I know I’ve been writing a lot recently about QAnon, anti-makers, and anti-vaxxers. I’m going to continue that today with a bit of a rant:
Is it just me that thinks these conspiracy theory spinners are just idiots? I mean one crazy idea leads to another, which leads to another. They tie so many BS ideas together that you can’t keep track. And when one idea is debunked or one deadline for catastrophe is missed, it doesn’t diminish their fervour for the next conspiracy… debunking one idea does not phase their beliefs on the topic or any other topic, despite the fact that they are the ones making the connections. What’s worse, they seem to always want evidence, but refuse to believe any evidence provided is real.
Is it just me that thinks police should take water guns filled with blue food colouring to anti-mask protests and spray it all over them? If protesters are going to endanger themselves, let’s paint their faces blue for a couple weeks so that we can keep our distance from them when they return to normal society. That way when they come back from the protest and put masks on, and we usually can’t tell they were participating in risky behaviour, we would still know to keep very clear from them.
Is it just me that thinks we should enforce travel bans on people that refuse the vaccine? And while we are at it, if they end up in a hospital with expensive covid related issues after refusing the vaccine, they should have to pay medical bills for being stupid and adding an unnecessary burden to the Canadian economy.
Is it just me that wonders how in an age of unlimited information, stupidity can travel faster than intelligence? What is it about the human brain that makes not just dimwits, but also otherwise smart people too, believe that every government leader can be absolutely corrupt and yet only a single whistleblower is brave enough to come forward? The news is filled with scandals all the time. Humans don’t know how to keep a secret, but somehow there are cabals filled with rich people who live lives surrounded by servants, who can keep global conspiracies a secret for decades.
Is it just me that wonders if the threat of terrorism is greater from within our borders than from outside? That anti-common sense, extreme nationalist, and hate groups pose more of a threat to our societies than fundamentalist religious wing-nuts? The internal threat of stupidity is greater than the external threat of tyranny.
Is it just me that is fed up with cliff jumping lemmings calling me a sheep? I feel like I’m calling out the morons the same way they call out people who actually care about things like actual research and scientific facts. I know that this little rant won’t change anyone’s ridiculous beliefs in conspiracy theories, and will do nothing more than convince these delusional idiots that I’m somehow lost, or blind to some fantasy land reality they live in. But I feel good getting this little rant off my chest, and I’ll work on more convincing arguments again after today.
Here is the thing… it feels good to rant sometimes, but is it just me that thinks dialogue is the only way forward? That we actually have to engage and try to convince people that their loony ideas are wrong? Am I the only one that thinks it’s not good enough to roll your eyes and let these people believe their baseless theories without providing counter arguments? The answer to the spread of bad ideas is to counter them with good ideas. It’s painful to engage, but if we don’t have dialogue, if we don’t provide counter arguments, then we really are sheep, or lemmings… Then we are allowing a small group of small minded people to influence and engage with more people likely to follow them down a path of poor thinking. Is it just me that thinks this?
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
Gandhi
David, like you, more and more each day, I feel like Howard Beale screaming “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore”. Like Dean in his comment, I try to wear the lenses of empathy as much as possible and in so doing, personalize the situation so as to see the individual underneath the misguided worldview perspectives.
As educators I think one of our roles is to help our students balance the need to understand a pervasively unjust system and the need to nurture and activate an awareness of agency. As I wrote in a recent post ( https://bit.ly/3lmeyaR ), our ultimate job is to fortify our students, joining them in the objective of making the society into which they were born fully account for the conditions it has created.
It’s an arduous task and it can be frustrating because, to borrow from Mark Twain, “a lie will fly around the whole world while the truth is getting its boots on”.
On another note, I’m really enjoying your daily ruminations 😉
Thanks for your comment Gino!
I recently sat in on a couple student presentations on conspiracy theories. It was heartwarming to see students debunking fake news and misused data… and creating infographics to clarify the factual data in a meaningful way. ‘Fortifying students’ as you mention above.
I actually do try to be optimistic, but I see an unfair battle going on: When there is a disregard for truth, another lie can provide justification or reinforce the original lie. When honesty and science are paramount, you get people changing their minds and accepting new data that might in some way contradict the past data… this levelling up is a built in strength, but can seem indecisive or weak to those that do not understand or appreciate scientific progress. And it becomes easy to cherry-pick facts or changes in perspective to create convincing (but wrong) arguments.
I’m constantly seeing how bad ideas are intentionally weaved in with good ideas. It’s an intentional strategy. Give a few factual statements, interpret some data in a deceitful but convincing way, then toss an all out lie into the mix. And while I don’t blame the people that fall for this, I find myself at a loss as to why people intentionally do this is n the first place? …I have no answer, but as you mentioned the ‘lies fly’.
Again, thanks for commenting. Honoured that you check out my daily musings from time to time!
I agree. What I see happening is that as bad ideas or even dangerous ideas are shared, the counter is to simply ridicule and dismiss. That’s certainly natural but it only escalates and amplifies polarization. The challenge comes in deciding which ideas to engage in. Certainly there are ideas that are built around hate and injustice that are impossible and equally dangerous to tackle. But take something like anti-vaccine or anti-mask groups. While certainly there are some nefarious people associated with them there are also many people who think they are following the science and others who are in the fence. If they are willing to engage in a good faith conversation then it’s important we do so. But creating the space for good faith conversations are not likely to occur online unfortunately. That said, it perhaps doesn’t hurt to try.
Finally I fear those who have either given up or have decided that certain members of our society ought to be muzzled and vilified (think 70 million Americans who voted for Trump) have a pretty bleak outlook on the future. They may be right, perhaps we are too far divided to be fixed. I’m choosing to remain optimistic that while bad ideas will always exist, we can build more bridges and unity by treating everyone, even the people holding bad ideas as fellow humans who are moms and dads, sons and daughters instead of deplorables.
Very well said Dean. I’m glad that the undertone of my rant resonated with you… I hesitated to hit the ‘Publish’ button because in a way my key point was contrary to the vary way that I attacked the issues. However, I feel overly frustrated recently. The news shows a few hundred idiots at an anti-mask rally and gives them a larger audience while millions of people are doing the right thing. Our government is genuinely concerned about anti-vax nut-jobs sabotaging the delivery of vaccines. People who are crazy enough to believe the world is flat are garnering audiences of people, some of whom will go down the conspiracy rabbit hole. I have a good friend from university, with a Science degree, that is jeopardizing his relationship with family and friends thanks to crazy QAnon beliefs. It shocks me that he could be doing this, but he travelled over an hour to go to an anti-mask rally in Toronto, with immune suppressed family members in his household. This is just absolute lunacy to me!
I’ve gotten the rant out of my system, but I still hold disbelief and anger that in today’s world so many people can be led astray by bad ideas. And despite that, I believe that healthy dialogue is the only way forward.
Your final sentence resonates with me, and give me hope: “I’m choosing to remain optimistic that while bad ideas will always exist, we can build more bridges and unity by treating everyone, even the people holding bad ideas as fellow humans who are moms and dads, sons and daughters instead of deplorables.”