Conspiracy Theories? This makes you wonder

Plain Truth · Guru

Conspiracy Theories? This makes you wonder

dorian · Guru

It's an opinion piece written in the style of Huxley's "Brave New World".

The people have already lost much of their freedoms as a result of terrorism, not pandemics. In any case, the majority of Australians approve of the government's overall response to the crisis (yes, there really is a crisis), despite the obvious deficiencies (slow vaccine rollout, quarantine failures).

bgt · Guru

I'm sure the vast majority of Australians have no idea how many of their rights they have given away already. I'm surprised at how easily Australians have accepted all the rules and lock downs during the virus event.

dogbox · Guru

bgt wrote:

I'm sure the vast majority of Australians have no idea how many of their rights they have given away already. I'm surprised at how easily Australians have accepted all the rules and lock downs during the virus event.

and some are still alive as a result. in the back of my mind i hear "with rights comes responsibilities" it appears that we as a people want our rights but not all want to be responsible, so the government (who we elect) apply rules if we do not like those rules we can remove them at the next election

landy · Guru

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Did they change the GST ? They do t always change ? Plus theres often more than one big agenda !! It could be seam mining, work for the dole etc

BAZZA44 · Senior Member

Are you really complaining that the people in Australia have been kept alive because of restrictions put in place. Do you not know what a pandemic is. Look around the world, we are in the best place. Stop complaining.

Barry

KJB · Guru

BAZZA44 wrote:
Are you really complaining that the people in Australia have been kept alive because of restrictions put in place. Do you not know what a pandemic is. Look around the world, we are in the best place. Stop complaining.
Barry

We are so fortunate that we have a Government (what ever side does not matter ..) that that cares enough and is in a position to, look after its people .

So many countries do not have this. We are not suffering , just inconvenienced by the Pandemic .

The Australians that went to war to give us the country we live in now are the ones who suffered - injured , killed , away from family and business/jobs for unknown lengths of time , little no contact with family/ loved ones , often terrible living conditions - and they did this voluntarily to save our country and let us live in peace and comfort.

Anyone who complains about being asked to have 2 jabs and stay home until this Pandemic is under control is nothing but arrogant and spoilt as far as I am concerned.

Santa · Guru

Here are a few more to get your teeth into. biggrin

https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/

"Bill Gates as scapegoat

Most conspiracy theories, like the viruses they resemble, constantly mutate and have several variants circulating at any one time. Many of these plots and subplots seem to involve Bill Gates, who became a new target of disinformation after gently criticizing the defunding of the World Health Organization. According to the New York Times, anti-vaxxers, members of QAnon and right-wing pundits have seized on a video of a 2015 Ted talk given by Gates where he discussed the Ebola outbreak and warned of a new pandemic to bolster their claims he had foreknowledge of the COVID pandemic or even purposely caused it.

A recent variant of this conspiracy theory, particularly beloved by anti-vaccination activists, is the idea that COVID is part of a dastardly Gates-led plot to vaccinate the worlds population. There is some truth in this, of course: vaccinating much of the worlds population may well be the only way to avoid an eventual death toll in the tens of millions. But anti-vaxxers dont believe vaccines work. Instead some have spread the myth that Gates wants to use a vaccination program to implant digital microchips that will somehow track and control people."

bilbo · Senior Member

KJB says

We are so fortunate that we have a Government (what ever side does not matter ..) that that cares enough and is in a position to, look after its people .

So many countries do not have this. We are not suffering , just inconvenienced by the Pandemic .

The Australians that went to war to give us the country we live in now are the ones who suffered - injured , killed , away from family and business/jobs for unknown lengths of time , little no contact with family/ loved ones , often terrible living conditions - and they did this voluntarily to save our country and let us live in peace and comfort.

Anyone who complains about being asked to have 2 jabs and stay home until this Pandemic is under control is nothing but arrogant and spoilt as far as I am concerned.

Says it all really.....................cheers Bilbo

Recoup · Guru

* Conspiracy Theorist * A term to discredit those who have seen through the Bulldust.

Santa · Guru

oldbloke · Guru

KJB wrote:

We are so fortunate that we have a Government (what ever side does not matter ..) that that cares enough and is in a position to, look after its people .

So many countries do not have this. We are not suffering , just inconvenienced by the Pandemic .
The Australians that went to war to give us the country we live in now are the ones who suffered - injured , killed , away from family and business/jobs for unknown lengths of time , little no contact with family/ loved ones , often terrible living conditions - and they did this voluntarily to save our country and let us live in peace and comfort.
Anyone who complains about being asked to have 2 jabs and stay home until this Pandemic is under control is nothing but arrogant and spoilt as far as I am concerned.

