I’ll never forget the day I decided to go read some NZ anti vax telegram groups to see what they were up to. The funniest thing I saw was someone posting some pics of regular ol clouds, with everyone commenting “omg those clouds look sooo unnatural!!” under it. I definitely saw lots of mentions of everyone dying in a few months/years too, some people are even prepping for it. I’m guessing this is gonna be one of those things where the apocalypse keeps getting pushed forward lol. In addition they were saying that the bad driving back in early Dec (of the sort you usually see before Christmas) was newly vaccinated people going off their rocker. Fascinating, funny and sad all at the same time.
As an autist the ‘vaccines cause autism’ thing always strikes a nerve. It just reeks of eugenics, that autism is the worst thing that could happen to your kid, worse than dying of a preventable illness. I don’t get people who think that way. I’d never give up autism, even if it’s challenging sometimes. It’s just part of my identity.
Also, I actually have an acquaintance who has been posting on fb about not believing in germ theory!! She also posted an article that was talking about how exposing yourself to small pathogens can train your immune system. I guess they meant in a ‘natural’ way but still I thought that was pretty funny.
Old school peace loving hippies becoming united with right wing white supremacists is one of the things that blows my mind. Many of these types likely don't even see the connection. The fear is very strong in these people!
I’d like to think that if I inadvertently became a major figure in a global conspiracy theory I wouldn’t string people along and use it as a money making opportunity, but you never know until you’re tested.
Bezos has popped up here several times, so I have to share my favorite Bezos-is-insane moment, and it's not the space penis. Not exactly, anyway. It's his completely not at all bonkers idea that within a few decades, humanity will be living in a Bezos-built, Bezos-controlled space bubble that will simulate life on Earth.
There's a fantastic writer and environmentalist named George Monbiot (seriously, give him a follow, he's brilliant), and he just absolutely tore apart this space bubble idea in this here video:
It's like 10 minutes long, but I promise you will not be disappointed. Sometimes we lose perspective, I think, on just how utterly detached from reality these guys are, and Monbiot does a brilliant job reminding us here.
So yeah, the space bubble has got to be my favorite bit on bonkerdom this year. Not quite a conspiracy, but at least part a very elaborate fantasy world this dude has built for himself.
The chemtrails one is a personal favourite (and of the aviation community). I have seen a few SocMed posts from fellow pilots who have even gone so far as to make up fake placards marked “Chemtrails” and placed them on the instrument panel of their aircraft next to a random On/Off switch, just to stir up the crazies.
People are bonkers, I'm still astounded at the level of just fucking stupid of our present age.
My favourite is microchips in vaccines. That generated some excellent memes and genuinely made me laugh out loud. Sad thing is it has probably cost lives. 😕
Frequent reader, sometimes above the fold reader in my emails, I have found it hard at times to engage with writing about conspiracies because it is so depressing sometimes. Just the sheer ability for people to latch onto these wild ideas that provide them some kind of security or fills some emotional need... it doesn't bode well for our future as a species. But I am also optimistic that a new generation is wiser and will have social mores and tools to fight these ideas. Maybe we are just caught in the thick of it as a species right now perhaps.
I wish everyone who reads this a good new year and hopefully your family isn't caught up in this madness.
Sigh ... Andrew Wakefield to Robert W. Malone, then the influences of Vladislav Surkov and Bannon how does one individuate these people and their discord back into the fold of humanity?
Start with the self first l would expect and hopefully things go from there.
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
As always, thanks for the weird read David and Dylan.
Now, forgive the tangent, but I saw something online this morning that made me immediately think of you.
Have you looked in to (or possibly already written about) completely digital influencers? As in, CGI models who have their "own" Instagram counts.
Lil Misquela, for example, is a digital model with 3 million followers and has appeared in ad campaigns for his fashion labels. Or Shudu Gram, who claims to be the first digital super model.
To me, it seems like just the kind of bizarre dystopian fodder that you wrote about so well, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
My favourite batshit crazy moments of the last year (because this happened more than once) were when I was accused of being a member of the 77th Brigade by conspiracy theorists on Facebook.
They based this on my trolling their ridiculous ideas and that they couldn’t see much on my FB page. Not having much visible to the general public on you FB page clearly marks you as a member of the British military on a psyop, as opposed to someone who just has the majority on their stuff set to ‘Friends Only’.
