The conspiracy theory that has me genuinely scared.

[Cartoonist]

I met my first flat earther a couple of years ago. I didn't think much about it and wrote it off as just plain ignorance. Then I found out my brother is a flat earther. We went to the same schools and had a similar outlook on life and politics. Then Trump happened.

He has since gone into that swamp over his head. He's bought into that Satanic pedophile BS, and all the Illuminati nonsense that is put forth. There is no reasoning with him. I continued to engage with him in the hope that he would come to his senses. I gave up that hope when he declared himself a flat earther.

I stopped talking to him, but continued to check his Facebook page once in awhile to see if the latest developments were having any effect. Here's the scary part. My brother isn't alone. This is a growing movement. He has many fellow believers. Here is an example of their thinking:



Trumpism gave us Trump. What will happen if this kind of ignorance takes hold? Has it already happened?

[Dorian Gray]

1. There was an NBC news article

about the new satanic panic movement related with Q anon.

It is scary. I'm sorry your sibling is in it. That's gotta be super painful for you.

[SWBTATTReg]

2. Ridiculous, isn't it that they believe these sorts of wild theories, and the sort. But what keeps

me going, what keeps me sane, is that the vast majority of us don't believe this nonsense and don't fall for such ridiculous nonsense.

I just ignore them, for common sense, just plain ol' common sense will overwhelm most of their arguments. Thank god I don't run into such people very often, there is one guy that I deal with, who does peddle these nonsense conspiracy things, and I'm not afraid to counteract against his arguments, and make total mishmash of his arguments that won't stand up to any scrutiny.

[GenXer47]

3. a lot depends on where they live

My bro moved to Florida about 20 years ago. He always had a libertarian streak but it was all just defiant rhetoric. Slowly but surely, he's become a gun-nut. And I see why. I just mapped his house on Google, did a "search nearby", typed in "gun store", and within 3 miles of his house I counted no less than 15 gun shops or sporting goods stores with guns.
We're social creatures! We can't help but fit in. Maybe you can talk your brother into moving, although I have no idea where he is now, so this may not be helpful.

[Cartoonist]

5. Tennessee

We grew up in Illinois. I wonder if it's the water down there, but I meet Trumpers here in CA too.

[Elessar Zappa]

4. Qanoners are about 15% of society.

It’s way too many but sane people far outnumber them.

[Kaleva]

9. I think that's about right. Maybe a little high.

Less then 30 % of adults in this country voted for TFG. A fair number of those who voted for him vote R no matter who. People who gladly voted for Romney, McCain and Bush 43 and would gladly vote for similiar candidates in the future. So I agree with you that the percentage of adults in this country who are die hard Magahats is about 15% or even less.

[Gaugamela]

6. I can't help feeling that this tidal wave of absurd conspiracy theories

on the right is a kind of collective denial and escapism. At some level they see the reality of climate change and changing demographics, and they know that they’re stuck in a political/economic system that’s rigged against them although they don’t know exactly how, and so they retreat into mindless absurdities that conjure up shadowy evil forces arrayed against them. Conspiracy theories provide the reassurance of a like-minded community, which serves to relieve their feelings of helplessness and shame.

Conspiracy theories, cults, and religious fundamentalism are all essentially the same phenomenon.

[Cartoonist]

7. When it's just a few kooks, they can be ignored.

But when they become a formidable voting block, they are dangerous.

[Probatim]

8. I used to think it was ok to hold on to one conspiracy theory, but I've changed my mind.

Your brother is proof - one of those theories is a gateway theory to others.

First it's a harmless visit to a flat earth website and the next thing you know, you've lost your goddamned mind.

If the first sentence on the website is - the facts the government/media/doctors don't want you to see - it's going to be bullshit.

[Kaleva]

10. A number of people here don't believe Oswald acted alone

[Initech]

13. Yeah I had a friend who got indoctrinated like that.

He went down the pandemic conspiracy theory wormhole during COVID and became a full blown MAGA insurrectionist. And what's even crazier is that my family and his family are really close, and his family isn't like that at all. That's why I say that living in an echo chamber can totally fuck with your head. Social media propaganda can have some seriously chilling and devastating effects on a person.

[CrispyQ]

11. Sorry about your brother. I've seen it happen three times in my family.

My BIL moved from Cleveland to Texas when he met a woman he liked. He moved in with her & her gun-humper trumper family & now he's a gun-humper trumper too. We stopped talking to him when he spouted that Q crap about women carrying their babies to term & then executing them after they're born with the doctor's help. JFC, what kind of feeble mind even believes shit like that?

[Initech]

15. I've spent the last 6 years wondering that!

I'm in my 40s, I have never in my entire life ever once thought about pedophiles or pedophilia or human trafficking or perverse sex crimes or satanic witchcraft, yet the Q nuts think about this shit constantly. My theory is they must have some brain-numbing intoxicants in those vitamin supplements that get sold on podcasts like Alex Jones.

[hamsterjill]

12. They ARE scary

I’ve posted about this before. I follow a former high school classmate on Facebook who is full blown QAnon. She believes anything she is fed and shares it with all of her nutty followers.

Her husband was at the Capitol on January 6th although they swear that he left before anything started (sure!!!!). The husband was a Republican representative this year to the convention in Texas and was part of the movement to decree that Biden was not legitimately elected. I know, that doesn’t mean a lot in the grand scale of things. BUT it does show that these kooks ARE infiltrating politics and they ARE effecting change in policy.

As much as we would all like to simply discount these idiots, I don’t think we can do that.

[LuckyLib]

14. What I find interesting is that they are only too happy

to have medical doctors treat their injuries or do a hip replacement.

[Shipwack]

16. Pertinent Isaac Asimov quote...

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
- Isaac Asimov