Well said.

Collo · Senior Member

We've just had a servre falling out with our long term neighbour because she believes covid is a hoax and wont be getting a jab.

She also denies climate change and thought Trump was a genius. (is there a theme there?)

dorian · Guru

When a conspiracy nutter is presented with facts, he will tell you that the source of those facts is part of the conspiracy.

https://www.climatechangecommunication.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/ConspiracyTheoryHandbook.pdf

Immune to evidence

Conspiracy theories are inherently self-sealing -- evidence that counters a theory is re-interpreted as originating from the conspiracy. This reflects the belief that the stronger the evidence against a conspiracy (e.g., the FBI exonerating a politician from allegations of misusing a personal email server), the more the conspirators must want people to believe their version of events (e.g., the FBI was part of the conspiracy to protect that politician).

Persecuted victim

Conspiracy theorists perceive and present themselves as the victim of organized persecution. At the same time, they see themselves as brave antagonists taking on the villainous conspirators. Conspiratorial thinking involves a self-perception of simultaneously being a victim and a hero.

The self-sealing nature of conspiracy theories means that any evidence disproving a theory may be interpreted as further evidence for the conspiracy.

yobarr · Guru

Collo wrote:
We've just had a servre falling out with our long term neighbour because she believes covid is a hoax and wont be getting a jab.
She also denies climate change and thought Trump was a genius. (is there a theme there?)

If she were sitting an intelligence test,as Meatloaf would say,two out of three ain't bad.Cheers

dorian · Guru

COVID-19 misinformation "infodemic" study:

https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/misinformation-disinformation/

It is apparent from the data that mentions of President Trump within the context of COVID-19 misinformation comprise by far the largest single component of the "infodemic". Trump mentions comprised 37.9% of the overall "infodemic."

Mike Harding · Guru

dorian wrote:
When a conspiracy nutter is presented with facts, he will tell you that the source of those facts is part of the conspiracy.

On the other hand, sometimes conspiracy theories are correct or partly correct.

However I do not believe that to be the case with Covid - although what part the CCP et al had in its origins is still a very grey area....

dorian · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
dorian wrote:
When a conspiracy nutter is presented with facts, he will tell you that the source of those facts is part of the conspiracy.
On the other hand, sometimes conspiracy theories are correct or partly correct.
However I do not believe that to be the case with Covid - although what part the CCP et al had in its origins is still a very grey area....

Likewise, I have an inherent mistrust of all governments, not just the CCP. Ironically it is people in democratic societies who are the easiest to fool. That's because their perceived "freedoms" make them more likely to trust their government. This observation is not my own, but was expressed to me by a Singaporean when I was living in that country during the 1990s.

bgt · Guru

I guess you have to start with a definition of a conspiracy theory. One could argue that anything someone believes in and you don't could be defined as a conspiracy theory. We all get our news and information from different places. We choose to believe in what suits us. Covid is real as far as I'm concerned. But without an independent audit of all the figures and facts we rely on politicians to control what we do. Has anyone independent actually audited the number of cases still active in Victoria? How do we know they are true? How do we know it's not some political ploy? See what I mean? I can ask a few legitimate questions and someone will jump up and say I'm on some conspiracy theory.

We need to be careful when someone shouts down a conspiracy theory. In many many case there is an element of truth.

I still believe that Elvis is alive.

Craig1 · Guru

Trumpy banned from F B and one other "platform" Twitter?/ Instagram? for 2 years.

Santa · Guru

Craig1 wrote:
Trumpy banned from F B and one other "platform" Twitter?/ Instagram? for 2 years.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving person. biggrin

Santa · Guru

landy wrote:

Great cartoon Landy. biggrin

bgt · Guru

It may be Trump this time. But who next? You simply can't have someone like Facebook deciding who to censor and who to let run. They haven't banned Hamas or other similar groups. So be careful what you wish for.

dorian · Guru

Trump's disinformation has probably killed more people than Hamas.

peter67 · Guru

bgt elvis was born on 8th january 1935 so that theory should be put to bed by 8th jan 2035 cheers

Mike Harding · Guru

bgt wrote:
It may be Trump this time. But who next? You simply can't have someone like Facebook deciding who to censor and who to let run. They haven't banned Hamas or other similar groups. So be careful what you wish for.

Very, very well said.

Mike Harding · Guru

Santa wrote:
Great cartoon Landy.

Yes! I thought that was excellent too :)