My favourite from 2021 is kind of a medley of all the weird protests we had in NZ, certainly from Aug to Dec it really ramped up and kind of devolved into a crazy hodge-podge of loopy. Like there was no singular message or issue being protested, it was just groups of grumpy people wanting to get together with other grumpy people and have a big rant about whatever their particular annoyance was. From watching Q supporters trying to stop the farmers’ (unrelated) protest, people wearing Trump hats & t-shirts, “Let’s Go Brandon” signs, demonstrators biting police, calls for freedom chanted by groups of people who were using their freedom to freely protest about their lack of freedom, death threats to government members, Tamaki & his toadies pesting around Auckland unchecked before finally getting arrested only to return shortly thereafter to resume breaking the law, calls to “drain the swamp”…..I saw a photo taken at the (I think) last protest in Wgtn across from Parliament House over by the train station there were 2 homeless guys just laughing their arses off at the group that had gathered. Sums it all up really.
I'll be seeing my Mum in England this summer for the first time in 2yrs (I live in Australia now). As someone who rarely thinks for herself, and prefers to soak up the beliefs of whatever nutjob she is dating, she has recently outdone herself by informing me that "you can prevent Covid with the right nutrients" (even though she caught it herself eventually), "it's all a Great Reset", "the government is lying about the death rates and suppressing whistleblowers", "you can't believe the mainstream media" and my favourite after I'd bought a new computerised sewing machine, "darling, you'd better keep your old non-digital one, as it can't be hacked by Russian spies".
I've bought a notebook which I'm using to explore, research and clarify these conspiracy theories (aside from the sewing machine comment because - come on), along with how to debunk them, before I see her. My aim is to get clear on anything she might throw at me so that I can have an articulate answer for her, as my impatience has a tendency to take over. Articles like these are a great starting point and Webworm as a whole has been a huge help. Wish me luck please! I need that, and a whole load of patience...
A great read thanks. What do you know about the Community Service Block Grant in NZ. I have friends claiming to have received a lot of money delivered to their doors. The old too good to be true. I discover that I am on their recipient list to my horror. I cannot find a webpage for them which fills me with even more suspicion.
I’ll never forget the day I decided to go read some NZ anti vax telegram groups to see what they were up to. The funniest thing I saw was someone posting some pics of regular ol clouds, with everyone commenting “omg those clouds look sooo unnatural!!” under it. I definitely saw lots of mentions of everyone dying in a few months/years too, some people are even prepping for it. I’m guessing this is gonna be one of those things where the apocalypse keeps getting pushed forward lol. In addition they were saying that the bad driving back in early Dec (of the sort you usually see before Christmas) was newly vaccinated people going off their rocker. Fascinating, funny and sad all at the same time.
As an autist the ‘vaccines cause autism’ thing always strikes a nerve. It just reeks of eugenics, that autism is the worst thing that could happen to your kid, worse than dying of a preventable illness. I don’t get people who think that way. I’d never give up autism, even if it’s challenging sometimes. It’s just part of my identity.
Also, I actually have an acquaintance who has been posting on fb about not believing in germ theory!! She also posted an article that was talking about how exposing yourself to small pathogens can train your immune system. I guess they meant in a ‘natural’ way but still I thought that was pretty funny.
Old school peace loving hippies becoming united with right wing white supremacists is one of the things that blows my mind. Many of these types likely don't even see the connection. The fear is very strong in these people!
Man, JFK Jr is looking rough.
I’d like to think that if I inadvertently became a major figure in a global conspiracy theory I wouldn’t string people along and use it as a money making opportunity, but you never know until you’re tested.
Bezos has popped up here several times, so I have to share my favorite Bezos-is-insane moment, and it's not the space penis. Not exactly, anyway. It's his completely not at all bonkers idea that within a few decades, humanity will be living in a Bezos-built, Bezos-controlled space bubble that will simulate life on Earth.
There's a fantastic writer and environmentalist named George Monbiot (seriously, give him a follow, he's brilliant), and he just absolutely tore apart this space bubble idea in this here video:
https://twitter.com/DoubleDownNews/status/1419985920485470218
It's like 10 minutes long, but I promise you will not be disappointed. Sometimes we lose perspective, I think, on just how utterly detached from reality these guys are, and Monbiot does a brilliant job reminding us here.
So yeah, the space bubble has got to be my favorite bit on bonkerdom this year. Not quite a conspiracy, but at least part a very elaborate fantasy world this dude has built for himself.
The chemtrails one is a personal favourite (and of the aviation community). I have seen a few SocMed posts from fellow pilots who have even gone so far as to make up fake placards marked “Chemtrails” and placed them on the instrument panel of their aircraft next to a random On/Off switch, just to stir up the crazies.
That was a good read, depressing but good.
