when we did, because I feel that 5 years later people are so much more ignorant and less willing to all go through something together for the greater good.

With that said, I think the lot of conspiracy that just doesn't really hurt anyone but the believer. Aliens, moon landings, illuminati, etc. Kind of the modern day opiate of the masses.

[tstrimple]

> With that said, I think the lot of conspiracy that just doesn't really hurt anyone but the believer. Aliens, moon landings, illuminati, etc. Kind of the modern day opiate of the masses.

I'm more and more convinced that these are gateway conspiracy theories. That's where my dad started innocently enough. I remember listening to AM Coast to Coast with him. Art Bell and those "innocent" conspiracies. A couple decades later he's a completely different person with completely different beliefs all still aligned to conspiracy theories he picked up on AM radio. But now it's about Muslims taking over the country and wanting to kill or convert us all and the Clinton's and Obama's plans to enable Sharia takeover.

[tdb7893]

Are those examples at all indicative of what conspiracy theories are anymore, they seem stuck in the last century? The only one of those I've literally ever seen, even online, is aliens (and just UFO videos). On the other hand I personally know a lot of people who consistently buy into medical and political misinformation (and social media pushes it to me at least weekly, no matter how much I try to say I'm not interested).

I know a lot of people who have had to cut off family members because they got too deep into conspiracy theories and it's pretty much always weird political ones.

[l33tbro]

Yes, I feel these type of conspiracies were structurally similar, but of a slighly different composition to political conspiracy. But I think what changed is that political conspiracy became activated by the atomisation of culture and the lack of social consensus. As a result, these former examples (ufo, moonlanding, etc) now almost feel quaint and cartoonish, because they are relatively inconsequential compared to the choices people make and socially harmful actions they'll undertake with political conspiracy.

For a few reasons I personally find that the best medicine is just to nod along with these people and watch them give away their ideological hand:

a) You know where they stand and who you are dealing with.

b) They can, however rarely, be forced to actually confront the irrational logic when sharing it.

c) I think it is the compassionate thing to do, as people just often want to spout these theories as a much needed release valve. After all, people believe this stuff often because of a confusion or frustration they have with their own lives.