Author Topic: Conspiracy theories are growing. Should they be addressed?  (Read 424 times)

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Offline dutch508

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hamsterjill (10,317 posts)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213466188

Conspiracy theories are growing. Should they be addressed?

I’m interested in DU’ers thoughts. Conspiracy theories are growing which is no surprise as we get closer to the election.

I regularly troll three former classmates Facebook pages for entertainment purposes only. But I see people actually believing the stuff that’s shared.

Should Dems address the idiocy? Or ignore them?

Personally, I feel they need to be addressed.

I think the idiots who propogate these theories need to be exposed and I feel the lack of doing that in 2016 allowed this shit to grow. Not a big campaign but more a tasteful “No, JFK Jr. is not QAnon” once in a while to simply refute the stupidity. But I could be wrong.

I’m interested in what other people think. Your thoughts on the matter, please? I’m listening...

 :yawn:

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SoonerPride (6,146 posts)

3. Tell them you heard the republicans plot a stealth coup and will replace trump at their convention

trump is unwell and mismangaed the virus and the economy and the big donors are planning a secret coup to yank him off the ticket at their convention.

feed them more nonsense.

they will eat it up

 :whatever:

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Star Member Corgigal (7,516 posts)

5. Read an article

last night in The Atlantic. The authors opinion is that it’s getting to be a dangerous time. They also believe, like others, that f Trump loses the election we will have violence.

If you get time, read it.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/

Oo... sounds fun... let's see what's in it!

This article is part of “Shadowland,” a project about conspiracy thinking in America.

 :whatever:

Pizzagate, which claimed that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of Comet Ping Pong. The idea originated in October 2016, when WikiLeaks made public a trove of emails stolen from the account of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff and then the chair of Clinton’s presidential campaign; Comet was mentioned repeatedly in exchanges Podesta had with the restaurant’s owner, James Alefantis, and others.

QAnon, derived from a mysterious figure, “Q,” posting anonymously on 4chan. QAnon does not possess a physical location, but it has an infrastructure, a literature, a growing body of adherents, and a great deal of merchandising.

 :yawn:  that was boring...

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hamsterjill (10,317 posts)

10. Great article. Thank you!

And it scares the crap out of me because the idiots believe it all and act. One of the people I mentioned in my OP is a psychologist herself and she believes this crap.

From the articles:

“QAnon is emblematic of modern America’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories, and its enthusiasm for them. But it is also already much more than a loose collection of conspiracy-minded chat-room inhabitants. It is a movement united in mass rejection of reason, objectivity, and other Enlightenment values. And we are likely closer to the beginning of its story than the end.”

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Star Member MineralMan (131,587 posts)

6. The risk with debunking conspiracy theories is that

every debunking post or attempt also spreads the CT further. It's like telling people, "Don't think about an elephant." If you say that, people will, in fact, think of an elephant when they wouldn't otherwise do so.

There's always a risk that refuting a false accusation merely makes the accusation more likely to spread.

Human nature.

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Star Member jberryhill (62,377 posts)

11. DU has a "Propaganda Debunking" forum

Every now and then, someone has an idea, it is deemed to be good, enacted, and then forgotten

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1022

That is also what the "Creative Speculation" forum was supposed to be about.

 :rotf:

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RobinA (7,416 posts)

12. It Won't Do Any Good

I troll a former high school classmate's Facebook for entertainment myself.

Flat Earther and all that entails. They are logic proof. They already have an answer for everything you can say, and a Youtube by some supposed expert explaining why your argument is all wrong. Plus, it's just too stupid. Hell if I'm going to argue with somebody who thinks the moon landing was staged, over why Bill Gates is not trying to kill children.

I've got real things to learn.

 :loser:

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Star Member Demsrule86 (43,464 posts)

16. Not on this site...and we should block them Facebook.

 :censored:

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muriel_volestrangler (93,259 posts)

23. Are these conspiracy theories specifically to do with the Democratic party?

If not, then it's not up to the Dems to address them - there's no point in the party, or people generally identified as "a Democrat" getting tangled with the nutcases and trolls.

Simple refutations should come from whoever has the best authority to disprove the nonsense. A scientist, a journalist, whoever has first hand experience of whatever is being transformed into the bullshit. And that doesn't need entering into debates with the loonies, just a short "here are the facts, everyone with actual knowledge knows this, now no one will listen to your ridiculous claim, so we'll move on."

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FM123 (6,116 posts)

24. That is a good question.

I think the answer is yes with "certain people".

I have an older neighbor who voted for trump that turned a corner and now hates him, I never expected it.

Like most of trumpy's blind followers they are addicted to Fux News and refuse to accept other major news outlet like CNN or MSNBC as legit. I don't know if it made a difference or not but I sent him a Newsweek magazine article about Fux News being so erroneous (and dangerous) that 74 journalism professors had to write a letter to the owner Murdoch so it's viewers wouldn't die with wrong Covid19 info. https://www.newsweek.com/journalism-professors-fox-news-end-coronavirus-misinformation-open-letter-149568

 :whatever:

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Star Member kimbutgar (12,575 posts)

28. My friend was posting The plandemic video and other right wing stuff on Facebook

The last straw was her linking a breitbart link. I told her it was a propagnada site meant to divide us. She never answered back to that. She kept pushing that plandemic video so I froze her for 30 days. She is an old friend who just graduated from high school and doesn’t read much. So I give her some slack but I needed a break from her.

 ::)
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Offline Delmar

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Re: Conspiracy theories are growing. Should they be addressed?
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2020, 01:46:20 PM »
I clicked on that Atlantic article too.  It was stupid but I did scan through it and found out this from what must be William Rivers Pitt's alter ego:

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on october 28, 2017, the anonymous user now widely referred to as “Q” appeared for the first time on 4chan, a so-called image board that is known for its grotesque memes, sickening photographs, and brutal teardown culture. Q predicted the imminent arrest of Hillary Clinton and a violent uprising nationwide, posting this:
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HRC extradition already in motion effective yesterday with several countries in case of cross border run. Passport approved to be flagged effective 10/30 @ 12:01am. Expect massive riots organized in defiance and others fleeing the US to occur. US M’s will conduct the operation while NG activated. Proof check: Locate a NG member and ask if activated for duty 10/30 across most major cities.
Already in motion effective yesterday sounds a heck of a lot better than in 24 business hours.
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Offline thundley4

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Re: Conspiracy theories are growing. Should they be addressed?
« Reply #2 on: May 21, 2020, 02:23:22 PM »
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Star Member Corgigal (7,516 posts)

5. Read an article

last night in The Atlantic. The authors opinion is that it’s getting to be a dangerous time. They also believe, like others, that f Trump loses the election we will have violence.

If you get time, read it.


Um, yeah, you ****ing retards were worried about Trump not accepting the results in 2016 if he lost. Guess what you ****ing greedy children didn't accept that the old greedy crone lost. You have been throwing a tantrum ever since.


When Joe "The Ra_ist" Biden loses in November, there will be violence, but it will start from the left and be ended by the RIGHT.

Offline Zathras

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Re: Conspiracy theories are growing. Should they be addressed?
« Reply #3 on: May 21, 2020, 03:55:36 PM »
DUmbasses should clean up their own house before worrying about others.
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