People are bonkers, I'm still astounded at the level of just fucking stupid of our present age.
My favourite is microchips in vaccines. That generated some excellent memes and genuinely made me laugh out loud. Sad thing is it has probably cost lives. 😕
Frequent reader, sometimes above the fold reader in my emails, I have found it hard at times to engage with writing about conspiracies because it is so depressing sometimes. Just the sheer ability for people to latch onto these wild ideas that provide them some kind of security or fills some emotional need... it doesn't bode well for our future as a species. But I am also optimistic that a new generation is wiser and will have social mores and tools to fight these ideas. Maybe we are just caught in the thick of it as a species right now perhaps.
I wish everyone who reads this a good new year and hopefully your family isn't caught up in this madness.
Sigh ... Andrew Wakefield to Robert W. Malone, then the influences of Vladislav Surkov and Bannon how does one individuate these people and their discord back into the fold of humanity?
Start with the self first l would expect and hopefully things go from there.
"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I wonder if there are any chemtrails people who are happy that covid grounded so many planes
As always, thanks for the weird read David and Dylan.
Now, forgive the tangent, but I saw something online this morning that made me immediately think of you.
Have you looked in to (or possibly already written about) completely digital influencers? As in, CGI models who have their "own" Instagram counts.
Lil Misquela, for example, is a digital model with 3 million followers and has appeared in ad campaigns for his fashion labels. Or Shudu Gram, who claims to be the first digital super model.
To me, it seems like just the kind of bizarre dystopian fodder that you wrote about so well, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts.
My favourite batshit crazy moments of the last year (because this happened more than once) were when I was accused of being a member of the 77th Brigade by conspiracy theorists on Facebook.
They based this on my trolling their ridiculous ideas and that they couldn’t see much on my FB page. Not having much visible to the general public on you FB page clearly marks you as a member of the British military on a psyop, as opposed to someone who just has the majority on their stuff set to ‘Friends Only’.
My favourite from 2021 is kind of a medley of all the weird protests we had in NZ, certainly from Aug to Dec it really ramped up and kind of devolved into a crazy hodge-podge of loopy. Like there was no singular message or issue being protested, it was just groups of grumpy people wanting to get together with other grumpy people and have a big rant about whatever their particular annoyance was. From watching Q supporters trying to stop the farmers’ (unrelated) protest, people wearing Trump hats & t-shirts, “Let’s Go Brandon” signs, demonstrators biting police, calls for freedom chanted by groups of people who were using their freedom to freely protest about their lack of freedom, death threats to government members, Tamaki & his toadies pesting around Auckland unchecked before finally getting arrested only to return shortly thereafter to resume breaking the law, calls to “drain the swamp”…..I saw a photo taken at the (I think) last protest in Wgtn across from Parliament House over by the train station there were 2 homeless guys just laughing their arses off at the group that had gathered. Sums it all up really.
I can't remember whether I've shared this here before, but I found this to be gold, as an explanation for the various drivers for people to refuse the vaccine. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/smart_talk/audio/2018813219/assoc-prof-mike-lee-provides-a-marketer-s-insights-into-vaccine-hesitancy
More absurdity is the hilarious schematic of THE chip those 5G-ers say is implanted. It's of a Boss guitar distortion effects pedal https://guitar.com/news/conspiracy-theory-covid-19-vaccine-boss-metal-zone/ . Left my electronics engineer husband and muso laughing.
I'll be seeing my Mum in England this summer for the first time in 2yrs (I live in Australia now). As someone who rarely thinks for herself, and prefers to soak up the beliefs of whatever nutjob she is dating, she has recently outdone herself by informing me that "you can prevent Covid with the right nutrients" (even though she caught it herself eventually), "it's all a Great Reset", "the government is lying about the death rates and suppressing whistleblowers", "you can't believe the mainstream media" and my favourite after I'd bought a new computerised sewing machine, "darling, you'd better keep your old non-digital one, as it can't be hacked by Russian spies".
I've bought a notebook which I'm using to explore, research and clarify these conspiracy theories (aside from the sewing machine comment because - come on), along with how to debunk them, before I see her. My aim is to get clear on anything she might throw at me so that I can have an articulate answer for her, as my impatience has a tendency to take over. Articles like these are a great starting point and Webworm as a whole has been a huge help. Wish me luck please! I need that, and a whole load of patience...
A great read thanks. What do you know about the Community Service Block Grant in NZ. I have friends claiming to have received a lot of money delivered to their doors. The old too good to be true. I discover that I am on their recipient list to my horror. I cannot find a webpage for them which fills me with even more suspicion.